The Seven Sisters schools make up a group of American women's colleges that was organized in 1927 to better promote female education. The members are: Barnard College (New York, New York) adjacent to Columbia University. Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Massachusetts) Radcliffe College (Cambridge, Massachusetts) Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts) Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York) Wellesley College (Wellesley, Massachusetts) Two of the Seven Sisters, Mount Holyoke and Smith, are members of the "Five Colleges."** 1978 marked a historic milestone, when all of the Seven Sisters schools finally had women presidents. Not all of the Seven Sisters remain all-female colleges; some have become coeducational. Vassar began accepting men in 1969. In 1963, Harvard College assumed joint responsibility with Radcliffe over Radcliffe undergraduates. In 1999 Radcliffe College was dissolved, and Harvard assumed full responsibility over the affairs of female undergraduates. Radcliffe is now the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in women's studies and part of Harvard University. SOURCE: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Seven_Sisters_schools **The "Five Colleges" are affiliated colleges in the Connecticut River valley of Western Massachusetts, belonging to a consortium called Five Colleges, Incorporated. The members are: Amherst College (Amherst, Massachusetts) Hampshire College (Amherst, Massachusetts) Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Massachusetts) Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts) University of Massachusetts Amherst (Amherst, Massachusetts) The Five Colleges are geographically close to one another, and free shuttle buses run between the campuses. Students at each of these schools often take classes at the other colleges ("cross-registration" is permitted and often encouraged). Student groups and organizations often draw participants from all five campuses. The colleges' libraries participate in an interlibrary loan program, allowing students and faculty to take advantage of all five campuses' collections. In addition, several academic programs (for example, astronomy, dance, some foreign languages, and women's studies are run by the Five Colleges jointly for the benefit of all five institutions. FIVE-COLLEGE FOLKLORE A popular urban legend among Five College students holds that the characters on the show "Scooby Doo" represent the five colleges. The legend has Daphne representing Smith College and Velma as Mount Holyoke (though the two are sometimes reversed, particularly by those who perceive Velma – and Smith – as lesbian), with Fred representing Amherst College, Shaggy as Hampshire College, and Scooby as UMass Amherst. Hanna-Barbera, creator Fred Silverman, and some of the show's writers have said that this story is false, and that the show was actually based on the radio program "I Love a Mystery" and the TV sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis."