Mt. Holyoke vs. Smith for Transfers

<p>Oddly enough, despite having fairly similar acceptance rates for freshman applicants and the same retention rates, Mt. Holyoke accepted about 47% of students compared to 36% at Smith according to College Board. It surprised me since larger. Also, course descriptions and major requirements on MoHo's website are easier to navigate than Smith's. However, does that make is better for transfers? These aren't huge ways to show it, but do you know which is more transfer friendly of the two, between acceptance rates, financial aid, and and fitting into the community? Thanks; although I was falling in love with Smith before, on further inspection, MoHo sounds just as wonderful. : ) I won't be applying for another year for transfer, but I'm just curious.</p>

<p>I can only speak on behalf of my alma mater, though I am going to assume it probably rings true for Smith too. Mount Holyoke has a very vibrant transfer community. Students are constantly transferring to the institution or resuming their studies their (many of whom are Frances Perkins, nontraditional students). There are a handful of the “traditionally aged” 18-24 year old college students who also transfer. I entered Mount Holyoke in fall 2006 and graduated with friends who were transfers across the classes. Mount Holyoke really makes an effort to integrate transfer students. Also, the year I enrolled, transfer students complained that enough was not being done to integrate them, so the following year - Mount Holyoke reprogrammed their orientation so that a few groups was all transfer students. The students requested this because transfer students are not first-years, so to treat them as such defeats the purpose of an orientation. I think Mount Holyoke does a great job of integrating transfer students. There were not really core groups of just “transfer students” - everyone made friends within their class-year. When I graduated, transfer students were among the most visible on campus, and they definitely had friends across the grades who were not transfer students. You might fall in love with MHC. Visit and stay with a transfer student.</p>