<p>Hello, I am a prospective Smithie who applied RD and is waiting to hear if she got in. I'm crossing my fingers!</p>
<p>I have a question for any current/alumna Smithies: I know that the population of each house changes each year, but in general, which houses are considered best to live in at Smith College, and what are the stereotypes of the different houses? what are the stereotypes of the different areas (ex. quad, etc.)</p>
<p>I mean in terms of rooms, bathrooms, location in relation to other places, kinds of women, food, common living area, size, how old the building is, where everyone wants to be housed, general awesomeness, strictness, and any other factors that I might not have listed. haha...</p>
<p>Do you have any house-specific activities where you spend time with your specific house members?</p>
<p>Also, which houses might be the best for an outgoing girl who wants to meet a lot of different people and have a good social life? Which houses are known to have the most drama? And which houses are the most cliquey?</p>
<p>Sorry if any of these questions are irrelevant! And if anyone else has any questions about housing, feel free to ask!</p>
<p>Hereâs the thing - questions like âwhich is best?â or âwhich has ____ types of people?â are really not the best things to ask, because youâll drive yourself nuts trying to find answers that donât exist.</p>
<p>The best way to choose a part of campus to live in as a first-year, imo, is to ask questions that actually demonstrate your values and can be pretty easily answered. Examples - How far away a walk do you want to be from the library? From the gym? From the music building? From the Campus Center? From town? Do you want to have to cross a street to get from classes to home? How important is it that people are quiet at 10 PM/12 AM/2 AM? Do you really, really want a single? Do you want a house with a dining hall? Do you want to be close to the bus stop that takes you to the other colleges?</p>
<p>There are loud people, quiet people, dramatic people, annoying people, drinkers, smokers, etc in every house. Youâre better off not asking about the people but rather about the physical aspects of the house, because we can actually answer those questions.</p>
<p>Iâve also been wanting to ask the same questions, and I also think thereâs many people out there whoâs also curious. I wanted more detail regarding the houses so it would be really nice if anyone could tell us which houses have what stereotypes or whatâs unique about each house and such.</p>
<p>hey guys check out the âsmith college class of 2015â facebook page.
i had heaps of questions too and the discussion forum there really helped. from what iâve been reading, the quad is good if you are into parties and stuff - but it is far from academic buildings.</p>
<p>I agree with teenage cliche, this is a sort of silly question and bound to lead to a lot of mis-information, because houses are extremely fluid entities. Houses that have a really collegial atmosphere one year may turn out to be very quiet and have no cohesion the next year if the main social centers graduate or go abroad and if the new first years coming in are quieter and more reserved. Trying to determine the character of the house is something that will drive you crazy and lead you astray nearly every time. </p>
<p>The general stereotypes by campus area usually break down to : Quad = parties, Green Street = nerds, Elm Street = who knows. But of course, those donât hold up even in a general fashion upon close examination. </p>
<p>So the best thing you can do is to stay focused on what you can concretely determine: do you want a large house (largest houses are in the Quad); do you want to be close to your classes (and keep in mind being close to humanities/art classes and being close to science classes mean different things). Are you an athlete or an actress (in which case you probably want to shoot for Green Street, close to the gym and theater or music building.) Do you want to be close to town? Do you want to get a single early on without moving houses (make sure you look on the housing website to see the ratio of double to single rooms)? </p>
<p>And in the end, just try to be relaxed about it. I was distraught about the house I was originally placed into (Cutter), determined that it would horrible and would ruin my whole Smith experience. Turned out to be (IMO) the best house on campus, we had a ton of fun, I met my best Smith friends, and had the most attractive little single sophomore year.</p>
<p>All houses have house-specific activities. </p>
<p>S&P is right, the character of a House changes from year to year.</p>
<p>D loved Green Street: could go to parties on the Quad, come home and leave the noise and mess behind. Could roll out of bed in and be in a class in Seelye, seated in less than five minutes. Fwiw, Green Street is close to the performing arts, science & engineering, and athletic facilities.</p>
