Finding Her Path: Tom Carroll P'27

“I think I want to go to a large public university on the West Coast and join a sorority, “ Madeleine stated as she sipped her coffee.

“Wait, what?” her mother, Katherine, asked, trying to hide the incredulous expression on her face. This was not the path we’d imagined she’d take. It turns out it wasn’t what she’d imagined either – she just needed a stock answer when people asked what she was thinking about college. Everyone asks; the pressure she and her peers feel to both go to a great school and to “get it right” is enormous. And so began Madeleine’s (our oldest) transition from high school to college.

So we checked out large state schools, then art programs, overseas universities, then small liberal arts colleges. We visited many places, out West, down South, and in the Northeast corridor. Madeleine, unprompted, had put women’s colleges on the list. And of all this diligence, one place stood out—Bryn Mawr. Rigorous academics, beautiful, and unique in the kind of college experience it could offer a young woman. Madeleine connected with the school immediately. “I could very definitely do Bryn Mawr,” she said when we finished the tour. And it stayed at the top of the list through to the end of that gauntlet.

We, as her parents, were comfortable with Bryn Mawr—probably closer to where we thought she’d end up originally, but still in many ways a leap of faith. We felt it was distinctive in the way it was set up; a small, very high caliber academic community with a long tradition that sat within a broader consortium with access to a major city. College is a time for young people to find their way, and we believed Bryn Mawr was a place where our daughter could explore a wide variety of paths with a supportive group of people behind her.

The drop off arrives before you know or are ready for it. But we found ourselves in a car packed with her stuff looking for parking behind her dorm on a gorgeous day this past August. Over the next 24 hours, through the events, the wandering, the introductions, and the culmination of orientation with the entire class on the lawn, we felt not the nervous anticipation of the first step of a mountain to be climbed, but the warm embrace of an established community welcoming its newest members.

One semester in, it’s not one thing, but the 1,000 different reminders that has let us know that Bryn Mawr was a good decision. We’re in that special time when something you committed to is turning out to be far better—richer, deeper—than you imagined. She’s excited about her classes, working for campus catering, hosting a radio show, playing club soccer—fully immersed so to speak. But most importantly, she’s found a great crew of friends with whom to find her way. It’s year one of four and she’s found a path, and knowing her, it won’t be the only one. And we are very grateful that she’s chosen the Bryn Mawr community as the base for that exploration.