<p>You will quickly find out that the number of research papers coming out of Smith with undergraduate names on them as co-researchers is pretty staggering. Smith is a national center for genomics and molecular biology. Take a look at Steve Williams’ research page:
[The</a> Department of Biological Sciences | Smith College](<a href=“http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/faculty_swilliams.html]The”>Smith College: Biology) </p>
<p>I don’t if there is anything comparable at Wellesley, but I doubt it.</p>
<p>I have the same question. I was admitted as a STRIDE and also to Holyoke (21st Century Scholar) and to Wellesley. I will visit soon but I am trying to get a sense of how much research goes on in the biology labs on campus. Can students participate in projects throughout the academic year? Any first hand (or second!) experiences, thanks!</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the sciences but I don’t think you can go wrong, either way, despite my impulse to want to snag your D’s for Smith.</p>
<p>That said, the student-prof relationships at Smith are incredible. I’ve seen or heard examples time after time. And my D is going back this next week to talk to several profs about grad school.</p>
<p>I don’t think that STRIDE per se has a huge prospect on D’s grad school choices and chances but perhaps there was a ripple effect, for she landed a !@#$%^&*! good job out of college. The fact that she had done collaborative research was surely a plus but she had done that during a summer internship prior to senior year as well…though STRIDE might have helped land that gig as well. In short, who knows?</p>
<p>I think you might be better off making the decision other factors. D intuitively at the time thought that Smith was a better “fit” for her temperamentally and five years later can articulate why in terms I’m not permitted [by her] to discuss on a board. Suffice to say that if the object is maximizing one’s potential in various dimensions, some environments will do better for a given student than another and for a different student it would be the other way around. </p>
<p>If anyone would like, feel free to PM me and include an e-mail address and I’ll reply via e-mail.</p>
<p>I can speak for the sciences, but not for STRIDE.</p>
<p>My daughter’s personal and intellectual growth at Smith has exploded. She entered as a student planning to major in the humanities, but, because of the nurturing environment in ALL academic subjects, became a hardcore science major AFTER her first year. She had always been intimidated by science, even though she did well in it in HS. I credit Smith for giving her the confidence to pursue the subject matter that interested her despite the gender stereotype of a “male” field. </p>
<p>Despite coming late to her major, she has worked with two Smith professors, one with research and one with a class. She has done summer research at Lehigh; the PI told me that she was better prepared than some of his grad students. She was recently accepted for an nine-week summer research program at Princeton.</p>
<p>For engineering (my D is not an engineer), a GPA of 3.5 or greater ensured automatic admission into graduate engineering programs at Dartmouth, Princeton, and several others. </p>
<p>I can’t compare Smith to Wellesley because my D’s friends who go there major in the humanities. I’m sure your D would get an excellent scientific education there as well. I do know that Smith has a reputation for being the most science-oriented of the women’s colleges, possibly even of the top liberal arts colleges. </p>
<p>The above means nothing if your D doesn’t like Smith. She needs to choose the school that best combines educational opportunities with a connection to the college itself. They pretty much know after a visit where they feel most comfortable.</p>
<p>I should add that my daughter has taken two different foreign languages, English, theater, film, government, and history in addition to science and math courses. She has loved them all. (Well, except for one of her science courses.)</p>
<p>“personal and intellectual growth…exploded.”</p>
<p>Yeppers. And D wasn’t exactly an academic wallflower to begin with. I think I can safely say that for my D Smith gave her great balance, inside and outside of the classroom, academics and non-academics.</p>
<p>I was also accepted as a Smith STRIDE and at Wellesley and am currently attending Wellesley. I felt that the location of Wellesley would give me more opportunities in the future to collaborate with other schools, and I feel that that opportunity has marked my college experience. I have had opportunities with so many other schools and created connections with people who will definitely come in hand for graduate school and later on down the road. That being said, Wellesley also has a lot of research opportunities on campus in the sciences, including as NSF funded summer science research program. Personally while I am majoring in a science, my passion lies in the social sciences and so I do more research in the social science end. I have found that I am able to explore all of my interests at Wellesley.</p>
<p>The Stride program at Smith provides a wonderful opportunity, especially in the sciences. My d as a first year student had lab experiences far beyond what a first year student could expect. Thanks to the assistance of her mentor, she presented a poster at an international conference in Barcelona last summer. Her work as a sophmore has paved the way for a great paid internship in San Francisco this summer. </p>
<p>A Stride scholarship allows a student to develop exceptional credentials for medical or graduate school.</p>