<p>It's only one data point, but my D had a take home final for something like four days for her Math Analysis class. She clocked 29 hours on it...the lowest reported number for anyone in the class is 21.</p>
<p>Another girl has made the mistake of taking three Art History classes at the same time: absolutely drowning in papers.</p>
<p>You can have a lot of fun at Smith but the speed of the academic pitching is pretty fast.</p>
<p>I think D's general mood for the past several weeks can be summarized as "tired but happy."</p>
<p>That's pretty much what I've read about Smith, and other elite LAC's. Students tend to find themselves in a very academically rigorous setting, with great professors and oodles of choices for coursework. As one Smithie put it, "we all work our asses off, those who don't, won't be here long!" That about sums it up. As you know, because you have helped me before TheDad, my D's first choice is Amherst, but a very close second is Smith. We all were pretty impressed with our visit, and if Amherst doesn't happen ED, she will apply ED 2nd round at Smith. A very wise decision on the part of Smith admissions may I add. I'm sure your D will be fine. Most very intelligent students who get into those schools didn't have to work extremely hard in HS. This is a reality check for many of them; luckily they have great, helpful profs to see them through it.</p>
<p>Well said about "tired but happy" at elite LACs with "academically rigorous setting." Here I am, at another LAC, working on my 20 page history paper that I love and would be willing to stay up all night for.... (but I'm scared that this is going to turn into a 40 page paper, Da*mit!!!!). Even when I was at Smith, I was quite absorbed in work, and when I'm not in classroom, I find myself talking about intellectual topics. It's very true at Smith- it's easy to get the feeling that you're lazy if you're not on top of things intellectual-wise.</p>
<p>What is the engineering program like? I believe it's fairly new; recently accredited by the ABET (an engineering accreditation organization). Have there been many graduates of this program?</p>
<p>The engineering program is pretty general, I think, and I think the first class may have just graduated. But engineering is the one major that Smith is likely to throw some scholarship money at just because of the major...it's a program they're very intent on building. I'll have to paw through some of my "Smith" stuff...it's early morning for me and not all synapses are synaping yet but I seem to recall they have some pretty good reciprocal study agreements...Princeton??</p>
<p>The engineering program is very involved. My roommate last semester was in it- she loved every minute of it. She worked pretty hard- pretty much almost all of her free was consumed by her group projects for her classes. The first class graduated in 2004 and I think there are at least 160 majors and undeclared majors in the program. Almost all of her free electives are taken up by the requirements to fulfill the Latin Honors (basically, 4 other non-math/science classes). Very intense and demanding, but she felt it was worth every minute.</p>
<p>"What is the engineering program like? I believe it's fairly new; recently accredited by the ABET (an engineering accreditation organization). Have there been many graduates of this program?"</p>
<p>It is the only engineering program in the country (and that includes MIT and Caltech and all of the Ivies, including Princetn) that GUARANTEES, with a 3.5 GPA, admission to the graduate engineering programs at Princeton, Dartmouth, Tufts, Notre Dame, UMichigan, and Johns Hopkins. My d. says the students find it very, very intense.</p>
<p>Small clarification - the 3.5 GPA has to be maintained in the engineering courses as well as on an "overall" basis. I'm sure it's a very demanding program (as are most, if not all, programs at Smith). It probably prepares a student very well for further studies in engineering but I wonder whether it prepares a student for an entry level job in engineering? </p>
<p>I'm not an engineer so I know nothing about the field. I am, however, under the impression that a BS in Civil/Mechanical/Electrical engineering from a place like Purdue, for example, would serve as a stepping stone toward an entry level job. (Of course, there are many other factors to consider and I'm probably comparing apples to oranges!)</p>
<p>Please allow me to underscore: I know nothing about engineering and I don't mean to deprecate the Smith program in any way. I've heard extremely positive things about the school and about many of its programs. Engineering, however, is relatively new at Smith so I just have a few questions in my mind.</p>
<p>I'm grateful for some of the earlier comments.</p>
<p>I do know that a lot of the early discussion was focused on how to get women into engineering MANAGEMENT, where they are even rarer than on the technical side.</p>