<p>In another thread about Sports (crew) at Smith, I raised the issue of sleep. In the past week, my D pulled one all-nighter and got to sleep at 2am on another night. And it's not even mid-terms/finals. (It was a case of EC's compressing time available for a couple of classes.)</p>
<p>I really hope she catches up over the weekend because she has admitted students visiting on Monday. :)</p>
<p>AHHH, College life!! How I miss the sleep deprivation, the all-nighters, and the great food!! Everything I have read and heard about Smith appears to be true; great school, great profs, but they work your a** off! Lots of writing, studying, papers, research, etc. In the end it's worth it and I'm sure the women are very well prepared to enter the "real" world. Does bring up the question, however, as to how much EC's should be part of your life there? Most women attending Smith, I'm sure, are of the type "A" personality, or pretty close; those that sometimes take on more than they can chew. EC's, to me, are an important aspect of college. Someone on one of these Smith posts said awhile ago that new Smithies should get involved in as many EC's as possible, especially early on, and then pull back when the workload begins to get heavy. That way, she said, you can stay in the one's you really like, and discard the others. To each her own, I guess. But, staying involved in what Smith has to offer it's students is an important part of college life; something I wish I had done more of when I attended college over 30 years ago. (UGH)</p>
<p>Yeah, I wish I'd been more involved in EC's too. But I was too busy preparing for the Dean of Engineering to invite me to find another major. :(</p>
<p>My D's EC schedule is light compared to some. Just counted...she has four, two of which overlap somewhat (orchestra & wind ensemble).</p>
<p>LOL...I remember the days when I was going to concentrate in pre-dental studies, only to realize that my parents couldn't afford to send me anywhere I was accepted. Paid my own way through State U, and the rest is history. I hope our D's realize how good they've got it?</p>
<p>I do think a fair amount of students sleep at Smith, fwiw. It's just that something--either academics or EC's--takes a hit. But there are <em>lots</em> of sleep-stressed students around there as near as I can tell.</p>
<p>I've never pulled an all-nighter at Smith (I think the latest I've stayed up during the week was three am, and that was due to a miscalculation of just how much that Starbucks coffee affects me more than anything else). I am fairly busy though (I work more than 10 hours a week and my extracurriculars combined equal at least another 10 hours), I do all my homework, attend all my classes, and I socialize. I usually sleep at least seven hours a night, unless it's Wednesday night (I have so much work due on Fridays that I stay up late on Wednesday to complete half of it). </p>
<p>Oh, and I watch quite a few hours of tv each week. Thanks to my vcr, I can tape my shows and watch them when I get downtime. This usually means after class on Friday afternoons, but sometimes I get an hour or two during the week where I can squeeze a show in.</p>
<p>Sometimes the only pure social time my D gets is Friday night. But today she said she's using a lot of this weekend for catching up on sleep. Another heavy week coming up this week.</p>