This week, my brother came to visit. It was exciting because he got to see me compete in my conference championship, but the main reason for his visit was to go on college tours. Despite the fact that I still think of him as the cherub-cheeked 6 year old who let me paint his fingernails “Spiderman Red”, my little brother has grown into a tall, 17-year- old junior who is thinking about college.

Obviously my brother will not be considering Bryn Mawr. He’s actually been on the campus tour, but that was 3 years ago. Hearing him talk about his college visits brought me back to when I was deciding where to go to school. One of the main things that he talked about was food. This is high on the mind of any 17-year old male, but I’m pretty sure that the blueberries and yogurt that I had for breakfast on the morning of my overnight at Bryn Mawr were one of the huge pros on my list. The Haffner pizza was another big plus.

The other thing that my brother took away from his college tours was that dorm size was going to be a big selling point for him. I didn’t remember this being an issue for me when I was thinking about colleges, and I wondered why my brother would make this such a big deal. Then I remembered what had been special about my overnight at Bryn Mawr. Almost the entire time had been spent in the common room. I attended a hall tea, and then a couple of students and I watched a movie. The whole thing felt, in short, like a sleepover. I wanted to go to a school where it didn’t matter how big your room was because you’d spend most of your time outside of it. That’s been my experience at Bryn Mawr. I spend time in the common areas of the library or in the psychology house studying with my classmates, or unwinding with my friends over an episode of How I Met Your Mother in the common room. My freshman year, my best friend had a huge double and we all spent our study and hang out time in there. Even if I had a long week or I missed home cooked meals, there was always a little microcosm of home when I was with my buddies. It was the only place other than the common room where we could all spread out on the floor with our books and catch up on the weekend’s events while we studied. The advice I probably should have given my brother (other than that Bryn Mawr is the best!) is that if you go to a place where you get to be part of a special community, it doesn’t matter how big your dorm room is.