An introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog! I will be chronicling my time at Mount Holyoke College, where I will be attending this fall. Lots of people ask me, "Why did you choose Mount Holyoke? It's so far away from home, and it's a girl's school..." The reasons are quite simple, and it's women's college, not a girl's school, thank you very much. Exhibit 1:


The campus is gorgeous. Mount Holyoke is located in Western Massachusetts (or Western Mass, as the locals say), specifically the town of South Hadley in the Pioneer Valley. Although it is a rural area, it is very populated, and is only ninety minutes away from Boston. The entire Pioneer Valley is well known for it's beautiful fall foliage, outdoors activities, and high concentration of writers and musicians.

The school itself was founded by Mary Lyon in 1837 - the first of the Seven Sisters, aka the women's Ivy League. The school has always had a history of producing women who go on to do great things and make the world a better place. Some famous alumni are Emily Dickinson, Francis Perkins, and Mona Sutphen (President Obama's deputy chief of staff). It is a part of the Five College Consortium, a collaboration of schools from Western Mass, also including Amherst College, Hampshire College, UMass Amherst, and Smith College.

So why did I choose Mount Holyoke? The school has a fantastic reputation, but it is more than that. Last summer I visited the school with my dad, and I immediately could picture myself there. A close-knit community of women committed to academic excellence is extremely appealing to me - no boys on campus to act as a distraction! I have always been interested in both hard and social sciences, and Mount Holyoke excels in both. According to an alum I talked to, Mount Holyoke receives the highest amount of funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), only second to Stanford! That is quite something for a small private liberal arts school. Additionally, almost 20% percent of the students are international, bringing a whole other perspective that I am really looking forward to experiencing. I literally could ramble on for hours about how amazing MHC is, so I'll stop myself now!


As you can see, the climate will be quite a change from rainy Seattle winters. Moving 3,000 miles away from home will be difficult, but I am looking forward to having an adventure and becoming more independent. I will miss all of my amazing friends staying in-state and my family, but hopefully this blog will make it easier to keep in touch!