<p>Thank you, Teenage_Cliche, for saying what needed to be said next. The admitted students weekend is all about them and everything is geared to making them feel welcomed and informed. My daughter as a Gold Key guide will most likely be hosting a prospie that weekend and probably several of her friends will, too, so for the overnight they’ll probably all hang around together, answering questions and making the prospies comfortable. They WANT to do this. They remember how confusing and stressful the whole decision-making process is and they want to help and share their love for Smith. Please let us know if she changes her mind or not about the overnight. Maybe I can have my daughter PM her or something to allay her fears.</p>
<p>Discovery Weekend is a very special thing - it is NOT simply an overnight, and not just an admitted students event. It is specifically designed for minority students, and is different than any other weekend organized for minority students that I know of. This is because it is scheduled to coincide with Collaborations, the Smith showcase for student research. Smith sees minority students first of all as potential scholars and organizes Discovery Weekend this way to stress that. It is not simply Open Campus Day.</p>
<p>Alexpappas, even if you do get into Dartmouth or Princeton, I encourage you to come to the Smith Open Campus with an open mind. Try to think very carefully about what kind of environment you thrive in; mainly, do you like competition to be inter- or intra-student? Smith offers something completely different from those two schools. It also has no distribution requirements unless you want to be eligible for Latin Honors.</p>
<p>@ CarolynB: I will definitely consider it. I loved Smith so much. There was a very different atmosphere and dynamic at Smith than at Princeton and especially at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Mini makes a good point. Also, Open Campus is not the same thing as Spring Preview day, in case people are mixing those up on the website.</p>
<p>No luck with Princeton or Dartmouth. I’ll definitely be at Smith on the 14th! 
My parents are telling me to go with Saint Joe’s and the 12k they gave me per year. This will be a very hard decision.</p>
<p>Finally all the decisions are in. D got into Tufts and Hampshire today. Still trying to convince her it’s worthwhile to go to the open campus at Smith…</p>
<p>My bad. I thought that Discovery Weekend was the STRIDE/Zollman research day that preceded Open Campus.</p>
<p>I will be going to Open Campus and Discovery Weekend! ahhhh, I’m so excited :)</p>