Seven Sisters (colleges)

Lore & Background

That year Bryn Mawr, Barnard, and Radcliffe were added, and the group gained the name 'Seven Sisters' after the Pleiades, a term coined by Elizabeth J. Park. Their original purpose was broader than coordinating admissions; it included fundraising and public awareness to secure better support for women's higher education. Through 1935, the colleges continued collaborating on fundraising while also using their meetings to exchange ideas on broader academic and student-life issues, such as undergraduate culture, governance, religion, and leisure. The Seven Sisters colleges continue to collaborate through the Seven College Conference, which is hosted annually on a rotating basis by one of the seven original member institutions and brings together senior administrators and faculty around a theme. Recent topics have included the value of the Seven Sisters brand and issues of diversity, equity, and achievement. Although Radcliffe no longer participates and some schools, such as Vassar, have evolved from being primarily women's institutions, they share enough common history and institutional character to make ongoing collaboration meaningful and productive.

Reader's Guide

The Seven Sisters colleges were founded in the 19th century to provide women with a high-quality liberal arts education comparable to that offered by the historically all-male Ivy League colleges. Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra note that 'independent nonprofit women's colleges, which included the Seven Sisters, were founded to provide educational opportunities to women equal to those available to men and were geared toward women who wanted to study the liberal arts.' The colleges also offered broader opportunities in academia to women, hiring many female faculty members and administrators. Through 1935, the colleges collaborated on fundraising and exchanged ideas on academic and student-life issues. Today, five remain women's colleges: Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley. The Seven College Conference continues to bring together senior administrators and faculty from the original seven institutions, focusing on themes such as the value of the Seven Sisters brand and issues of diversity, equity, and achievement.

Did You Know?

• The name 'Seven Sisters' is a reference to the Greek myth of the Pleiades, goddesses immortalized as stars in the sky.
• Four of the original Seven Sisters are in Massachusetts, two are in New York, and one is in Pennsylvania.
• The Seven Sisters colleges continue to collaborate through the Seven College Conference, hosted annually on a rotating basis.

Founding Mission & the Push for Parity

The Seven Sisters trace their origins to a 19th-century conviction that women deserved the same rigorous liberal arts education traditionally reserved for men at elite institutions. Pioneering educators such as Sarah Pierce, Catharine Beecher, and Mary Lyon laid the groundwork through female academies and seminaries in the early-to-mid 1800s. Beyond simply admitting women, these institutions deliberately hired female faculty and administrators, creating academic environments where women could lead as much as learn. Their founding charter was explicitly one of equivalence: to match the quality of education available at the historically all-male Ivy League schools.

From Informal Alliance to the Seven Sisters

The unifying challenge was financial. Endowments at women's colleges lagged far behind those at elite men's institutions, making it difficult to offer competitive faculty salaries. The sisters launched joint fundraising campaigns and public-awareness drives to close that gap. Through 1935, their meetings doubled as forums for exchanging perspectives on undergraduate culture, governance structures, the role of religion in campus life, and even how students spent their leisure time. This blend of practical resource-sharing and intellectual cross-pollination set a collaborative tone that persists to this day.

A Geographic Tapestry of Consortiums

The seven institutions cluster across three Northeastern states—four in Massachusetts, two in New York, and one in Pennsylvania—and each has woven itself into a distinct web of academic partnerships. In western Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke and Smith belong to the Five College Consortium alongside Amherst, Hampshire, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Wellesley participates in the Boston Consortium for Higher Education, a 1995 creation now spanning 23 New England institutions, and permits students to cross-register at MIT, Babson, Brandeis, and Olin College of Engineering. In New York, Barnard maintains its identity as a women's undergraduate college while remaining affiliated with, yet legally and financially separate from, Columbia University; graduates attend both a Barnard commencement and a Columbia-wide ceremony, and their diplomas bear both names. In Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr anchors the Tri-College Consortium with Haverford and Swarthmore, all part of the broader Quaker Consortium that includes the University of Pennsylvania, and a merger between Bryn Mawr and Haverford was even explored at one point.

Living Legacy & the Seven College Conference

Despite these divergences, the group's shared DNA remains a powerful force for collaboration. The Seven College Conference, hosted on a rotating basis by one of the original member institutions, gathers senior administrators and faculty each year around a unifying theme. Recent discussions have tackled the value of the Seven Sisters brand itself, as well as pressing questions of diversity, equity, and achievement. Radcliffe no longer takes part, and Vassar's identity has shifted considerably from its earlier women's-college roots, yet the members share enough common history and institutional character to keep the ongoing collaboration meaningful and productive. The Pleiades metaphor endures: seven distinct stars, each with its own light, yet forever recognized as part of the same constellation.

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