Getting To Know: Agnes Scott College (GA)-Again
From a virtual distance Agnes Scott College, one of the Colleges That Change Lives, reminds me of Bryn Mawr, another women’s college closer to my home. It’s small (less than 800 undergrads) and close to a large city (Atlanta) that has many other colleges. Much like Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania is an attractive suburb of Philadelphia, Decatur is an attractive suburb of Atlanta that also has relatively easy access to the major city.
Agnes Scott’s signature buildings are similar in design to Bryn Mawr’s, as you will see on my Pinterest page and the page that I made for Bryn Mawr a while back. I dropped some Agnes Scott photos below. I’d like to thank the Agnes Scott admissions team for sharing these photos with me.
I have no doubt that women have chosen Agnes Scott for similar reasons, including small classes, diversity and encouragement. Not to mention that Agnes Scott and Bryn Mawr try to make the experience affordable.
The leadership of Agnes Scott College recently had more to say about affordability.
Miya Walker, director of admissions, and I talked about this in our conversation. I hope that you will listen now! I also encourage you to listen to Agnes Scott 101 to learn more from Miya’s team. Both YouTubes will give you more information about this unique place.
Agnes Scott College encourages prospective students to Early Action for consideration for merit scholarships. These awards can range from $25,000 to $34,000 per year. The college calls this the $100K+ Promise. Application based scholarships are also available. Agnes Scott offers incentives, the Atlanta Grant and the Campus Visit Award to out-of-state prospects who visit beforehand. These provide an additional $5,000/year towards educational costs for non-residents of the Peachtree State.
The total cost of attendance before scholarships is nearly $70,000. Yet the average need-based scholarship during the 2025-26 school year was over $40,000. However, 60% of the Class of 2025 had to borrow to cover educational costs.The average indebtedness was just over $32,000 because a small percentage of of the class had to take out private loans. The maximum that a student can borrow over four years from the Federal Student Loan Program is $27,000. In addition, the class includes students who took advantage of opportunities to pursue advanced degree that carry additional costs.
Agnes Scott loses about a quarter of a freshman class, but the college graduates around two-thirds of the class on time because it can help with the costs. Sophomores get black onyx rings in a college ceremony--their first welcome into a network called the “Black Ring Mafia.”
I’ve had a tough time convincing bright young women in high school to consider women’s colleges, though I have friends from high school who went to Bryn Mawr and Smith.
But when I visited Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Smith and Meredith, I saw that women could take advantage of programs that I would like to see at more liberal arts schools. These schools do a great deal to help women discover their strengths, and guide them to do whatever they want to do. Here’s a few ways that Agnes Scott stands out.
- Like Bryn Mawr, Agnes Scott offers accelerated programs and a ‘Post-Bacc’ program to help recent college grads gain admission to medical school.
- Unlike Bryn Mawr, and the more selective women’s colleges, Agnes Scott offers a Business Management major and minor.
- Agnes Scott has a 3+2 program in engineering with Georgia Tech.. But unlike other small schools that have the 3+2, Agnes Scott students can major in any subject, as long as they do well in the courses required to pursue their engineering specialty.
- Computer Science majors can also move on to Emory to earn a masters. This, and the 3-2 are true indications that Agnes Scott students are more than capable of doing the work expected at an exceptionally selective research university.
- Women who are interested in Physics should check out this school. Agnes Scott offers majors in Astrophysics, Mathematics-Physics and Physics. This might also be the smallest college in America that has its own observatory.
Agnes Scott might have some offerings similar to Bryn Mawr. But it’s not as selective.
Agnes Scott College accepted just over 60% of the women who applied to be in the class that arrived this fall. Their average GPA was a 3.7. This college has been test optional for some time. Low scores might not necessarily rule someone out for admission and merit-based aid if the academic record is wrong and shows rigor.
Agnes Scott appears to look harder for reasons to admit than the more selective women’s colleges. However, around two-thirds of the Agnes Scott student body comes from Georgia. By comparison, 85 percent of Bryn Mawr students come from out of state. One reason: Georgia’s merit based state scholarships can be used to attend private colleges as well as public colleges and universities.
Agnes Scott undergrads start with the Summit Curriculum, the college’s four-year plan to graduation.
The curriculum gives every student:
Students work with a more engaged faculty and alumni community than they might find at other schools. It helps that much of the community is accessible within the Atlanta metro area. It’s more possible to build a resume and network here than it is a colleges that are not as close to a major city that has continued to grow.
No discussion of Agnes Scott College would be complete without discussing Atlanta.
The college itself has a tight-knit residence life. But you won’t feel stuck in a campus based social life for four years. Agnes Scott is located in Decatur, a suburb of Atlanta. While Decatur has a nice downtown, the big city is the greater attraction. Atlanta is the capital of Georgia as well as one of the nation’s major business centers. Coca Cola and Delta Airlines, among other firms call Atlanta home. While I have not had the opportunity to be on the Agnes Scott campus, I have been to Atlanta. It’s easy to get into the big city via the MARTA mass transit line. Over half of the nearly 7,800 Agnes Scott alumni registered in LinkedIn.com are based in the Atlanta Metro Area.
Conclusions
I find it hard to find fault with a school that does everything it needs to do to help its students to earn a degree, find a direction and build their network. Agnes Scott College appears to do a good job at all three for the woman who believes that it will be the right fit. Some in my profession might consider Agnes Scott a “hidden gem,” though the college has been educating young women since 1889.
Please listen to my conversation with Miya Walker to learn more about Agnes Scott College!
Report Card: Agnes Scott College
- Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: B+/A
- Freshman Retention: C+
- Costs: B+
- Curriculum: A
- Community: A
- Comforts: B+
- Connections: A (Atlanta/Georgia)
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