<p>I'm a current senior and am planning on majoring in Russian in college; I've been interested in going to a women's college, and am wondering what the Russian program at Smith is like. Anyone taking/majoring in Russian and could you give me some insight?</p>
<p>I am currently auditing one class in Russian literature which is a senior seminar. I personally truly enjoy it and all the professors from the Department seem to be nice, always willing to help. I have noticed that almost all girls in my class who started Russian at Smith have already gone abroad (during their junior year), and I can see how their Russian has greatly improved. Smith is really supportive when it comes to being emerged in a language-speaking country. However, as a native speaker of Russian I can tell that those girls who learn Spanish and French at Smith are a little bit more advanced in their language study than the girls who are Russian-major. I do not personally think that it is the indication that the department is weak, the main reason is that the Russian language is very hard to master. If you want to become fluent, then even studying abroad for a year will be not enough, in my opinion. Overall, I would definitely come here to study Russian, just be considerate of the fact that the major itself is not the gurantee of fluency in Russian. You should definitely try doing internships in Russia, junior year abroad or independent research with the faculty here, besides your lectures. Another great deal: Russian classes at Mount Holyoke and Amherst, I really wish I could audit them too, but my Chemistry major is already killing me, lol:) If you have any questions, you can email me amaryashina at smith edu</p>