<p>What are some things you dislike about Smith?</p>
<p>I’d like to know as well.</p>
<p>I was a Smith student until May (woot, graduate!) so I think I can help a little. </p>
<p>Bureaucracy I would say is one of the major downers about Smith. Everything takes a lot of paperwork, and signatures, and has to be approved by the right chain of people, and even then sometimes it doesn’t work. Deadlines are pretty inflexible and blazing new ground (doing a new program or getting credit for something they haven’t given credit for) is a chore at best. </p>
<p>Also, it can be hard to get meetings with administration decision-makers also. The President is actually extremely responsive, so are the Deans, but getting an actual conversation with people in Residence Life, Housing, Student Affairs, and Dining can be like pulling teeth.</p>
<p>I would say those were my major frustrations when I was a student.</p>
<p>Thanks, I really appreciate your answer. As a Senior though, I’m unaware of how these things that you say are REALLY bad. I guess I don’t really have a firm grasp about the inner workings of college admins. Can you give me an example of how whese things could affect me directly?</p>
<p>Well, I guess they’re only “really bad” depending on what you want to do. For example, if you want to design your own major, do a study abroad program that’s never been done before, take a seminar before your junior year, plan a special studies class, or really anything that’s not out of the accepted Smith playbook, you run up against these challenges. </p>
<p>Similarly, if you need to change rooms or houses, or you’re trying to report something in your house that needs to be repaired, you want to make a complaint about dining, or you’re trying to organize a house party or an all-campus party, start an org, get funding for an org that already exists, organize an org function, rent a van from the Student Government Association so you can drive your org somewhere, in all of these instances and a hundred more, the bureaucracy thing can be an issue. Even adding and dropping classes can bring its own set of paperwork headaches. </p>
<p>I’m not saying these things can’t be done or that the bureaucracy is insurmountable (again, it just takes a lot of paperwork and the right signatures), but if you want my personal opinion on the number one thing I didn’t like about Smith, that would be it.</p>
<p>Are seminars normally limited to upperclasswomen? What if you come in with AP credits, etc.?</p>
<p>There are first year seminars, and in this “Welcome to Smith” booklet I got because I’m entering this fall says that seminars are open to sophomores. I do not know if that means one would need the prof’s permission or not.</p>
<p>My D took 2 seminars as a first-year, but both had been approved/forced on her by her advisor. Maybe she’s been lucky, but she’s found that being on good terms with her advisor is a kind of general sesame, even for unrelated admin. issues, like signing internship forms that do not exist in the US.
On the other hand, the French seminar was a disaster. She felt the prof resented her presence in class from beginning to end. When she participated, she was showing off; when she didn’t, she was being immature. All in all, the first and the last French class D will ever take at Smith.</p>
<p>Honestly I work at a large and famous University and I’d say that red tape is a fact of life in most academic settings but at least in a small school you may have more immediate access to the people you need to make things happen.</p>
<p>My D hasn’t had any trouble with red tape, although admittedly she hasn’t tested the system except when she fell ill her freshman spring. Since I work at another university, I happened to know who had to be contacted, and at once, and that paved the way for a relatively smooth adjustment. (Except for one prof who didn’t listen to the dean and docked my D ten points on a test she missed while in the hospital.)</p>
<p>For my D, the downside has been the slow renovation of some of the houses. Her house was in grave need of renovation since her freshman year, and now she’s entering as a senior, still without changes. The “dorms are like palaces” does not apply to her house. However, she would not trade her house for any other on campus. She loves it, through and through.</p>
<p>The other downside has been her major advising. I know several parents here think that’s the best thing about Smith; however, her advisor has given her outright wrong advice along with the good. This has to do with changing times, mostly, and the major requirements, which differ from the requirements of grad schools in the same field. Fortunately, we’ve been able to catch most of it, although she will be somewhat limited in the schools she applies to because she can no longer fit certain required courses into her schedule. (This does not mean that she doesn’t qualify for top programs, but that she doesn’t qualify for SOME top programs. At least that’s going to help her narrow her list.) Still, I think students have to take responsibility for their own futures, and that includes finding out what courses might be needed for the future. My D’s advisor has been very helpful and supportive in all other areas, and has shaped my daughter in ways a less involved advisor never could. And my D wouldn’t want another advisor. She loves her. She can drop in and chat when she wants, and the advisor is always available to answer tough questions. They have developed a close working relationship that probably wouldn’t have been possible at a large university.</p>
<p>Strangely enough, the areas that my D thought would be problematic – all women, in cold NE – never factored in.</p>
<p>There are first year seminars, and then there are regular seminars. Technically, anyone can register for a seminar, but if you aren’t a junior or a senior it can be 1) pretty difficult to get into them (upperclasswomen register first and get priority over underclasswomen) and 2) you have to fill out some paperwork and get approved by some academic board (I forget the official name), as well as getting the approval of the professor. </p>
