At all-girls schools, girls work collaboratively, take risks together, and grow into bold, confident young women who are ready to change the world. They don’t just make friendships that last through high school, they make friendships that last forever. So why are there so many preconceived notions about what it’s like to go to a girls’ school? Ask any student or graduate from an all-girls school their take on their girls’ school experience? They’ll tell you differently.
In order to dispel these myths about girls’ schools, we’ve flipped the four most common ones on their head.
Myth 1: Girls’ Schools Are Old-Fashioned
Girls’ schools are far from the finishing schools of the past. Today, they are a place where girls are emboldened to be intellectually vibrant and ambitious. At The Ellis School, students master skills like digital citizenship, design thinking, and entrepreneurship to prepare them for jobs and careers of the future. Girls aren’t taking etiquette classes—they’re coding and programming robots, crafting prototypes of prosthetic limbs, and isolating and identifying new antibiotics in their science labs. They’re unpacking complex problems in the classroom and finding new and innovative ways to solve them.
Myth 2: My Daughter Won't Fit In
All-girls schools are for ALL types of girls. Girls’ schools know there is no one way to be a girl, so every girl—regardless of her interests, hair color, or favorite subject—is welcomed and accepted. At Ellis, students with shared identities come together in affinity groups to discuss issues that are important to them and connect over their similar lived experiences in a safe, nonjudgemental environment. Girls practice teamwork, sportsmanship, and bravery in House competitions—inspired by the Harry Potter series—where they form friendships across grades and learn firsthand how powerful it is when girls support girls. This kind of community—where girls are free to be themselves and diversity of all kinds is embraced and supported—gives students a firm sense of belonging because they are truly known and accepted.
Myth 3: The Girls Are Catty and Mean
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Actually, at girls’ schools, it’s quite the opposite. Girls build strong relationships while navigating elementary, middle, and high school together. They cheer each other on as teammates on the field, challenge each other to think differently in the classroom, and celebrate each other’s college acceptances. They are not competitive, they are collaborative and compassionate. At Ellis, these girls go on to be post-college roommates in new-to-them cities, bridesmaids in each other’s weddings, and have even been midwives at each other’s births. Because of this close-knit, all-girls environment, girls develop uniquely strong bonds with their classmates and teachers, the kind that our alumnae regularly tell us last a lifetime and that provide real mentorship and support for decades.
Myth 4: My Daughter Won’t Be Prepared for the Real World
If you’ve thought to yourself, “The real world is coed and my daughter won’t be ready for what’s next,” then you are not alone. Many parents ask this question when weighing the decision to send their daughter to a girls’ school. The fact is: going to an all-girls school does not equal an all-girls life. But those precious eight hours a day when she is at school, she will be there to focus on stretching herself, exploring her interests, and developing crucial skills, all the while becoming more confident and empowered in her own skin. Girls’ school graduates leave our all-girls environment and enter the larger world with a strong belief in themselves and the understanding that they deserve the respect of others. At Ellis, these young women are taught to ask questions, tussle boldly with challenging problems, and make themselves heard. Not only are they oriented within the real world, they have opinions about it and are ready to make a real impact. Time and again we see all-girls school graduates charging fearlessly into the future and succeeding.
Whether they’re dominating on the lacrosse field or creating a start-up together years after graduation, girls’ school graduates believe in the transformative nature of the all-girls environment and dispel these common myths in all that they do.
Interested in learning more about how students at all-girls schools see each other as collaborators rather than competitors?
