<p>I've applied to Smith, and it's definitely one of my top choices. One of my best friends is a junior there, and from what i've heard, i'm incredibly excited about the possibility of attending in the fall!</p>
<p>I do have one question though: How in-your-face-liberal would you say Smith appears, on the whole? Speaking for myself, I don't really mind, however I have an interview at Smith next week, and my (fairly conservative) parents will most likely be with me for our visit. Since I have to convince them 1)to pay for me to go to Smith (I doubt I'll qualify for much, if any, fin.aid.)and 2) that this is a good place for their beloved daughter to live for the next four years, I'm wondering if I should be concerned that their first impressions will scare them away.</p>
<p>Any help/advice would definitely be appreciated</p>
<p>Before I arrived, Iâd read some things (mostly clashes between liberals v. conservatives) that concerned me, but I havenât found that to be a problem. Donât get me wrong, Smith is very liberal, but itâs not as in-your-face as I thought it would be. Youâll see some PDAs around campus, there are plenty of activist posters/flyers around, and some students definitely have a funkier style. I donât think itâs that different from other schools; Iâm relatively conservative and I havenât found the liberal-ness of the student body to be that prominent nor stifling.</p>
<p>Mykie, i visited Smith last summer with my mom and she had that conservative-parent reaction of ânorthampton is weird. the north in general is weird. look at all these weird people. do you really want to go to school with them?â (we saw ONE girl with dreadlocks- apparently that constitutes hordes of âweirdosâ) my mom is now pretty against smith. </p>
<p>i pretty much just decided to fight this battle when i come to it. i may not even get accepted, so why go all out of a school im not into and that might not end up being my top choice (i dont have a top choice at the moment). if you come up with any tactics that work, let me know!</p>
<p>inspiration08âi think the best âtacticâ for my parents is going to be talking with my friend who is absolutely in love with everything about Smith, and whom theyâve known for years. But youâre right, itâs probably best not to make it an issue until i know whether or not iâm in!</p>
<p>Anyway, from what iâve heard, Smith is a very open and accepting kind of place. I guess i was just worried that it might give the impression of being a little hostile or something. My parents already think itâs a little wierd that Iâm even considering a womenâs college, so theyâre already leaning a little against Smith, and Iâm wary of anything that might push them farther in that direction!</p>
<p>Iâm pretty sure though, that in the end, if i am accepted and itâs clear that this is the best place for me, they will eventually support that decision.</p>
<p>Iâm a parent of a first year student who is somewhat conservative when it comes to personal style and she has always felt welcome at Smith. Itâs a place where women feel comfortable because they are accepted for who they are. </p>
<p>A nice story to relay to your parents: My daughter came down with a rather serious illness that confined her to bed for several days. She received a great care package from one of her profs. Thatâs the kind of place that Smith is.</p>
<p>Bottom line: Parents need to remember that they are not the ones attending college.</p>
<p>Are you going on a tour when you come to interview? A lot may depend on your tour guide then. But weâre all trained to be as diplomatic as possible when giving tours, to be honest but also aware that your guidees may not share some of your inclinations. If youâre not touring, you wonât likely notice the campus as being âin your faceâ, just on a surface once over. I wouldnât be too concerned about it, if it becomes a problem, just remind your parents that this is the place you feel most comfortable and that college is a time to trust you that their values and parenting have taken enough effect that no matter what you might be faced with, you can handle it in a mature manner. Trust me, gets em every time ;-)</p>
<p>One solution is to have your parents contact other parents who have daughters attending Smith. I am moderate to conservative politically and on social issues, and my daughter is moderate to liberal in these areas. However, I respect the fact that my daughter and I may have different opinions. Talking or e-mailing parents (welcome to contact me) may be one way to convince your parents. I have been very happy to see the intellectual and personal growth in my daughter over the past three years. Smith is a great school-and unique in many ways. My daughter visited Smith four times (three on her own) before applying E.D. so I knew I could trust her instincts.</p>
<p>Oy. Brings back some memories from my first year and visiting experiences.</p>
<h1>1 donât ever let your parents discover the Daily Jolt.</h1>
<p>Overall, youâll hear a lot of Smithies say âWell, I thought I was liberal until I came to SmithâŠâ Itâs SO true- I was very liberal in high school in a way that I wanted to move to Canada, anti-patriotic/Bush, etc. I came to Smith and wow, I found women who were even further left than me. I felt pretty conservative! Nevertheless, itâs just a liberal campus but the most of all Seven Sisters and you have to remember that some of historyâs amazing women came out of Smith. They survived the campus that gave them their voices (part of the open atmosphere) that allowed them to shake the world.</p>
<p>Yes, there are lesbian PDAs but keep it to yourself. There are many, many other campuses in this country that canât give the same amount of freedom as Smith can and that allowed many of its students to grow tremedously over four years. Smithies debate and discuss serious things with each other because no one generally feels constrained. And the whole year I was at Smith, NOT one student was obstracized for her opinion even her rebuttals are respectful.</p>
