My D is doing an overnight to sit in class and get a better feel for the school to learn more about Smith and see if it’s a good fit. I have a couple questions - 1. What to pack? 2.expenses assuming food at cafeteria 3 Is is customary for thank-you gift and if so please some ideas. please.
She is flying in and visiting a few schools she’s applied to and hoping to pack as lightly as possible! Thanks in advance for you insight!
She’s super excited to visit Smith!
My D did an overnight in the fall but we only live an hour away so it did not require as much planning. They say to bring a sleeping bag because you will generally be sleeping on the floor, but often the host or the house already has one and that was the case for my D. So all you really need to bring is the normal stuff for taking a shower etc. plus some spending money. I seem to recall they eat Dinner and Breakfast with their host and the school pays for it. Depending on the time of year, I guess be prepared for snow and cold weather.
Your host still has studying and classes to tend to, so a good idea if your D brings something to read or a laptop/tablet.
The process was not super well organized for my D. I do not know if she fell through the cracks or something but she did not find out who her host was until very late and then she had the opportunity to attend any classes she wanted but that was all arranged during the evening of her stay by figuring out which ones she wanted to attend and then needing to email the professors for permission etc. I do not know if that is the norm or not. It seems like more of that would be done in advance, but my D actually found it all pretty fun. She also attended a random club meeting the night she was there.
I did not get the impression a gift is customary, but they are college kids. Some sweets to share with your host and the other women of her house probably helps with the overall fun of the visit.
Good luck! My D was accepted ED and she really fell in love with Smith and Northampton.
Thank you for your reply! She is very excited to tour the campus and Northampton and then sitting in on her host’s class. The other schools she is likes are closer to bigger cities so she will have to assess whether she likes the area or if it seems too remote. Do you have any info on internships - do they have good acceptances in nearby cities?
I’m glad she’s going in the winter because if she still loves it and can tolerate the cold, then other seasons will be wonderful I’m sure! It’s a good reality check lol.
Northampton is a wonderful and vibrant community and there is the 5 college consortium and a decent amount of stuff nearby. My impression is internships are somewhat less common during the school year compared to some other schools. I think most internships are done in the summer and Smith has the Praxis program that helps a lot with this and enables internships to be done anywhere in the world where you can get one you want. See: https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/lazarus-center/praxis
Ok thanks for the link! I meant summer, My oldest D (at different women’s college) had great internships to gain
experience and used alumni networking to get opportunities. I was hoping this was the same case.
My D did an overnight last year and sat in on a number of classes.
Pack for cold, obviously, if coming in the next month or two. Inside the buildings is warm though, so be sure she has layers. Most of the time the visitors sleep on the floor, so she’ll need some sort of sleeping bag and pillow. You can buy a cheap one in Northampton I think. (?)
She’s probably get vouchers for meals in the cafeterias.Might need a little spending money if she wants like coffee or something in NoHo.
No gift is necessary, but my D wrote a nice note to her host. Could give like a cookie or something, but not expected.
Hope she has fun! My D (coming from a big city) was unsure she’d like the small town feel of Smith but she loves it.