Sweet Briar College (SBC)

Empowering strong, well-educated women, Sweet Briar College provides a "supportive learning environment where students are free to follow their passions and try new things every day." A women's college in rural Virginia, Sweet Briar is known for "a rigorous liberal arts education" and supportive community that prizes student accomplishment. The school's "Holla, Holla" is sung to celebrate individual accomplishments at the Spring Step Singing, one of the traditions that students have in mind when they tell us, "I would never have become who I am without the supportive, hopeful, and ambitious atmosphere of Sweet Briar." Students praise the individual attention they receive from the faculty, who "will literally bend over backwards to help you achieve your goals." Students tell us that the Sweet Briar faculty take time out to "help you design your own major and will help you during their personal time to better understand [the] lecture material." A low faculty-to-student ratio means that "classes are extremely interactive and discussion based." And students say they get a lot out of their classes, in part, because the professors "love what they do and are incredibly accomplished in their respective fields." Along with an "award-winning Career Services department and the many, many years of traditions," Sweet Briar students enjoy the support of "amazing alumni" who "will offer assistance to those going into the same field." Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Sweet Briar "students are all placed with a job or in a graduate program after 6 months of graduation."

Living up to their school motto ("She who has earned the rose may bear it"), Sweet Briar students are each "here to make her own mark on this world." The typical Sweet Briar student is "intellectually curious" and "involved in many extracurricular activities, but always [places] academics first." Students are full of praise for their "kind, helpful, and all-around wonderful" peers. "They push me to work my hardest in the classroom because I know that they won't slack off," a current undergraduate explains. "Sweet Briar is unusual," another student raves, "in that it is incredibly motivated in both academic and social-activism settings." While "there might be a fair amount of Lilly Pulitzer and pearls on this campus, there is also a healthy dose of plaid and combat boots, fear not," one student says. This small student body is remarkably close-knit, forming an "an unbreakable bond" that lasts long after graduation. As evidence of this, some students pointed to the upswell of alumnae from around the world who rushed to save the college from closing in 2015 in what seemed to be an impossible financial situation. "To us, the impossible is just another problem to solve."

Campus life at Sweet Briar is grounded in the college's many "one-of-a-kind" traditions. "We don't offer Greek life; we offer tap clubs," one student explains, "They are catered to specific interests and allow every student to be involved." With regular on-campus events like the "Founders' Day Weekend dance, Winter Formal, Spring Fling, Sunday Funday's, activities at the lake, horse shows, athletic events, and boathouse parties," including events that students from other schools can attend, the college helps students maintain an active social life. For outdoors options, students have access to "hiking [the] trails that run the 3,000-acre campus," "skiing, snowboarding, cave diving, rock climbing, kayaking, paddle boarding," and there are plenty of "movie outings" off campus. Overall, Sweet Briar is a "loving and friendly" place where "everyone knows everybody."