<p>As an asian girl who has relatively crappy social skills with a really low self esteem, do you think I will be able to bloom at Smith? Do you think I will be happier here than if i went to a competitive co-ed high ranking school like the top 30s?</p>
<p>Also, is this school very competitive when it comes to academics? I know Wellesley is extremely intense, as well as the top schools in the US, but is Smith like this too?</p>
<p>I really want college to be able personal growth and learning about myself. I have this feeling that I wouldn't obtain this if I went to a prestigious school where people are already really confident about themselves and what they want.</p>
<p>First, Smith IS “a competitive…high ranking school [above] the top 30s”…this year, it’s ranked #14 in the country by US News. And it IS “a prestigious school where [some, but not all] people are already really confident about themselves and what they want” so if that worries you it might not be a good fit.</p>
<p>Whether you’d be happier there than at a similarly ranked co-ed school is really hard to judge, especially since there is such a variety of them…everything from CalTech to NYU to Davidson fits into that category. It might be helpful to know more about what you’re looking for. It would definitely be helpful for you to visit Smith, if possible.</p>
<p>With that said, many shy folks go to Smith. Some of them become more outgoing. Others become more comfortable with the fact that they’re introverted. Most make good friends. Some hate it and transfer. I think Smith is a good place to “bloom” since it’s small enough to get to know people well, but big enough that there are different groups of people and you don’t run into everyone all the time. Also, since it’s not in a big city, many people’s lives are focused on college activities.</p>
<p>I didn’t think Smith was very competitive when it comes to academics. People will oftem compare how much work there is to do in their classes (and how much they’ve procrastinated on doing it!) but I think there is pride, not hard feelings, when people are successful.</p>
<p>“With that said, many shy folks go to Smith. Some of them become more outgoing. Others become more comfortable with the fact that they’re introverted. Most make good friends. Some hate it and transfer.”</p>
<p>but then again, doesnt that go for all schools?</p>
<p>Stacy, when you said, “I didn’t think Smith was very competitive when it comes to academics,” are you referring to how good the education is, or to the attitude of the students within a given course?</p>
<p>MWFN, if I read Stacy correctly, she means “not competitive” in the sense that students aren’t terribly competitive with each other, not that the academics aren’t comparable [competitive] with that of other highly regarded institutions. Mind you, I’ve been reading Stacy for years and I could be wrong. :0</p>
<p>108, I think that Smith probably does a better job than most institutions of helping people blossom. Think of the difference between gardening and agribusiness farms. </p>
<p>Smith doesn’t use the “weeder class” approach. Being single sex, women occupy all the leadership positions whether they were inclined to or not. </p>
<p>Purely anecdotal, but my D, while smart, certainly blossomed in Smith’s environment. Put it this way: she came out confident in more areas than when she went in and some rough edges were polished. It appears that she has gotten incredibly perceptive about nuances of group dynamics…though this observation is perhaps an indication that I myself am simply more clueless about such things. (See also, apples and trees falling from)</p>
<p>TD has it right–I was talking about the intrastudent dynamic, not the difficulty of classes. </p>
<p>I thought the classes were reasonably challenging. Some were harder than others (I wound up free-dropping a Spanish lit class and felt baffled for a lot of Philosophy of Religion). Some were more time-consuming but not really more difficult (Latin taught me to study in a way nothing else did, and it really paid off in law school). Professors were always willing to work with students having difficulty, or conversely, who wanted to challenge themselves beyond what was offered in the course itself. I definitely learned a lot and there weren’t any semesters when I was bored! I took classes at 4 of the 5 colleges and found the average Smith class to be easier than the two classes I took at Amherst and harder than the three classes I took at Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire, though the difficulty varied more across disciplines than across colleges. I went to a public high school that prepared me really well for college, and most of the classes I took were in subjects where I felt particularly comfortable. I imagine that if I’d attempted a chemistry major, for example, I would’ve felt VERY differently.</p>
<p>Put me down as another who bloomed at Smith. I left with some wonderful friends, a clearer vision of how I wanted my life (including but not limited to career) to be, and more confidence. I remember when my dad and I went to the STRIDE breakfast when I was a prospective student. Afterward, he remarked on how smoothly the students were able to discuss their research with a room full of strangers and expressed the hope that one day I’d be able to do the same. I did, a few years later, and also ended up facing a crowded auditorium of unhappy folks when I served on a committee that made some rather unpopular choices. Now, part of my job is doing trainings and presentations, and I actually like it! Personally, I will always be an introvert and prefer dinner parties to keg parties. But Smith was a place where I learned that was ok, and began to cultivate the relationships and social skills to have the kind of friendships that work best for me.</p>