<p>So it’s not that you can’t take seminars as an underclasswoman, but it’s harder and it requires jumping through some paperwork hoops. </p>
<p>And yes, red tape is definitely a fact of life, no matter where you go to school. I don’t think it’s particularly worse or better at Smith than at any other university or LAC in the country, but as I was involved in a lot of clubs and house government and student government things while I was at Smith, I came up against the tape quite a bit and it was definitely the thing that chafed the most. </p>
<p>Of course, as you can probably infer from my username, I loved every minute of being a Smith student and am proud to be an alum of Smith. But every college has its downsides too.</p>
<p>Smithie I’m curious how Smith defines a seminar - I thought it had to do with class size but I would have thought most non lectures would then qualify? My daughter will be taking a 240 level Spanish class that seems very small in size but apparently is not a smith seminar since it is not 300 level.</p>
<p>Generally when Smith students say seminar they mean 300-level classes, regardless of size.</p>
<p>There are smaller classes (one semester junior year three of my classes had eight or fewer students, one was a 100-level computer science course and the others 200-level math claseses) but these aren’t necessarily seminars. Mine just happened to be have low enrollment.</p>
<p>“Seminar” refers to a specific class structure: an upper level course that explores an special interest topic through reading, discussion, and student presentations. Seminars generally don’t have tests but instead require students to complete extensive research projects and/or papers which then get discussed in class. The professor lectures – particularly at first – to give the students background of the topic; however, depth is achieved through the assigned reading and subsequent discussion. It’s the kind of class that supposedly prepares students for graduate school.</p>
<p>From my daughter’s experience, the above definition holds true at Smith.</p>
<p>MWFN is correct, a seminar refers to a particular kind of class, as well as to a small class size. Seminars typically meet once a week, require extensive reading and heavy class participation (since seminars only meet once a week they have looooong classes, you better come ready to talk), usually at least one shorter writing assignment due every class, and then culminate in a big research project designed and pursued indepedently by each student. </p>
<p>Now there are also such things at Smith as Colloquia (colloquium? I dunno, someone good with latin help me out here) which are small classes open to everyone, especially underclasswomen. Colloquia are also limited in class size (usually between 15 or 20 people) and rely heavily on discussion and group participation but don’t require as much written work as a seminar. </p>
<p>Seminars are limited to upperclasswomen largely because they can be extremely demanding, and a student in a seminar needs to be pretty experienced at doing college-level work and accustomed to critical thinking at a high collegiate level. It can take a little while to develop not just those skills but also the neccessary time management skills to handle the advanced pace of the work load. </p>
<p>I really recommend that all of you who have a chance look into taking colloquia, they’re fun and you get a lot of out of them. But probably save the seminars for at least second semester of your sophomore year. </p>
<p>One note is that languages operate a little differently. Underclasswomen with advanced language skills may be placed into very high level courses that either are seminars or resemble them.</p>
<p>I definitely recommend colloquia if you can! It’s just one step down from a seminar. I agree that it’s better to wait until junior year to begin taking seminars. I took a seminar for my minor in second semester of my sophomore year and it was HARD in a sense of being able to match the critical thinking abilities of the seniors in my seminar. Work on your skills and knowledge first. You will also need to build up your stamina anyhow in order to sit through 3 hours of discussion.</p>
<p>For me, 3 major downsides that prompted me to transfer out:
- Location in terms of transportation access. I lived in upstate New York so it’s not really easy for me to get home form Smith so as a first year, I felt psychologically isolated because there wasn’t an easy way out. I didn’t have family in Boston. Getting to my aunt’s in Long Island was too much of a trip anyway.</p>
<p>2) Heavy political correctness on campus. You have to be very tolerant of all the freedom that goes on. This is also an all-women’s school so estrogen tend to… fly off the hook if someone uses an “improper” comment. This is also one of the very far left colleges. Republicans have been able to stick out and done well. So you can live just as so long you can tolerate other views.</p>
<p>3) Budget woes but that’s changed since I left in 2005. Sometimes I felt that Smith wasn’t putting money in the right places. At times, it seemed like it was heading towards being a technical institute because it was pouring money into the sciences, engineering, and graphic arts. And I wanted to major in history.</p>
<p>S&P: -um (singular) and -a (plural)</p>
<p>I think. :)</p>
<p>Smithiegr and S&P, if my ancient memory serves me well, I second your assertion about the endings of the singular and plural of the word “colloquium.” I believe the word’s gender is neuter, thus the endings you indicated. (Now everybody keep your comments above board!) :)</p>
<p>I find the PC to be annoying even if I agree with the stance on the particular item. D was used to being the moderate kid…at least in relative terms…in a liberal environment but Smith tested that, I think. (We live in city where people don’t have right hands. They have left hands and far-left hands. I pass as a “conservative” around here, royal LOL. In much of the country I’d be a flaming liberal.)</p>
<p>I haven’t found the heavy PC to be annoying, mostly because D hasn’t had any issues that I know about. The open gay community does cause problems with grandparents, though.</p>