Back when the first women’s colleges were being founded, they were a necessity — women were often barred from attending college, and especially top institutions. Now that most of the world’s top schools have gone co-ed, some question such institutions’ further relevance. Lisa Birnbach, the author best known for co-authoring New York Times Bestseller The Official Preppy Handbook, has put together a review of some of the nation’s top all-female colleges in an effort to determine how they hold up against their coed counterparts...

Despite reservations going in, Birnbach concludes that the all-women’s college is “not what [she] had imagined. The richness and intimacy of these students’ experiences are enviable and inspiring.” Her impression appears to be shared by students and alumni alike: according to the Women’s College Coalition, admission numbers are up at almost every woman’s college this year — many at historical highs. It’s worth mentioning that included on the list of schools is Sweet Briar College, the iconic 114-year-old Virginia mainstay whose seemingly inevitable shutdown last year was prevented due to heroic fundraising efforts from the school’s alumni.

And according to Emma, a student biologist at Mills College in Oakland, California, even today all-women schools still carry deep symbolic importance: “The very existence of women’s colleges is quite a progressive concept,” she explained. “In a patriarchal society, how radical is it to create space for women and maintain it on this scale?”