The Girls’ School Advantage: Choosing the Right School for You


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Choosing the Right School For You

Picture a classroom in the U.S.A. Imagine the teacher asks a question of the class... and virtually every hand shoots right up into the air. Every student is eager to answer and is enthusiastic about learning. This is a daily scene in the classrooms of U.S. girls’ schools.

Girls’ schools are places where education is prized, where teachers feel empowered, and where young women are excited about being in school. Girls become adventurous, engaged learners, in subjects such as math, science, and technology, and are more likely to pursue careers they might never have dared consider before.

On the athletic field and in the gym, they try physical feats and compete head-to-head in a way they may never have imagined. In a learning environment free of gender stereotyping, girls flourish.

Opportunities to gain confidence abound. The most astute mathematicians and the most inquiring scientists are girls. In addition, every speaker, athlete, soloist, writer, and student leader are girls. It’s a girl who lights the Bunsen burner in chemistry class, a girl who edits the school newsfeed, a girl who heads the student government, leads the debate team, wins the chess tournament, and writes code for the website.

Girls Graduates Shine

Some people say girls need to learn to compete against boys. Girls’ schools recognize and encourage competition. Their graduates stand side-by-side with men of high achievement. As the Goodman Research Group found in a 2005 study, of the 4,200 U.S. girls’ school graduates surveyed, more than 80 percent said they were better prepared than their coed school peers to succeed in university.

One parent of an international St. Timothy’s School student, extols the virtues and benefits of sending her daughter to a girls’ school in the US:

“We want to send a note of appreciation to all of you who have helped shape my daughter from the timid little girl she was into the confident young women she has become. Because of the residential program of the school, all of the teachers knew her well… she was able to do many things that she never could have imagined in a larger day school. Without the dedication, love, support and guidance she received… she would not have matured into the leader she is today. The values that were instilled in her have made her a better person and that is the greatest gift any young person could receive.”

This is only one of example of how many international girls thrive in U.S. girls’ schools.

Leading responsibly and courageously

Girls’ schools offer their students a rich educational experience in the classroom, in the lab, on the playing field, and in the art studio. U.S. girls’ schools welcome young women from all over the world.

By Emilie Liebhoff
Emilie Liebhoff is the Deputy Director at the National Coalition of Girls' Schools, www.ncgs.org