<p>Unfortunately, that phobia is going to follow you wherever you go. After all, bugs are ubiquitous.</p>
<p>Oh great, MWFN, just great: what if K has a phobia about being followed? Now you’ve made the poor lass miserable wherever she goes, looking over her shoulder for trailing phobias.</p>
<p>What if she is followed by ladybugs?! 
</p>
<p>This phobia of bugs is going to be an issue regardless of where you go. I’ve been in the midwest this year, and one of the dorms on campus had an “infestation” of ladybugs almost exactly like the one described in this thread. So that problem is not unique to Smith, Massachusetts, or even the northeast. It’s not a reason to rule Smith out…any college is going to have some kind of problem with some kind of insects at some point.</p>
<p>After reading your post, I checked the bug status with my daughter who just finished her first year at Smith. She said there was not one ladybug/beetle in sight. Never a bee in her house either. School ended in early May so she left MA before seeing a mosquito. Do I think these bugs are on campus? Probably, but perhaps not in huge swarms on a regular basis. </p>
<p>If your bug phobia is truly keeping you from colleges which would otherwise be ideal, I hope you will seek treatment. This phobia will limit your post-graduate and career options, too. It cannot be easy living in terror of organisms which are fairly ubiquitous. If you were my daughter, I would find a professional to help. There are therapies which target phobias.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Keilexandra, a quick call to facilities (or whatever they call it at Smith) will take care of any infestations. No, they won’t come and kill a single bug, but if you have problems with large numbers of a species, they will take care of it.</p>
<p>I know that this fear is nothing to make light of. But I’m serious: bugs are everywhere – in every state, at every college, in every house. Don’t let your college choices be ruled by this since bug problems may be much worse at other colleges – you just haven’t heard about them.</p>
<p>If you have a paralyzing phobia, please heed je ne sais quoi’s advice. I suspect that, as you mature, you’ll be able to handle insects better, although you’ll never shrug them off. It’s okay. I still get a huge ewwww factor when I see certain types or large numbers of one type.</p>