<p>I am considering going to the Smith Summer in Science and Engineering Program over the summer. Do any of you have Ds who went? What did they think of it? Thanks!</p>
<p>D went summer 2003 (pre-senior year). She wanted to determine if she really was a chem nerd (yes) and would want to attend a women's college (no). Loved the program and did like Smith! You take 2 two-week hands on courses of your choosing. She studied astronomy with a Smith prof (our hs does not have an astronomy course). When she returned she worked with a physics teacher to start an astronomy club. Her favorite was the Chemistry of Plastics course. Got into organic chem (for fun - imagine that!). Thrilled to make "slime" and study recycling and environmental impact. Visited a large plant locally that made plastic packaging materials - saw the largest rolls of those air-filled "love to pop em" material. And they did pop them for quite a while! She met the nicest fellow female nerds from all over. She would highly recommend it to you!</p>
<p>D also attended...pre-junior yr in summer of 2002. She took courses in astronomy and also robotics. Coming from CA, it gave her a good taste of college life in the east...and opened her eyes to possibilities out of state. The accommodations are wonderful...one of the best we've seen in terms of quality dorm life...especially the bathrooms! And, Northampton is a very quaint, artsy, type of town. Met some wonderful friends...one from New Hampshire and another from Pakistan...both eventually attended Smith. During D's decision-making college visits last spring, she met up with her Smith buddies for dinner. It was a great intro experience for her.</p>
<p>ArcherMom, as the board's resident Smith honk, I say thank you for the review of Smith. The dorms (Houses) are terrific as is Northampton.</p>
<p>Btw, since I finally worked out "Archermom" a while back...duh!...my D used to dance with one your D's classmates who is now at Barnard. Small world.</p>
<p>TheDad,
My pleasure. H & I love Smith...and D could have easily been in the Class of 2008. She passed up the opportunity to be a Picker Fellow. :( And I'll never forget the house she stayed in...just gorgeous! It was a far cry from my days in Hedrick Hall on the UCLA campus!!! LOL</p>
<p>And, yes, it is a VERY small world. D ran into that classmate while out with friends last week during winter break! D was hosting a spec a couple of months ago...turned out that the student roomed with one of D's classmates at a summer internship program! Amazing...</p>
<p>Archermom,
My D also was getting a taste of LAC's and east coast and loved the whole Smith feel. Seriously considered their growing engineering program. If only it had students of the other gender, it would have shot up her list. D and new friends went "into" Northampton every night for the terrific ice cream (TheDad: you would probably know the name of the vendor).</p>
<p>By the way, I'm a former Rieber Hall resident. Hedrick was 1/2 empty during my time in Rieber - that changed very quickly a year or two later when my sibs came along and couldn't get housing.</p>
<p>Maize&Blue: Herrell's Ice Cream.</p>
<p>ArcherMom...sounds like the whole world really is tightly interconnected.</p>
<p>somewhat dated information here but...</p>
<p>My D attended this program in the summer of 1999, following her freshman year in high school. She was not a science geek in particular but was particularly attracted to that summer's offering of a course in "A Civil Action," the book by Jonathan Harr about the ground water quality case in Woburn, MASS. Her class studied both the legal and biological aspects of the case. Jonathan Harr visited the class and discussed the book with them, as did legal and other experts. For their final presentation, which parents were invited to attend, the class staged a mock scene from the trial.</p>
<p>Well, she just loved her month at Smith. Not only were the days filled with great classes and interactions with profs, but the evening and weekend activities offered were tremendous -- evening drama classes on the dock by Paradise Pond, swing dance sessions in Northampton, weekend hikes of local mountains and a trip to Tanglewood. She met interesting young women from all over the world. </p>
<p>When we were driving home after her month at Smith, D sat in the back seat of the car with tears in her eyes. She said she had loved the month so much she hated to be leaving.</p>
<p>She would NEVER have considered a single-sex school were it not for her month at Smith that summer. We visited numerous colleges during her high school years and she never found one that compared to what she remembered experiencing at Smith. Smith later invited her to apply with a waiver of the app fee (I suppose a benefit of her being an SSSP alum -- this was just before the Engineering days so no "E") and she is now a happy member of the Smith class of 2006. </p>
<p>The same person who ran the program when my D was there (a Smith alum and current faculty member) is still in charge.</p>
<p>One of the best - if not THE best - things we ever did for our D.</p>
<p>How much does the Smith program cost?</p>
<p>Thanks so much, everyone.</p>
<p>achat: It costs $3,900. Here is the website: <a href="http://www.smith.edu/summerprograms/ssep/%5B/url%5D">http://www.smith.edu/summerprograms/ssep/</a>.</p>
<p>TheDad,
It really is...</p>
<p>Maize&Blue,
I recently discovered that Princeton & Smith will be having a semester exchange program for their top engineering students beginning in 2006 (?). This is give the students exposure to different approaches and/or methodologies to the way engineering is taught. It sounds like a wonderful program that acknowledges the value of the Smith program.</p>
<p>TheDad,
Just off the top of your head, does Smith offer a major in education? D2 has dual interests...loves children...thinking about a career in educational therapy...working with elementary school children with mild learning deficiencies...but she is also very interested in engineering/robotics. It would be wonderful to have options in the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>Archermom, I couldn't find our copy of the Smith catalog so I had to wait until D got home...yes, Smith has an Education major. There's also a Master's program in Deaf Education.</p>
<p>The Smith program sounds interesting. We've also been investigating the MIT women in engineering and computer science program and wonder how the two programs compare in terms of competitiveness and academic quality. The Smith program is for a broader range of ages, so I am curious whether it short changes the more advanced students or is flexible enough to suit the different levels. My daughter attended a program last summer that was for rising 11th and 12th graders, and it was kind of dumbed down to the least prepared of the students and was therefore somewhat disappointing.</p>
<p>I don't know about the MIT program, so cannot compare. I would describe the Smith program as being more enrichment than acceleration. Two courses, intensive hands-on for two weeks, each in lab settings (at least for the science courses). Field trips. Collaborative final projects which were presented at the end of each two week period to the other participants and any parents who came to the final one. My D, who had already taken AP Calc and AP Chem, did not suffer from a lack of stimulation.</p>
<p>Maize&Blue - That's helpful to know your D felt the program was stimulating enough. I was just wondering because of some of the course descriptions. A chemistry one talked about being suitable for someone who was planning to take high school chemistry, and a math one said all necessary math would be taught in the course. That would make it sound as though someone with AP calc and AP chem (which my D is currently taking) might find the courses less than challenging or possibly even boring, so I'm glad to hear that's not the case.</p>
<p>My D hung out with all the other rising seniors. She found they all had similar academic backgrounds to hers. In fact, a couple of girls had been exposed to organic chemistry already. Her course choices did not have many of the younger girls enrolled. If I'm recalling correctly, the Chemistry of Plastics class that she found so interesting required at least 1 year of hs chem. The younger crew were segregated (assigned to lower floors of dorm) and monitored more closely (had earlier curfew and lights out). The senior girls pretty much were treated like college women. Hence, my D's nightly trips to Hellerman's Ice Cream and Starbucks. I'm sure whichever program your D decides on will be a wonderful experience for her.</p>