<p>I'm a senior in HS and I love Smith. It's my favorite school, and I just wanted to hear a little more about it. </p>
<p>First, what were your favorite courses? Did any course you took surprise you in a positive way? Who were your favorite professors? I'm a science person -- but I'm interested in hearing about courses across all disciplines. </p>
<p>Second, I know that each house sort of has a different "personality". Did you like the house/ area of campus you picked for your first year? Did you get your first pick? How well did you connect with the students in your house?
I'm studious and I definitely want a strong house community but not a big party scene. Where on campus would I fit?</p>
<p>and finally -- about me. Smith is SO awesome and I'm pretty positive its where I want to go. I also think I have a very solid chance of getting in. Should I still apply ED? What are the benefits? The drawbacks?</p>
<p>THANKS!</p>
<p>Without a doubt, the course that changed my life was “Making the Modern Middle East,” taught by Dr. Daniel Brown, who sadly, no longer teaches at Smith, but the course is still being offered. It completely blasted open a new world for me and made the Middle East my focus area for the rest of my education, and my post-Smith work. </p>
<p>Other courses I really enjoyed were Squash I (it’s the sport with the little rackets), U.S.-China relations taught by Michael Klare, author of Blood & Oil, Global Terrorism, Arabic, and American Literature Before 1865. And so, so many more. Film Studies was a surprise for me how much I enjoyed it, kind of wish I could’ve majored in that too! </p>
<p>I got my first choice of housing area, Center Campus. Definitely not my first choice of house, I was placed into Cutter, the ugliest house on campus. Despite being devestated when I found out, I fell in love with that ugly sucker and made all of my good Smith friends there, and was house president for 1.5 years. </p>
<p>If you’re totally in love, then apply ED. The only draw back is that it may make it less likely that you’ll be offered a merit scholarship (Smith offers so few, they use them to sweeten the deal for students that have offers from other schools and ED students don’t have those). Also, you won’t be able to compare financial aid packages. Smith says it’s aid packages are at least within $1,000 of those offered by peer institutions. That 1,000 may not make a huge difference to you, but it also may be a turning point. So if aid is a major factor, I would wait and apply RD so you have the opportunity to compare at least.</p>
<p>I’m a first year so I haven’t taken that many courses yet but for me I like all of my six classes for the most part.</p>
<p>Listing my 2 non-music classes because they probably are more relevant to you:</p>
<p>**-CHM 111 **with Professor Queeney: Awesome, she structures the class so everyone can take one step at a time and be able to ask her questions during and outside of class despite your background in science. Her tests can be quite difficult but it is very doable if you seek help from her or the tutors. Hw isn’t that much, 2-4 problems due for every class that take anywhere from 30 min. to an 1.5 hrs. She seems to have a really good reputation here for how she teaches. (Actually, am not scared of science, now)
-French 120 with Professor Gosnell: He’s really nice. He encourages everyone to speak and participate without being condescending. Lots of hw but very doable. He always gives a 2 week syllabus so everyone can have a heads-up and plan their studying in 1-2 week increments (tests and papers every one-two weeks).</p>
<p>I love my music professors, they’re all really great and challenging. Due to my background in music, they make sure that I’m always on my toes and push me to be my best.</p>
<p>Housing</p>
<p>I did not get my first choice area in housing, but my third choice area and not one of the houses I wanted (I really wanted a single last summer). I’m currently in a HUGE double that has 3 closets which the third closet that I share w/ my roommate is a walk-in closet! I live in Sessions house which is haunted and I love it! We have a great house community. We like to do things as a group, i.e. lazer tag, roller skating, eating meals together at Cutter-Z, going to parties, movies, and just hanging-out. We also have lots of traditions for Mountain Day (disco breakfast), Halloween (searching for the secret staircase in the house), and etc. I could not be happier and cannot imagine living in any other house!</p>
<p>I applied ED and was able to relax after learning of my acceptance to Smith. It’s really nice to be able to enjoy the rest of Senior year of HS and to get Smith gear for Christmas. But I DO agree with S&P, if you are looking to get a ton of financial aid or looking for merit you should weigh your choices. For me, I didn’t want to pay all of those app fees and audition fees when I knew where I wanted to attend.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! I really appreciate hearing your about your experiences. </p>
