<p>I’m sure they are in the same couple of days, but I would like to know exactly when Discovery Weekend is. I believe Open Campus only takes place in one day while Discovery Weekend takes place over several days - probably only two?</p>
<p>Open campus goes Thursday-Friday…girls stay overnight with a current student…go home Friday. The weekend event is for underrepresented groups and goes to Saturday. There are special programs for those that stay for the weekend.
So the schedule would be April 19-20 for open campus and 20-21 for Discovery Weekend. Some people go to both parts so they programs overlap in a sense.</p>
<p>From official Smith web site: Discovery Weekend, a program designed for admitted students of color. All of our guests will be visiting classes, attending specially planned events, and staying in Smith houses during their time on campus.</p>
<p>Oh okay, thanks for refreshing my memory!</p>
<p>Yes, that’s open campus. April 19-20 is a Thursday-Friday.</p>
<p>@linhnyuyen: I don’t know if Smith is still sending early letters, I got mine last Thursday and it was postmarked Tuesday, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I think the majority of Smith’s RD admits are notified in late March, so even if you don’t hear back early, you may still be admitted then. Good luck! :)</p>
<p>Thank you for clarifying, Boss51!</p>
<p>Bossf51- do you remember if open campus begins that morning/afternoon/evening? For registration? I think it will be unlikely that I’ll have to be up there Wednesday night, but just checking.</p>
<p>Haha I had to edit that a couple times.</p>
<p>Registration begins about 9 am(Thursday) I believe and the events go on all day for the parents and kids. Parents go home about 5pm, girls meet their hostesses for the night. They stay at one of the houses and the next day go to classes. etc. Then it ends about 4 pm or so.</p>
<p>Discovery Weekend people stay over Friday night into Saturday as well.</p>
<p>Of course not everybody has a parent with them. But the parents that come have plenty to do. They serve them lunch and the girls get some nice Smith “swag.” :D</p>
<p>Thank you Bossf51!! </p>
<p>Can’t wait to get free Smith “swag” :)</p>
<p>@mini:</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply, but I think a clarification is in order.
By writing “extremely limited,” I accounted for the number of seats available to the total pool of qualified international applicants competing for them, not how much financial aid is provided for those accepted.
I’m sure that Smith and other top liberal arts schools offer generous FAs for students who were accepted, but that does not change the fact that it is much more competitive for qualified international students to be accepted in the first place. </p>
<p>"What is the average financial aid package for international students?</p>
<p>The average financial aid package that Smith awards to International First-Year students is $40,800, which includes scholarships, loans and work study. However, it is extremely competitive because of limited funds."</p>
<p>This can be found from the FAQ section for international students applying for Smith College: [Smith</a> College: For International Students: FAQ](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/admission/inter_faq.php]Smith”>http://www.smith.edu/admission/inter_faq.php) </p>
<p>I hope this explains where international students get their impression of “extremely limited” financial aid funds. :)</p>
<p>Okay, but there are NOT extremely limited financial aid funds for accepted students. That would be misleading. They provided 100% of need (as they define it) for ALL students - both domestic and international. It is simply difficult to get in. No different than Harvard.</p>
<p>(I just made a contribution to international financial aid today, in recognition of “Pearls and Cashmere”)</p>
<p>Yes, I agree with both of your analysis on the financial aid and the competition for admission. As an international student, the difficulty of admission is more daunting than the worries of financial aid after I am admitted into a school. It’s reassuring to know that upon admissions, international students at Smith will have full coverage.
So thank you mini, for pointing this out. I respect you very much for your generosity and am very glad for the support that Smith alumni and benefactors provide to help us international students attend our dream colleges.
Smith College is really a wonderful institution and I hope that I will be able to survive the competition for admission so I am able to attend this school. :)</p>
<p>@GemStone777 - Sorry to interrupt but since you are an international applicant, just wanted to confirm if you have received any user id & password to track the status of your application online?! </p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED EARLY! WAY TO GO GIRLS!! :)</p>
<p>Thanks, Pripan.</p>
<p>Thanks, Pripan :)</p>
<p>@Pripan:
Hi, haha no problem 
To answer your question, I did receive a user id & password to track the status of my application. The web system should be called “Smith Bannerweb.” The website malfunctioned for several times when I tried to log on first but now it seems to be working perfectly. I was wondering, but the BannerWeb doesn’t tell us whether we got accepted or not, right?</p>
<p>Decisions are released on Bannerweb, but financial aid info is mailed to our residences.</p>
<p>I’m guessing they will release the decisions on Friday, March 30 based on last year’s date of March 25(last Friday in the month). They were supposed to come out at 6pm but actually it was roughly 4:30. So less than a month! Good luck all! :D</p>
<p>And believe it or not my d got her FA letter the very next day! We’re in CT so that may have had something to do with.</p>
<p>Bossf51- Actually, the early write letters said decisions will be mailed March 23 and available online that date. </p>
<p>I am in CT, also, and I received my early-write the day after but my friend in FL got hers the day before me, so maybe hers was mailed earlier?</p>
<p>Ok thanks good to know. Best of luck all.</p>