My D is accepted at Smith and loves almost everything about it - except the boy situation. That is to say, while she is entirely open to the idea of all-womens education, she’d really like dating and hanging with boys to be a real part of her college experience. My question is: is this this possible at Smith?
She has the entire Five College Consortium and the transportation to get between schools. Absolutely possible. There’s cross-registration, she can take classes at the others and those students, including men, can take classes at Smith.
When we visited at admitted students Open House we saw VERY few boys on campus, and my D had only 1 boy from Amherst in the 3 classes she attended. I’ve also heard it’s harder than you think to take classes at the other colleges - the closest of which is 20 min away by shuttle.
@jennigarden Smith most definitely IS a women’s college, and it is a very “female” environment. But that is by design and choice. If your daughter wants a “coed” experience, a women’s college isn’t the best choice, with the exception of Barnard. I also agree that you can’t just stroll over to one of the other colleges. The distances involved mean that you have to plan your schedule carefully.
My kid does know people who go to the other campuses for events or organizations. It can be done.
She has had a few classes with a guy in it. They learn quickly that they can’t mansplain!
I’m a prospective student for 2021 and I very recently visited the school. While it is a woman’s college, the absence of boys on the campus (for me) didn’t feel overwhelming. I didn’t even notice that they weren’t there for a while. And yeah, she would have the 5 college consortium and the 12 college exchange to make yo for it and it’s not like the town of Northampton is devoid of males.
I went to another women’s college, and I would say that the dating thing isn’t a problem. Campuses can be a magnet for men looking to date. Hanging out with/being casual friends with men is more difficult. I think it is easier at Smith than at some other women’s college because of the 5 college exchange. Maybe people don’t take many classes at other campuses, but they do join clubs, take part in religious life on other campuses, etc. That said, I know 2 UMass students, both women, who have joined Smith clubs because the clubs are smaller and the women feel they have moire opportunity and are listened to more at Smith. So - people coming to Smith’s campus from other schools to take advantage of the school’s opportunities are often not male!
Well it turns out that my D chose not to attend a woman’s college at all, in the end. She’ll be attending Haverford in the fall. It came down to this: she felt that at most womens colleges (with the possible exception of Barnard) there are indeed opportunities to date men but you have to be proactive to find them. She knows herself well enough to know that she’s not the proactive type, when it comes to dating. So in the end it was a coed school for her - and luckily she found one that suited her perfectly.
My D felt the same way @jennigarden - as a college soph a couple of her best friends are guys and she says she’d miss having both. Good luck to her at Haverford!