Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College offers relatively accessible admission compared to its closest peers while sustaining a steady profile in national evaluations. In the 2027 US News Liberal Arts Colleges Ranking, the college ranked 31st, holding a consistent position near its recent ranks. Admissions for female applicants remain competitive but less selective than at peer institutions, posting an acceptance rate of 29.4% in 2025. This admit rate is higher than 73% of similarly ranked private liberal arts colleges, indicating that getting accepted is comparatively more attainable than at many peer campuses. Once admitted, students demonstrate solid commitment to the college, producing a yield rate of 31.5% in 2025. That yield exceeds the median among peer schools, ranking higher than 63% of institutions in the comparison group. For prospective candidates, these figures signal a selective women's college that draws a dependable share of its admitted applicants while maintaining an admissions threshold that is somewhat more forgiving than those of similarly positioned private peers.

Bryn Mawr College maintains a test-optional policy, meaning standardized test scores are considered if submitted by an applicant. For 2025, the college reported an ACT composite range of 29 to 33 between the 25th and 75th percentiles. In the same year, its median SAT score was 1390, which is higher than 17% of peer schools within a comparison group of similarly ranked private liberal arts colleges. Submission patterns for 2025 demonstrate that 50% of enrolled undergraduates submitted SAT results, while about one-fifth submitted ACT marks. Because admitted students who submit scores typically present results within or above these ranges, prospective applicants can use these thresholds to understand the testing profile of the student body, while keeping in mind that strong secondary school coursework remains central to evaluation.

Undergraduate degree conferrals at Bryn Mawr College are well dispersed across disciplines rather than concentrated in a few popular fields. In 2025, the top three undergraduate programs represented just 24.6% of all bachelor's degrees awarded. The largest undergraduate major was Psychology, General, with 40 graduates, which earned a rank of 83rd in the 2027 US News undergraduate subject rankings. While the largest undergraduate subjects do not hold top-tier national rankings, graduate education exhibits concentrated program strength. The master's program in Social Work graduated the vast majority of master's students and held a strong rank of 36th nationally in US News in 2024. Early career earnings data from 2021 show median earnings of $22,335 one year after graduation for bachelor's degree recipients in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. Applicants seeking prominent professional credentials will find exceptional graduate concentration in social work, while undergraduate students enjoy a broadly distributed academic environment without overwhelming focus on any single major.

Bryn Mawr College enrolled 1,679 students in 2025 across an all-female undergraduate student body and a coeducational graduate division. International and Asian students form visible and substantial segments of the campus community. In the incoming first-year class, international students numbered 45, accounting for 11.8% of the group, while Asian students totaled 42, representing 11.1%. Returning undergraduates display similarly steady representation from both groups, while White students constitute the largest racial group across all degree levels. The graduate division brings additional perspective, with female students making up the vast majority of advanced degree seekers alongside a smaller male contingent. This demographic composition provides prospective applicants with a learning environment centered on an undergraduate cohort that integrates meaningful domestic racial diversity and global perspectives within a small campus setting.

The age distribution at Bryn Mawr College clearly separates the undergraduate and graduate experiences. In 2025, undergraduates were overwhelmingly of traditional college age, with students aged 18 to 19 comprising 48.5% of the undergraduate body and those aged 20 to 21 making up 42.9%. Only a small fraction of undergraduates were 22 or older. This concentration shapes a collegiate campus life focused around residential living, synchronous cohort milestones, and traditional undergraduate student activities. In contrast, the graduate population is composed primarily of working-age adults. The largest graduate cohort was aged 25 to 29, representing 32.3% of advanced degree students, followed by cohorts in their early twenties and thirties. This dynamic creates a distinct divide between a cohesive, traditional-age undergraduate community and a career-oriented graduate cohort.

International enrollment at Bryn Mawr College shows contrasting paths across academic levels, alongside distinct subject preferences among graduating students. At the undergraduate level, the international share has trended downward over the past decade, reaching 13.1% in 2025. Despite this decrease, the college's undergraduate international proportion remains higher than 70% of similarly ranked private liberal arts colleges. Conversely, the graduate international proportion has expanded, climbing to 4.1% in 2025. Among 2025 degree recipients, international undergraduates concentrated heavily in STEM disciplines: international students accounted for 33.3% of bachelor's degree recipients in Mathematics, General, and nearly a third of those in Computer Science. In contrast, international representation was virtually absent from the college's largest graduate program, Social Work, which awarded no degrees to international students that year. For international applicants, Bryn Mawr offers an undergraduate setting with above-average international presence compared to liberal arts peers, particularly within quantitative and scientific departments.

Applicants exploring Bryn Mawr College have access to a rich cluster of neighboring higher education institutions within the greater Philadelphia area. Just 1.4 kilometers away is Haverford College, a private liberal arts college ranked 26th in the 2027 US News ranking. A short distance further, Villanova University is located 1.6 kilometers from campus, holding the 42nd spot among national universities in 2027. Students interested in prominent liberal arts alternatives can look 8.7 kilometers away to Swarthmore College, which ranked 3rd among national liberal arts colleges in 2027. Additionally, University of Pennsylvania, a major research university ranked 7th nationally in 2027, sits just 8.2 kilometers from Bryn Mawr. These nearby colleges provide families with an array of institutional sizes and settings within a 10-kilometer radius.

Campus safety records at Bryn Mawr College reflect a low incidence of serious criminal activity, with reported statistics primarily driven by internal substance-policy enforcement. The crime rate per 1,000 students stood at 8.8 in 2025, continuing a substantial downward trajectory over the past decade. Across the three-year span from 2023 to 2025, disciplinary actions for campus infractions formed the primary category, led by 79 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations. During that same period from 2023 to 2025, serious criminal offenses occurred in very low numbers, including 7 reported incidents of dating violence alongside a few scattered cases of burglary and sexual misconduct. These records demonstrate that safety concerns on campus center overwhelmingly on institutional conduct regulations rather than violent criminal behavior, providing prospective students and their families with a reassuring overall security environment.