Can a "mainstream" girl find a place at Smith and/or MH?

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes. To quote Wikipedia:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>In addition to the businesswomen, there is a very large legal/judicial contingent.</p>

<p>Of course, there are also the journalists: Diane Sawyer, Lynn Scherr, Linda Wertheimer and Cokie Roberts et al. And the academics, including Nan Keohane who was the first–and only to date, AFAIK–female president of Duke.</p>

<p>And two Secretaries of State. And so forth.</p>

<p>And many less well-known alums on the boards of various non-profits, chairwoman of the PTO, leading light of the League of Women Voters (in former generations, anyway), and so forth. To minister, not to be ministered unto.</p>

<p>Regarding your question about letting the freak flag fly, in my experience, in-your-face-for-the-sake-of-it individuals are a minority at W. Much more common is the person who just does her own thing because it is who she is and she isn’t particularly into hair and makeup at the moment. But it is important to note that my knowledge of that aspect of student life is severely out of date.</p>