<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I am trying to decide between Smith (as a Zollman/STRIDE Scholar - gaurenteed research position with faculty freshman and sophomore year) and Carleton College (as a William Carleton Scholar). </p>
<p>I visited Smith this past weekend and had a mixed experience. I identified much more with the Juniors and Seniors I met - I connected with the more well-spoken women soon to graduate than with my peer students. In addition, I sensed a "shift" in what it means to be a Smithie - I got the impression that, unlike in the past where going to Smith was a move of feirce defiance of a culture that disuaded women from attending college, now it was a champion of "women's learning," which I don't buy. Many of the prospies were the "sheltered" or "awkward" types. This was just my experience. I did love the professors and campus, and the gaurentee of research as well as many opportunities to do things in the summer/school year.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have visited St. Olaf (a neighbor to Carleton) and I really loved the vibe there and in the midwest in general. I found the students I met as part of the Buntrock Scholarship program much more intelectually stimulating than at Smith, and I liked having guys around. A lot. But there is no gaurentee of researching with professors at Carleton, and there are much more limited opportunities of academic endevours durring the summer. </p>
<p>Help!</p>
<p>maddie,</p>
<p>Hard decision! My son has been struggling with his own decision, but some of things we have done that helped: spending a full day “as if.” Pretend for that day you have made up your mind and you are attending either school. Write down your feelings, positive and negative. Wash and repeat the next day for the other school. For my son, a clear winner emerged. We love the “vibe” in the midwest, and the vibe you feel is your intuition telling you “these are my people.” However, St. Olaf’s is not Carleton. Maybe someone else can help explain more about that. I am a big believer in listening to your feelings.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you do not want your Carleton space, my son would really, really love to get off the waiting list :).</p>
<p>I would agree that the vibe is very different between Carleton and Olaf - hard to explain, but you should visit both campuses.</p>
<p>Not sure what major you’re thinking about, but at Carleton, you have to do a senior thesis to graduate. In the sciences, that means going out and doing some independent research, either with a Carleton prof or through an NSF-funded program like REU or Keck. (This seems to be widely available in the social sciences/humanities as well, I’m just less familiar with those, maybe someone else in those fields will chime in). You WILL do research at Carleton - they don’t explicitly guarantee it because it’s just assumed that if you want to do it, you will do it. This research experience will make you highly desirable to grad schools.</p>
<p>However, I wouldn’t necessarily dismiss Smith out of hand just based on who you happened to prospie with - maybe you wouldn’t necessarily hang out with those people, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the school overall isn’t right for you. The good news is that you have a lot of good options here. It probably feels like a wrong decision would be a HORRIBLE LIFE-ALTERING EVENT right now. That’s totally normal…but even though it doesn’t seem like it right now, you will probably be happy at any of these options. I am obviously hugely biased in that I think everyone should go to Carleton because it’s amazing, but really, you should go with the one that feels most like home :)</p>