<p>My D and I attended a party for Smith prospects from the Los Angeles/Pasadena area yesterday.</p>
<p>There were somewhere between 15 and 20 current students there and I was paying close attention when they were saying what they didn't like about the school. Several mentioned the weather (SoCal girls), several expressed reservations about the size of Northampton (though I think they all said they got used to it), one the lack of guys, one the elimination of each house having its own dining room, one by how much Smith was a "bubble" from the real world, one by how PC Smith could be.</p>
<p>On the positive side, it was their houses (dorms), their professors and classes, and "everything." </p>
<p>If Alison, Andrea, or Danielle are reading this, good luck on your applications and making a decision.</p>
<p>Mr. B, good grief...no. The Smith Alumnae Society does the job quite nicely and the woman who runs the shebang graduated from Smith the year before I was born.</p>
<p>YB72, none of the current students mentioned any thing about the lesbian presence though one them was very "out" and apparent and I know that one of the others is same and suspect a couple of more...but what difference does it make?</p>
<p>It did have a couple of conversations with parents along the lines of what Smith was like for a straight daughter and that it had been a concern of mine but they she investigated and felt perfectly comfortable. As one of the girls who joined one of the conversations said, "If someone makes a pass at you and you're not interested, it's the same 'No, thank you' no matter which side it's coming from."</p>
<p>Gay-intolerant is probably the one demographic I'd flat out recommend against considering Smith. Cultural conservatives in the "Red State" sense can get some flack but they seem to do okay there for the most part.</p>
<p>There are some who say that you can't be feminist without being lesbian but you can find that fringe anywhere. The majority at Smith are straight and from several dozen at three Smith parties, no one has ever broached this as a problem.</p>
<p>I have NEVER, in 2.5 years at Smith, heard anyone get picked on for having a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. Or for being bisexual. Or for being single. </p>
<p>I think it might be true that straight students tend to have more straight friends and gay students tend to have more gay friends, because sometimes you just have similar interests and activities (like going to an Amherst party to look for men, or a Spectrum meeting to plan the Coming Out dance). But I go to Amherst parties and Spectrum meetings, and have friends of all persuasions--and that's really common.</p>
<p>I think people who have a difficult time understanding or accepting the concept that not everyone thinks alike or is the same as them, will have trouble in higher levels of learning. Sometimes Gays or lesbians will appear to be more prominent someplace where they are accepted because they are free to not hide; and because people tend to go where they are accepted.</p>
<p>Mr. B & Stacy, thanks for two good answers. The worst problem I've seen at Smith regarding sexuality was someone who was bi and remarked that she wasn't straight enough for her straight friends, not gay enough for her gay friends. I thought it was sad but it's also only a single data point filtering one person's experience.</p>
<p>I went to a Smith party as well, though in the NorCal area- it was great. I really began lovin the school more after- which would make it a thousand times worse if i get rejected! I wish they hosted it before early decision 2 deadline- I would have applied.</p>
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The worst problem I've seen at Smith regarding sexuality was someone who was bi and remarked that she wasn't straight enough for her straight friends, not gay enough for her gay friends.
