The Seven Sisters is the name which was given in 1927 to seven liberal arts
women'
s colleges in the United States (the colleges, themselves, were all founded between 1837-1889). The colleges included Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe, Smith, Vassar and Wellesley. Five of the seven remain
women's colleges today and only one (Radcliffe, which merged into Harvard) no longer exists.
Mount Holyoke, Smith
College, Bryn Mawr College, and Wellesley College are still
women's colleges. Barnard College is still affiliated with Columbia University but remains an independent
women's college.
Irene Harwarth, Mindi Maline, and Elizabeth DeBra also state that "the 'Seven Sisters' was the name given to Barnard, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, and Radcliffe, because of their parallel to the Ivy League menβs colleges.