<p>The houses are all being renovated on a rolling basis, but I would say that they all have pretty similar bathrooms. One house bathroom is pretty much like another. If you dig around on the Smith website you might be able to find a schedule of planned renovations for each house, but theyâre essentially starting with the oldest houses and working their way forward. I think Park and Chapin have the best views, if you can get rooms facing the pond. Chapinâs a bit hit or miss though, the rooms facing the pond are nice but the rooms facing the lawn and the campus center can be really noisy. Also, Chapin doesnât serve breakfast because they do grab nâ go lunch, so even though they have a dining hall, you have to go elsewhere in the morning for breakfast. </p>
<p>You can tell which houses are closest to the library or classes simply by looking at the interactive campus map on the Smith website. Seelye is the main library, but there is also Bass the science library and Hillyer the art library. Which houses are closest to your classes will depend on where the bulk of your classes are. If you are a humanities or language student, most of your classes will be in or around Seelye. If you are planning to study science, engineering, or math, your classes will be mostly in Sabin-Reed and Burton. EXCEPT for Organic Chemistry, which is taught in the big hall on the edge of campus, next to the alumnae house and across from the art museum (I forget the nameâŠ)</p>
<p>Closest to the bus stop that goes to the mall and the other colleges would be Elm St. Specifically, Northrop and Gillett, though pretty much everything on Elm St that isnât Baldwin or Albright.</p>
<p>Any house that does not have a dining hall will have a full kitchen that students can use. Youâll still have to pay full room and board though. Also, the dining hall staff tend to be very friendly towards people with special dietary needs, so they may be able to work with you to make sure that you have something to eat. Meals are a major social occasion, so I would recommend trying to go to the dining halls with your friends, even if you can only eat a few things at that meal (salad, fruit, etc.) When youâre a sophomore you can apply to live in one of the co-op houses, where students make all their own meals (Thereâs a collective house dinner and then individuals provide their own breakfast and lunch. Residents pay large house dues that are put towards food purchases for the house. Residents also do much of their own cleaning.) There are also Friedman apartments where students live in four person apartment style houses and do all their own cooking and cleaning, but Friedmanâs are so popular that pretty much just seniors can get them. </p>
<p>Also, be mindful that some of the upper elm houses can be a bit far from the bus stops. Albright and Baldwin are farther than the other elm street houses, but are also closer to downtown, so thatâs a trade off. But Capen and some of the other back area elm houses are a bit far from things (keep in mind this is all relative. If it takes you more than 5 minutes to get somewhere at Smith itâs usually considered âSO farâ).</p>
<p>It will be a while. Youâll get a packet of papers in I think May (maybe late April) and then you wonât get your housing assignments until the end of July/beginning of August.</p>
<p>Actually for Capen, Iâve manged to time myself to reach the third floor of Seelye under 7 minutes and 12 to Ford. I walk really fast and try not to talk to people on the way though - ha. The ways us Smithies try to max out our breakfast timeâŠ</p>
<p>Haha! Yes, well as i said, all things are relative. @jamlessberries -Yes, it will be a while. They donât send out the housing forms (which are part of a larger packet of forms you have to complete) until after the RD decisions are made AND the RD enrollment deposits are given. They send them out to all the students who are then planning to enroll.</p>
<p>Honestly, nothing is THAT far away (meaning more than 10 minutes if you walk fast, 15 if you walk Massachusetts speed). It takes me 5 minutes from Capen to Seelye (Iâve timed it, itâs exactly the length of Bad Romance) in my New York hustle, and I actually really like walking there and back, being able to stop and talk to people or listen to music or something. I wouldnât like living 40 feet from the library; I like the distance between my academic, social and house lives. But thatâs something worth considering.</p>
<p>Dearest Teenage_Cliche, are you a fellow housemate? Itâs sad because I live in the back corner of the first floor and rarely venture upstairs. Next time I suggest you try the Hong Kong hustle (itâs New York on steroids). ;)</p>