<p>Dunn –
I have a brother who graduated from SMCM a few years ago, and I myself just committed to the college last night. I’ve visited several times, and though I’m originally from MD, I currently live in Indiana. Initially, I had similar concerns about reputation and name with SMCM, or the lack thereof. But honestly, SMCM has a pretty good reputation with East Coast graduate schools, and sends a very large number of students into further studies, be they in Law School or what have you.</p>
<p>As far as the general atmosphere of the college, I don’t think you would find it stifling. To the contrary, when I was on campus I felt really relaxed and my thoughts were pretty free flowing , for lack of a better phrase. It is a laid back place, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t intellectually curious students there. From what I’ve been told, it’s a great place to study, especially if you surround yourself with like minded people. In addition, the professors at SMCM are top notch. When I was looking through the course catalogue, I noticed many were educated at top tier universities, including Harvard. That may mitigate some of your concerns about the intellectual rigor of the school.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your admission to UVA (I didn’t get in there); that is a brilliant school, especially for it being a state institution. As for the student culture there, I’ve heard that it get very preppy there, but that, like most colleges, it is divided into separate niches. </p>
<p>Anyway, I hope that cleared up a few questions, and that you do decide to attend SMCM. If there’s one common piece of advice I’ve had with college decisions, it’s this: “It doesn’t matter where you go to college, it’s what you do when you get there.”</p>
<p>i was of doing the same thing with uva, w&m, and smcm. While now i’m really leaning toward smcm (the nitze has a lot to do with it) i am still visiting the other two before i send in my deposit. for me, it’s because i’m looking for the “chill” environment. i sort of see myself being able to relate to my professors. i like that i could sit in the front of the class and really discuss, instead of being 1 of 300 in a lecture hall. and i’d rather write papers for exams then do multiple choice (not to say you only get one or the other). but, clearly there are other people that feel differently because so many would choose uva or w&m in a heart beat over smcm… i guess if just depends on the kind of person you are.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that both W&M and UVA are huge into greek life, whereas SMCM doesn’t have any greek organizations. Whether you like the idea of greek or not, it defitely plays a HUGE role in the social scene at those two schools, and IMO, will influence what type of students attend.</p>
<p>and carasimp, i love what you said about what you’re looking for from a school. i feel exactly the same way!! having attended a huge research university, i didn’t get much of that, but when i did, wow. love love love. glad to know that someone else feels similarly :)</p>
<p>Good job on getting the Nitze. A recent graduate, I was actually a Nitze myself, and was also a St. Mary’s Academic Award Recipient…so all in all, I pretty much got a free ride, being a Maryland resident.</p>
<p>To tell you the truth, I loved St. Mary’s when I got there, but the campus changed as I progressed through. The brochure seems to show a number of dwindling activities, like impromptu bonfires lit up by the hippies. All in all, this seems to be due to a reduction in the amount of liberals, or at least progressive liberals at the school. Most that have been applying to St. Mary’s include a number of people that went to private schools, and are more than a little affluent. </p>
<p>The water is beautiful, the school is beautiful, and the teachers are great, but the campus was smaller than my high school. I was incredibly happy until maybe my junior year, when I realized how much SMCM was really like high school. But, overall, the good outweighed the good. Great education, great teachers, great price, and beautiful campus. If I could go back, I’m not sure if I would have ended up at SMCM, I had great offers from similar as well as higher-ranking institutions, but I have to say, you make the experience what you want it to you. At SMCM, you have that power. If you want to get involved, you can. If you don’t, you don’t have to. The sports teams are like frats and sororities, so that’s the Greek life parallel.</p>
<p>This seems like a random, and rambling post, but it covers everything I think. I liked it, loved it for a bit, but was relieved to escape to fresh air. Good luck and congratualations to all.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if any one of your previous Nitze nominees might be able to describe the program reception and interviews. In the information packet it just says 1:10-4:00 pm - program and interviews. Wondering what will be going on, how long interviews last, etc. Would love/appreciate your insight!</p>
<p>When we first got there, they put us into a gym with small tables everywhere. Top people in the program and university talked to us about SMCM and Nitze, as well as one guest speaker. After that, they divided us into group of students and parents. Each group got three talks by the same people (different times though!). If I remember correctly, they were current students, a professor, and… um… something else? I don’t know.
During those talks, students were pulled out and interviewed. The interviews lasted maybe fifteen minutes, and were your run of the mill questions, like:
What do you want to get out of SMCM?
What kind of questions do you have?
What kind of stuff will you do for fun here?
I don’t remember more than that, but I do know that it was maybe my fifth college interview by that point and nothing really came out of nowhere to surprise me. Pretty generic. One story from a student a couple years older than me though: on the way to his interview, his interviewer ran into a wall, busted his head open, and started bleeding all over the place. This probably won’t happen again, but it’s still funny!</p>
<p>When that was over, it was time to go home. I had friends there though that I hung out with afterward I remember. If you have friends there, try that. Sometimes what they tell you will be more important than what any panelist will tell you. To be honest, I can attribute my decision to not attend SMCM to something one of my attendee friends told me after receiving the Nitze more than anything other factor during the whole process.</p>
<p>Definitely go to the reception, have fun with it, and don’t sweat your interview! Have fun, be yourself. Kind of generic information, but really: have fun with your interview. I did.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for your response! I appreciate the info, and I am planning on spending the night with a friend and attending a class the next morning, so hopefully I’ll come away for a good feel for SMCM.</p>
<p>Do you mind if I ask what your friend told you that helped along your decision?</p>
<p>I expressed concern that since SMCM was too small it might not have any kind of class I wanted to take. She said that SMCM didn’t really have her major so she was going to have to take supplementary classes elsewhere, and another friend, there studying languages, said that she could only take one language at a time because they all conflicted with one another time-wise. The one friend said that before going to SMCM, “you really need to make sure they have what you want.” I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to study, so taking a chance that they wouldn’t have it wasn’t worth it, so that was the legitimate final tipping point.</p>
