Mayfield students encounter strong female role models every day, and take on the school’s major leadership roles—from class president to Eucharistic minister—with pride. Studies have shown that students at single-sex high schools outperform their peers in a co-ed environment in all areas: academics, leadership, community participation, and personal development. 

A UCLA study published in March 2009 also noted significant differences between single-sex and coeducational alumnae in the areas of self-confidence, political and social activism, life goals, and career aspirations. Among the report's key findings:

• Women who attended single-sex schools tend to outperform their coeducational counterparts
  Mean SAT composite scores (verbal plus math) were 43 points higher for female single-sex graduates in the independent school sector and 28 points higher for single-sex alumnae in the Catholic school sector.
• Graduates of single-sex schools enter college with greater confidence in their mathematical and computer abilities
  The gap in math confidence is most pronounced in the independent school sector, where 48% of female graduates of single-sex independent schools rate their math ability "above average" or in the "highest 10 percent," compared with 37% of independent coeducational female graduates.
• Confidence in computer skills is higher among female graduates of single-sex independent schools 
  Thirty-five percent of female graduates of single-sex Catholic schools rate their computer skills as "above average" or in the "highest 10%" compared with 27% of their coeducational counterparts.