<p>hello!</p>
<p>a good friend of mine just got off of the waitlist at Smith and is now deciding between Smith and Hampshire. As she has to let Smith know her decision by May 17th and she only found out she'd been accepted yesterday, she is fervently contemplating her two options. any advice to her? her areas of interest are photography and gender/women's studies. quick/timely answers are much appreciated due to her short time frame!!</p>
<p>thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I would appreciate Hampshire! To know is not enough, that’s great…</p>
<p>Tough choice! I am a big Hampshire booster, but Smith is an obvious choice for Women’s studies. To be sure, there are a lot of Hampshire gender and Women’s studies courses and projects, but I wonder if it is at the same level. Stature/prestige-wise, Smith is though of better than Hampshire. Our son took several Smith classes and felt that while they were quite rigorous and informative, they were utterly traditional lectures that contrasted enormously with his Hampshire discussion-based and active-learning coursework. Lastly, I don’t know about Smith, but Hamsphire’s photography/graphic arts courses are hugely popular and tend to be over-subscribed.</p>
<p>Of course, on the positive side, whichever choice your daughter makes, she can take courses at the institution she decided not to attend.</p>