I attended an all-girls school in Washington, DC for the majority of my life. When it was time to consider colleges, many of my relatives and college counselors asked me if I wanted to continue with an all-girls school for the next four years. While I immediately said no, citing that I’ve had enough sleepovers and Sadie Hawkins-style dances to last me a lifetime, I didn’t realize the many other benefits that come from a coed college.
Going to a single-sex school pretty much ensures that you will have small classes and know everyone’s name. Currently, my biggest class, a 500-person lecture, is larger than my entire high school. What also comes from a single-sex school is the comfort of knowing that you all have one major characteristic in common: you’re all girls. While I agree that in high school it was a great opportunity to learn in a close-knit environment and where I felt comfortable vocalizing my opinions, it is hard for me to picture myself in that same setting now in college.
The transition to a coed college wasn’t necessarily difficult, but it was definitely different. What I will say is that it took some time to get used to walking into a classroom that was majority male and it was even weirder not being able to name more than ten other students in my class. For the first few weeks, this was a strange adjustment for me. I wasn’t used to having a teacher who didn’t take attendance, nor was I used to the idea that I was completely responsible for my own assignments; if I don’t turn something in, the blame is wholly on me, and I can’t count on any professor to track me down.
While many of these factors are characteristics of a large school, and not solely linked to a coed school, I will highlight some of the main benefits I’ve found from attending a coed school.
First, and most obviously, a coed college, to me, seems more representative of the real world. When I eventually graduate and find a job, I will most likely be working with both women and men. While I am not implying that graduates of single-sex colleges are less-likely to be successful in a coed office, I am saying that there is a higher chance that when I enter the workforce, I will know more male colleagues in different fields who can provide perspective and guidance that I wouldn’t have had coming out of an all-girls high school.
Secondly, there are more opportunities for recreation. By this I mean activities that are both social and athletic. With the presence of boys comes the existence of boys’ sports teams; it’s hard for me to imagine my college experience without fall football games.
Thirdly, there is a greater diversity of people at coed colleges than at single-sex ones. Now with the addition of boys as well as international students and people from all different backgrounds, your scope of the world will only expand.
Lastly, your day-to-day life will never be the same. Whether for better or worse, you will find yourself walking to class and running into many different people whom you share many different memories with. Memories with boys can sometimes be awkward, and memories with girls can sometimes be even deeper than those you had in high school. In both cases you find yourself asking yourself: why did I do that last night/weekend/month?
My advice to girls thinking about attending a coed college from an all-girls school? Go for it. You’ve honed the confidence in the classroom and independence that comes from attending a school with all girls; you’re ready for anything. Just remember to think back on all of the practical skills that you attained in high school, and think less about the Twitter drama and the inevitable annual freak out over whether or not someone has the same prom dress as you.