<p>While Smithies, back in 2004-2005, werenât exactly kind to conservatives but Iâve heard that the relations have warmed since. </p>
<p>The tour guide, hosts, and junior/senior Smithies that I met were simply amazing- they were excited, confident, and diligent about making the most of their time at Smith. I havenât met a Smithie whose life was NOT touched by Smith. Even Smith changed my life and that was just for one year. Once your parents meet these women from the admissions office, theyâll be settled with the idea of you going to Smith. And as someone said, theyâre the ones NOT going to Smith but are paying for a very high quality education with dozens of opportunities to take advantage of for all four years.</p>
<p>Yes, Northampton is a âweirdâ town but you might want to change your parentsâ rheotric to âquirky.â Take them to some of the amazing restaurants there and then Herrellâs ice cream afterwards. One dining experience will make them want to come back for more! And the only way⊠would be to let you go!</p>
<p>For whatever it might be worth to your parents, the Smith alum page includes people like Barbara Bush, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, and Nancy Reagan. Smith also has a small but active Republican Club (or did four years ago when I visited with my daughter), and one member, whom my daughter knew, even worked in Karl Roveâs office during her junior year. We are a politically liberal family ourselves, but we try to be open-minded to all points of view. I have seen and talked with many Smith students over the past four years, and I have yet to meet anyone who was not polite, respectful, and thoughtful. Yes, if you walk around Northampton, you will see folks on the street who might seem âweirdâ to people not accustomed to urban street life, but Iâve never heard a single comment from my daughter about any negative experiences in her many forays into town. And, yes, if you walk around the campus, you may see students whose appearance or behavior some parents might not want their daughters to emulate, but all of the students whom I have met â as friends of my daughter â have been hard-working, serious, and responsible, with high standards and good-hearted goals â and who wouldnât want their daughter to emulate those qualities?</p>
<p>To all of you whoâve been kind enough to reply, and for anyone else who may be in a situation similar to mine:</p>
<p>My visit to Smith was AMAZING. Iâm desperately hoping that Iâll be accepted and find some way to pay for it, because i think iâm in loveâŠ</p>
<p>As far as my parents go, bringing them with me to Smith was the best thing i could have done. They were very impressed with the admissions staff and the various faculty members we interacted withânot to mention the students. We invited them to come with us (me, the friend i was staying with, and several of her housemates) for dinner one night, and they absolutely loved it. My dad remarked later that he had never seen a group of students who were so passionate about <em>everything</em>, and my mom commented that the students all seemed incredibly invested in Smith, and very proud to be Smithies.</p>
<p>I think the most important part of all this is that they were able to see me at Smith, interacting with students and faculty, walking around the campus, staying in the housesâŠand theyâre beginning to see why i feel this school fits me so well. Though it may not be a school they would choose for me, theyâre realizing that maybe thatâs the pointâthis is a school Iâve chosen for myself, a place where I feel I would not only be comfortable, but be able to thrive.</p>
<p>And to ticklemepinkâIâm all over the Daily Jolt situation. What they never read online canât influence their perception of SmithâŠ</p>
<p>Iâm glad your visit went so well, and I hope that the rest of the admissions process goes as smoothly. </p>
<p>Gub- The Daily Jolt is this company which creates websites for college students that are run by students on campus known as âJolt Fairiesâ. The actual site is pretty mundane, just info about whatâs going on campus, links to help you procrastinate, etc. But thereâs also a forum where students can post about pretty much anything, and they can do it anonymously. So people post about crushes they have, questions about campus procedures, but also about more incendiary topics. And since you can post anonymously, there are plenty of students who post just to start fights and drama or just to be mean, so it can be a nasty place.</p>
<p>Any college you visit will have âweirdosâ! My parents are uber conservative but they understand this is my life. I got an AD from a school in my country before and that had a really big mix of super rich kids or these so called weirdos! my parents loved that I was interacting much more with kids I would never meet in the part of the country (a very small, quiet town) I was originally from. I became more confident and my mother claimed (very embarrassingly at a large family gathering) that one of my younger cousins should apply there as âshe (I) became more smartassed, entertaining and opinionatedâ when i was there.</p>
<p>I certainly would attribute this change in me to the âweirdosâ i hung out with at college. You be creating your own little family when you move away from home and youâll certainly enjoy doing so. Your mother needs to understand that youâre growing up and you need to expand your horizons. I really hope we both get in so I can be your weirdo friend!! Good Luck!</p>
And the only way⊠would be to let you go!</p>
But i donât recommend it if youâre pessimistic!</p>