<p>S&P, do you know the criteria they use for selecting STRIDE? Like, what weighs most heavily? (i.e. if I PMed you my stats would you be able to let me know if I had a chance?)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be able to tell you because the STRIDE process is honestly pretty murky. What I can say is that out of a class of 600-700 or so incoming first-years, 30 or fewer of them will have STRIDE scholarships and a handful of others (I would wager less than 10) will have Zollman scholarships or one of the other merit scholarships. It’s really a very, very small pool and even though they’re called “merit scholarships” there doesn’t seem to be a direct correlation between achievement and receipt. For example, there’s no GPA/SAT/extra-curricular level you have to get to in order to “qualify” for one. You get one because Smith wants to entice you to come to their school over other schools and they aren’t going to give you other forms of aid to do that. There can be a number of reasons why they want to go the extra-mile to get you to enroll, and in my opinion those may or may not have to do with your actual academic or personal achievements</p>
<p>Basically, the chances of anyone, getting merit aid are so slim, that I wouldn’t let it deter you from applying ED if you have your heart set on it. If money is a major issue though again, you should wait for RD so you can compare packages and to make yourself more competitive for merit aid. If it’s sort of a situation where extra money would be nice but not essential, then continue with your plan to apply ED. I don’t know anyone who applied ED who ever received a merit scholarship, but then again, I only know one person period who got a merit scholarship at all from Smith.</p>
<p>In terms of academics, I’m a complete opposite as a gov/spanish major + I’ve taken no science classes (which should change, I know!) but I’ll for sure give my $0.02:</p>
<ol>
<li>My first year, I loved Pat Coby & Alice Hearst (both in the gov dept). Coby taught an amazing First-year Seminar I took called Reacting to the Past which is taught at a bunch of different colleges and is essentially 2-3 of several several different historical roleplaying games to sum it up. The class has a bit of a cult following here at Smith, actually. This year, I’m taking a great Western Classics comparative lit class with Ann Jones and an International Politics class with Tim Rubak who is just so endearingly nerdy, which I both love. I would definitely recommend taking at least one economics class or even attending Women & Financial Independence’s non-credit lunch seminars since it’s a topic I’m so glad I understand better, esp. with current events and the like.</li>
</ol>
<p>My first year, I lived in Capen/Upper Elm. Elm Street is kind of a grab bag of houses (which is why I indicated I wanted to live there on my housing form) and Capen has the cemented rep as “the quad house off the quad” meaning it can get pretty rowdy. I liked how many different types of people there were in the house and I liked the balance between work and play. Though I would def rec to not live in the quad or a house with a louder rep if that’s not your thing. However, I did end up making the decision to move to a co-op since I really wanted to live in one/have that experience. Plus a lot of the folks I was close to in Capen were either moving out or going abroad. The 2 co-ops on campus aren’t open to first-year or incoming students, but I’ll give you more info about mine if you want. In terms of house community, it really changes every year- like Capen was known for having less house community than it did when I was there + it depends on whether you “mesh” with the other residents. imho anyway Green Street houses have some of the strongest communities I’ve seen so definitely look into that area as well.</p>
<p>Obvious benefits are a higher ED acceptance, since only so many applicants admitted RD enroll, thus Smith wants to “lock up” as many as possible earlier on + if you were accepted & decided to enroll, you would be done applying to college. As others have noted, you may get less fin aid, if applicable, since there’s less incentive. But other smithies who have been accepted ED have gotten good packages so it kinda depends. And of course, you would be “locked up”, if accepted/enrolled, but clearly you don’t have a problem with that.</p>
<p>“I don’t know anyone who applied ED who ever received a merit scholarship, but then again, I only know one person period who got a merit scholarship at all from Smith.”</p>
<p>Search the Smith forum for post from TheDad (I think that’s his screen name). I recall his posting regarding ED students receiving STRIDEs - - but I suspect that the larger awards (Zollman and MMD) go to RD candidates.</p>
<p>My D applied ED and got a nice financial aid offer although not a merit scholarship it made it possible for her to attend.</p>
<p>There are trade-offs with ED. The general wisdom is that you should not apply ED, even if you’ve identified a dream school, if you need financial aid. But if you’re on the cusp and could swing it if necessary, then getting in ED takes a lot of pressure off senior year.</p>