Admitted Student Profile
GPA (Unweighted)
3.80-4.00
SAT Range (Middle 50%)
1340-1500
ERW: 670-730 · Math: 670-770
ACT Range (Middle 50%)
30-34
📌 Bryn Mawr — a Seven Sisters women's college with a strong STEM reputation and student self-governance — requires one writing supplement (250–500 words), confirmed 2026-27. For this cycle it consolidated its older multi-prompt set into a single "authentic selves" essay.
Application Deadlines
Early Decision INov 15
Regular DecisionJan 15
Essay Overview
For 2026-27, Bryn Mawr College requires a single Writing Supplement (250–500 words), confirmed 2026-27: "Bryn Mawr students bring their authentic selves to campus. What do you know about yourself to be true—and what in your background or experience led you to that truth?" (The college consolidated its former "Why Bryn Mawr" + Honor Code prompts into this one.) It rewards a specific, earned self-knowledge — a truth about you with a real origin story behind it.
Common App Personal Statement All applicants
250–650 words
Required
Writing Supplement — Authentic Selves All applicants
250–500 words
Required
What They're Really Looking For
1
Pick one true thing — and prove it. The prompt asks what you know to be true about yourself AND what led you there. A single, specific truth with a real origin story beats a list of admirable qualities.
2
Show the "led you to that truth" part. The origin is where the essay lives. Anchor the truth in a concrete experience or moment, not an assertion.
3
Authentic means specific, not confessional. You don't need trauma — you need honesty and precision. A quiet, particular truth ("I need to build things to understand them") lands harder than a grand claim.
The Official Prompts — 2026-27
"Bryn Mawr students bring their authentic selves to campus. What do you know about yourself to be true—and what in your background or experience led you to that truth?"
The #1 Failure Mode
Stating a truth with no origin. The prompt has two halves — the truth AND what led you there — and applicants routinely assert an admirable quality ("I am resilient and driven") without the experience that produced it. Bryn Mawr wants the story behind the self-knowledge, shown, not the claim.
Weak vs. Strong: Score Benchmarks
"What I know to be true about myself is that I am a hardworking, passionate, and determined person. Throughout my life, I have always pushed myself to be the best I can be. My background has taught me the value of perseverance, and I know I will bring that same determination and authentic self to the Bryn Mawr community."
"What I know to be true: I think best with my hands moving. I learned it rebuilding a busted loom in my grandmother's attic — I couldn't follow the diagram until I was actually threading it, undoing my mistakes by feel. School kept telling me to plan first, then execute; the loom taught me I understand things by making them wrong and fixing them. I stopped apologizing for it sophomore year, and my chemistry grades went up."