When I tell people that I went to an all-girls’ school, I love watching their expression change.
About 95% of responses entail shock, horror, and deep concern for my social well-being, while the other 5% of people usually shriek with excitement as they light up and proceed to tell me that they, too, went to an all-girls’ school.
Meeting people who had a single-sex education is like being part of a secret society that nobody from the outside can understand, largely due to the countless idiosyncrasies of the experience.
After seven years of attending a small, private, all-girls’ school, college came as a huge transition for me. Suddenly there were boys in my classes and it took some time to adjust to the different classroom dynamics.
Taking boys out of the equation meant that I never thought of myself as less smart, less capable, or less strong because I was a girl.
Within just the first week of my freshman year at Wake Forest, I realized how truly blessed I am to have been shaped by such a strong community of women.
I would not be nearly as confident, strong-minded, and bold as I am today without the molding of my character and the values that my all-girls’ school instilled in me during my very formative middle and high school years.
If I had the choice, I would do it again. And if I have a daughter one day, I would want her to attend an all-girls’ institution so that she, too, can experience the joys and oddities that will make you relate to these 13 telltale signs that you went to an all-girls’ school.
Let's take a walk down memory lane. Remember the days when...
1. Getting dressed in the morning was the easiest part of your day.
2. ...and rolling your skit to the perfect length was considered an art.
3. You never cared what you looked like because there were no boys.
4. But whenever your brother-school visited campus everyone transformed into beauty queens.
5. Principal? Don’t you mean, “Headmistress?”
6. When you graduated you had absolutely zero clothes for the real world.
7. …and the idea of wearing five different outfits per week was uncanny.
8. Everyone was in love with the male teachers—all 3 of them.
9. You probably shaved your legs as often as you hung out with boys— never.
10. You’re so well-versed in girl drama that you might as well go into politics.
11. You have zero qualms about nudity and changing in public places.
12. Whenever you went shopping you only bought sweaters in your uniform colors... #versatility
13. You wore a long white dress for Commencement and carried a bouquet of roses.
