"I'm gonna be an actress, a ballerina, or secretary-general of the UN"

A Vanity Fair article on Mystic River's Emmy Possum notes that the 17-year-old actress attended Spence, which is identified as Gwenyth Paltrow's alma mater, through the 6th grade. Like Ms. Possum, I had the honor of attending that particular Manhattan girls' school, but was lured away not by the glamorous world of opera (as was Ms. Possum) but by the siren call of math, science, and nerdy boys.

The thing I remember about Spence, though, was that we had a fifth grade sleepover, an event everyone looked forward to immensely as it marked the end of Lower School, and thus the switch in uniforms from the green plaid jumper to the seersucker skort, the navy pleated skirt and, if I remember correctly, some other options as well. At this sleepover, which consisted of all the fifth graders sleeping over at the school, chaperoned by our teachers, said teachers told each student what they imagined she would be when she grew up. Despite years of feminism, most girls got things like "dancer" or "movie star"; I got, I believe, "United Nations Secretary-General," which at the time I took to mean that I should probably start brushing my hair.

There was a point to this...yes, here it is: Why must a school that is supposedly among the best in NYC be reknowned for the hotness of its graduates? Sure, it's not as if Vanity Fair ought to be talking about the school's math offerings... The more important question, however, and one I would very much like to have answered, is why girls look so much conventionally "hotter" coming from a girls' school than a co-ed one, where male attention (or lack thereof) might be something of an influence?