<p>What airport does your daughter fly into when she goes to Smith? (Albany, NY; Boston, Ma) Is their convient transportation from the airport to the school? I drove to the campus and don't remember seeing airport signs in Northampton.</p>
<p>Wondrist - When was the party in NorCal? I thought we were on their list. Oh well.</p>
<p>I would expect the weather to be a little bit of a challenge for a Southern Californian, but fortunately they did get that winter break.</p>
<p>In Palo Alto? Hopefully i'm talking about the right party, it was held by the pacific alumnae club ..ok they had a longer name but omething like that.. i think boston is more conveneient, because NY is farther away</p>
<p>Mr.B, most Smithies fly out of Bradley Airport (Hartford, Conn.), about 45 minutes away by shuttle. When my D needs to carry her French horn, she's flown in/out of Boston and maybe New York is doable though it's a little further away...she has the ground transport from Boston to Northampton wired. (Flying with the horn she takes larger aircraft so that the horn can be an additional carry-on that fits on the floor of the garment bag closet...smaller aircraft she'd be SOL and the horn is not something that one would risk to being checked.)</p>
<p>Wondrlst, I understand. D didn't dare apply ED because she needed to weigh FinAid offers. Also, she wanted to see what happend with HYS though, after all the input from a gazillion sources and visits, Y is the only one that I <em>might</em> take over Smith if it were my decision. We were all coming down from a Smith "high" when we visited Y and I know that at least I kinda blinked when a senior administrator, who was taking us to lunch at Y's faculty club, pursed her lips and said that Smith might be the better choice even if D got into Y. Alas, Y's adcom saved us the trouble of that particular dithering and agonizing.</p>
<p>TheDad....what a strange comment from the Yale adcom. My daughter and I found the opposite to be true, and sometimes quite amusing, when it was apparent to both of us that the school was not a good fit for my daughter and the adcoms were very forcefully insisting that it was.
I found the local parties to be very informative in many ways. One of the differences that was the resolution of the alums. We live near Chicago and were scheduled to attend 3 parties in the same week. All Northeast schools, all selective. It happened that there was a huge snowstorm that Monday and the temperature was in the teens. Smith's party was Tuesday and I wasn't looking forward to driving in the mess, but we did. There weren't many prospective students there but 20 to 30 alums attended. The Wednesday and Friday parties for the other schools were well attended by prospectives, but only 5 or 6 alums were there. And the weather was much better later in the week. My daughter was very impressed with the Smith alums she met and she said later that they were an important factor in her decision to attend Smith.</p>
<p>Moodle, sorry if I wasn't clear. It wasn't an adcom member at Yale that said that. It was a senior administrator, the ex-spouse of a friend...one of those informal channels kind of things. She thought that D would do fine at Yale but that Smith might have more to offer. Someone close in her family had gone to Smith and she was very familiar with it.</p>
<p>I've got to say that as groups, both the Smith alums and Smith current students impressed us. Of course, the parties involve some self-selection...only those who really like the school will attend...but nonetheless as people they all seemed pretty bright and articulate. In contrast, we went to a party for my D's safety LAC, also located in the Northeast, and the group seemed much more ordinary. Not to mention that this particular group had the least diversity of any we were exposed to...<em>all</em> upper- or upper-middle-class white kids.</p>
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Not to mention that this particular group had the least diversity of any we were exposed to...<em>all</em> upper- or upper-middle-class white kids.
<p>TheDad..I'm sorry...you were clear, I just misread your post. My mind must be occupied with thoughts of saying goodbye to my daughter again this Sunday. I thought it would be easier than leaving her at Smith, but I thought wrong.
She is excited to get back to school and her friends...the way it should be I guess.</p>
<p>Moodle, we pour ours onto a plane Sunday morning too. Keeping this vaguely on-topic, D has had a good time here at home but while she was here she got an offer for a 6-7 week research project at Smith, starting a week after school is out in May. She's also has a good chance for a position as a counselor at a ballet camp in July, so her summer home has just gotten very short. </p>
<p>The research appointment is one of those great things about Smith that I knew about in the abstract. I just didn't expect to deal with it in the concrete. It's a great opportunity for her but, like, wow.... I think we're going to meet her in NYC in May for some of the time between school being out and her job starting.</p>
<p>Our D comes home from India on the 19th and leaves to go back to Smith on the night of the 22nd (she is taking the red eye). I have hardly gotten to see her so I am kind of bummed. She is coming home for spring break which is good because she is now talking about going back to India to help with reconstruction work for a couple months this summer. It has been quite an eventful winter break for her. If you are interested, she and her dad (mini) are writing an internet journal of their experiences doing relief work at <a href="http://www.shantinik.blogspot.com%5B/url%5D">www.shantinik.blogspot.com</a></p>