<p>jc - I live in 107, baby! No stairs required :)</p>
<p>To keep this CC-related:</p>
<p>A benefit of Smith that I never really considered until I got here - the safety. As I mentioned before, I’m from New York, and I’ve always been very conscious as a young woman of my physical safety, especially when I’m walking at night alone. Here, I can walk through the entire campus at 4 in the morning, and while I’m going to keep my eyes open I’m not actively worried, and it’s really nice.</p>
<p>To keep this this-thread-related:</p>
<p>If you have any dietary preferences/needs, factor that into your housing decision. We’ve got a vegan/vegetarian dining hall, a kosher/halal, a mindful eating room, healthy options, one that stays open for dinner late (which is great if you’re planning on playing a sport, as you’ll probably have practice til after normal dinner time).
We love food here. We plan entire days around where we’re going to dinner that night. Seriously. Food. Think about it.</p>
<p>about the sensitive stomach and cooking for yourself: a co-op is not a good option. There is less choice of food than in a typical dining hall, where you might have 2 main courses, several side dishes, a salad bar, cereal, etc. available at each meal. The co-ops try and keep their food costs low and don’t employ people to cook, and it’s impossible to cater to everyone’s needs with it. I agree with S&P though that the dining hall staff (plus disability services, if needed) are very good about working with students. The Friedmans are a good option for senior year. And having very specific dietary needs is one way people get permission to move off campus.</p>
<p>As the father of an RD applicant, I’m reading the threads on all of the schools she’s considering. I have to compliment the current students and alums for the quality of the contributions to these discussions. You guys are doing a great job of providing useful information and guidance. Thank you.</p>
<p>re: safety: the most serious crime at Smith generally seems to be in the “bicycle gone missing” category. Not that losing one’s bike is fun. But, compared to the alternatives…</p>
<p>AC: it was the alums & current students that made my eyes widen about Smith way back when…</p>
<p>TheDad: As my username might tell you, I graduated from another school in the Valley and have great love and respect for all five colleges. I’m thrilled that my daughter is interested in three of them (sorry UMass and Hampshire) and hope that interest is mutual. It’s a great part of the world; a place where it’s almost impossible to be bored.
On the quality of the posters here, this discussion was started by a not-so-great question, but allowed those with useful things to say to steer it into something productive, with good advice, humor, and even a fun “Eureka!” moment when two dorm mates discovered they were both here.</p>
<p>The only thing I want to add to all the great comments here is my own experience: freshman year, I was assigned to Washburn (about 20 women – it’s right next to Neilson Library). Made some friends – liked it – but at the end of freshman year, I wanted something different, so I did room draw and put down 3 houses. I got my first choice (Martha Wilson) which was (is?) the biggest house on campus. What I’d found is that even though you make friends in classes, you spend the most time with the people in your house, and I just wanted a bigger pool of people to draw from. Also, I found that living right next to all the academic buildings made me feel like I should be working all the time. I wanted to create a little more distance between me and school, so I chose the Quad so I could “walk to school” in the morning. So if you choose one house and then it’s not what you thought, give it a chance but it’s no big deal to switch to another one.</p>
<p>When the housing preferences paperwork arrives, you will be asked which of several general house groupings you prefer: Green Street, Upper Elm, Lower Elm, Quad or something like that, I’m a bit fuzzy about the grouping names. Within those groupings, you can make specific comments, positive or negative. My daughter wanted Elm Street because she knew most of her classes would be in Seeley, Neilson would be nearby, and she liked the idea of being close to town. She got what she wanted, Baldwin, and has been very happy there. What’s not to like being right next to the Hungry Ghost Bakery? So try to operationalize your needs as you imagine how you will use the campus.</p>
<p>AC: ah. <em>that</em> AC. I was wondering. I’d come up with “air conditioning” or “Active Corps,” two wildly different directions. As is often the case, reality is much more mundane, eh?</p>
<p>Anyway, as long as you weren’t on AC’s hockey or LAX team (I forget which it was that I was warned about), it’s all good.</p>