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[Anon]

Does anyone think that there is a difference between interviewing at an All-Women's College versuses an equally ranked coed SLAC?  I am sure all the normal questions will be asked (why work with undergraduates, are you comfortable with the large teaching component and how would you teach class [whatever field], etc.).  Should it be expected that questions about same sex education will also be asked?  And if your a male talking about how you believe same sex education improves female leadership and scholarship skills - will this come across as fake?

[%sig%]

[Seventh Sister]

I haven't worked at a women's college, but I did attend one of the Seven Sisters and am in regular contact with my mentors in that department from decades ago. I would definitely mention a commitment to or interest in women's education in response to a question like, "Why did you decide to apply to Wellesley?" or "Why are you interested in our institution?" But I don't think you'll receive a barrage of questions about this, and I think you should primarily highlight other issues: high-caliber students, campus climate, teaching-research balance, or whatever. If you're not interested in women's education, don't lie about it, but it's worth mentioning, especially if you're in a field where women are underrepresented (hard sciences, for example). I don't think you need to go on at length about this, or even necessarily stress it as a basis for your interest, but if you are interested in women's education, say so. Also, avoid falling into any liguistic pitfalls like referring to the place as a "girls' school."

[Male@women's college]

You will definitely come across better if you can talk about the advantages of single-sex education.  My approach, though, was not to overdo it but to admit that it was the job market rather than a lifelong desire to teach at a women's college that had first called this college to my attention.  Indeed, one of my interviewers took that pressure off me by saying something like "I know the job market in your field, and I don't assume that teaching at a women's college is your overweening ambition.  But what sorts of thought have you given to how teaching in a women's institution might differ from a coed institution?"  And I damn well was prepared for such a question.

But overwhelmingly the questions focused on teaching in general, not on the single sex aspect.

And in my 9 years here, the gender of my students has never been the predominant focus in our faculty meetings, curriculum, etc.  And the politics of being a woman has never been the dominant issue.  And we do have a women's studies major, but there's no agenda-setting going on.

Btw, every place I've ever interviewed has asked me questions relating to its specific characteristics.  "So how will you prepare to teach wealthy but unmotivated kids from Spartanburg who would have gone to Duke if they weren't complete slackers, but are here instead?"  "How do you teach non-traditional students whose husbands are being shot at in Iraq?" "How will you teach first generation students whose only motivation for being here is to postpone getting on welfare because they'll never get a job because their family for 9 generations has lived within a 3 mile radius of here and they're not going to move 75 miles down the road to where the jobs are" and so on.  I didn't find my interview at a women's college any more mission-specific than these.