<p>My D is talking Orgo Chem and would never apply the words easy or comfortable Re social life she has two friends who were very shy upon arrival and both seem to have developed confidence after their first year. her house had a wide range of social types last year and I think all the former first years decided to stay in the house since they felt comfortable regardless of having different types of personalilties.</p>
<p>so i guess the house system is what makes women grow? why is that so? is it because they’re forced to be together and do everything together all the time?</p>
<p>I think it’s the entire Smith experience that helps women grow – the house system, being surrounded by many intelligent and ambitious women, the one-on-one opportunities with the faculty, the high percentage of discussion-based classes, everything. My D became much more outgoing and confident during her Smith years. </p>
<p>I have to agree with Overwhelmedma about Smith’s science courses: my D would say that organic chemistry II and cell bio took a lot out of the students. She didn’t know anyone who thought those classes were easy. Other courses can have vast differences of opinion since everyone has her own strengths and weaknesses. </p>
<p>And thanks for the clarification, Stacy and TD. I guessed what you meant, but I wanted to make sure that I understood correctly. My D would agree with you: Smith is not a cutthroat place. In fact, I remember my D mentioning several times that she was getting together with one or more students to go over the material for a test, but afterward, she rarely knew what others had gotten. Except when a professor actually said what the class average was, she never knew where she stood in comparison to the others.</p>
<p>My d., who is now teaching at an Ivy, reports that she taught her first class on Monday, and by Friday there were e-mails from students already asking her what was going to be on the mid-term. (Of course, she doesn’t know yet!) Not something she can imagine happening, or least commonly, at Smith.</p>
<p>My D is in Orgo II and will be very glad to be done. She also found the genetics core course challenging since it was so math and statistics based where as she has loved her other bio classes. I don’t think Orgo is easy anywhere though and I’ve heard Physics can also be tough.
I think the great advantage of the house system is that it mixes women from all classes - my D really liked having seniors and juniors in her house who could give her advice her first year and already had connectioms to the greater Smith community which I think is very different from being placed in an all freshman dorm like so mayny other colleges.</p>
<p>OWM, D’s Smith experience converted me to the wisdom of having mixed-class housing. It works really really well…as long as some of the first years aren’t taken aback by how jaded the seniors can be. :)</p>
<p>But the advice & support is terrific. I think D in turn enjoyed being a “big sister,” whether formally or informally, helping out the first years and sophomores when she was a senior.</p>
<p>what do you mean by mixed-class housing? you mean the intermingling of lower/mid/upper class people (financially)? or do you mean by the mixing of personalities? (outgoing, shy, etc)</p>
<p>None of the above. First years, sophomores, juniors, and seniors all together as opposed to having “freshman dorms” as many colleges do.</p>
<p>Why in the world would you think any college house students by financial status in this age? (Though back in the 50’s, Smith had one House devoted to scholarship students…I used to know which House it was but I’ve forgotten. Maybe Chapin?)</p>
<p>TD, I think it might have been Tyler. Tenney was also a co-op where poorer folks could live for less, with fewer services (now it’s a co-op where everyone can live for less!).</p>
<p>And I think some colleges do have housing that is somewhat segregated by income, in that a building full of traditional (double/triple, bathroom down the hall) dorms costs less than new buildings full of singles or suite-style dorms, and you get to choose which you prefer.</p>
<p>I know someone who lived in that dorm at BU. I work with her dad - he paid quite a bit for her to have those views. :)</p>
<p>One of the scholarship houses was Lawrence. I think Haven may have been another. In Ivy Days<a href=“now%20out-of-print,%20but%20there’s%20a%20copy%20or%20two%20in%20Smith’s%20library”>/u</a>, Susan Allen Toth chronicles life in Lawrence in the 1950s. She actually lived in the house as it transitioned from being a scholarship house to being open to everyone, as there were too many scholarship students at Smith at that point for the college to continue segregating them.</p>
Re social life she has two friends who were very shy upon arrival and both seem to have developed confidence after their first year. her house had a wide range of social types last year and I think all the former first years decided to stay in the house since they felt comfortable regardless of having different types of personalilties.</p>