Smith College

<p>No.......only saw it from the outside as we were walking to the science quad. Now...I gotta go back...Yay!</p>

<p>As a tour guide, I'll honestly say that guides only walk to the quad when they live there, mostly because we're encouraged to stick to hour-long tours as there is the possibility that the student has scheduled an interview or other activities immediately after. However, I have shown the quad once while giving a tour that included an alum and her daughter. I do mention it's existence and point out it's location, though.</p>

<p>Thanks Borgin. May I add that the tour guides that we encountered twice were phenomenal! Girls that really were into Smith, believed in an all-girl's education, and felt an afinity towards the school. The last tour guide we had brought us into a classroom and answered any and all questions we had. When I asked her about leaving Smith at the end of her senior year, she began to well up with tears, and said that her four years at Smith had been quite special, and that she will miss it immensely. Now, that's what I call speaking from the heart, and not just telling you what the college wants you to hear.</p>

<p>{As a tour guide,} </p>

<p>Why not a quick tour of the greenhouse/arboretum? Time restraints?
Smith is famous for their botanical research and the beauty alone would woo some prospects. Great, I'm sounding like the <em>metrosexual</em> man ( cf. Tony Randall)</p>

<p>My usual path goes through the botanical gardens, but not the plant house. I did take the tour I mentioned above to the greenhouse on request. I wouldn't mind going in if I were asked, and I mention the greenhouse as I pass it, but Smith does offer too much to fit everything in an hour tour.</p>

<p>As a Smith sophomore, I think this quote from TD is fairly accurate regarding Smithie attitudes towards Smith: { I'd expect a skewed bell curve of reactions, with the median being a strong "like."} I know people from all parts of the curve. </p>

<p>Other observations:
Smith women are generally genuinly friendly, socially graceful, and enthusiastic people. I met some of the most charismatic leaders in Smith Dems, and a woman's advocacy group, both of which I was active in and made many friends through. I do not hesitate to say I met MANY extremely likeable people there, moreso than I had any place I had ever been before. </p>

<p>About 1/3 of Smithies are gay, and though I personally am straight, I made many good gay friends, and learned a lot from them about how humans perceive ourselves and how to be an empowered woman. Smith also has this large minority population of legacy "old-Smithies," who are old-money east coast types, who CAN seem out-of-touch with reality/flaky. Smith also has this small population of dedicated activists, which is more prominent than activists on many elite college campuses, which is where I made a lot of my friends as mentioned above. Smith does fairly well with minorities (30%, I believe). I am sort of an honorary muslim when I am there b/c of my friends, but my best Somalian friend did say she feels out-of-place at times with so many white, rich girls. I suspect she might have felt this way at most elite colleges. In case you did not know, Smith is extremely liberal. There are like 30-70 college Republicans vs. 800+ Dems.</p>

<p>In terms of how academically focused students are, I have to say there is a wider range than at a school known for being intense like Swarthmore. There are Smithies who work very hard to finish most of their work and hardly party, and make mostly As and go the best grad schools. There are a sizeable number of Smithies (maybe 1/4) who go to a few parties every weekend and hardly do any homework, and occasionally come to class noticeably drunk or stoned. Most Smithies fall somewhere in-between the two extremes. Really, you have to sit in on several classes to get some feel of where you'd be among the students there.</p>

<p>Departments that are especially strong at Smith, such that Amherst kids come to Smith to take their classes, are Political Science and Chemistry. Dance and Art are also strong.</p>

<p>If you are interested in the more minority, gay, and generally offbeat student population, you should live near central campus (where I live). If you are more interested in being near parties geared towards straight people and the more old-money population, you should live near the quad.</p>

<p>Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, and I'll do my best to answer specifically.</p>

<p>"Mini, so this Gropius was an agent of the Comintern was he? C-Z are so ugly that if they had been inflicted upon us by a foreign power, it would have been regarded as an act of war."</p>

<p>You don't know what international ugly is until you've seen Mission Park at my alma mater. (And they couldn't even get the door to close!)</p>

<p>Just asked my D: she has never observed anyone stoned or drunk in class. Also, her percentage of heavy partiers (vs. Ecape's 1/4) is like 5 percent...she allows as how this could be skewed because of Green St. vs. the Quad. Another in a series of contrarian views.</p>

<p>{{{she allows as how this could be skewed because of Green St. vs. the Quad.}}</p>

<p>The quad is no different. My daughter has never witnessed anyone drunk or stoned students in class either.</p>

<p>What’s the definition of heavy partiers? My daughter and I are in a slight disagreement.</p>

<p>I used the "go to a few parties every weekend and hardly do any homework" standard suggested in Ecape's post...I read the section of the post aloud and D responded. I suppose could come up with metrics involving # of parties, # of hours spent at parties, # of drinks/amount of drugs consumed, etc. and then compile everything into a US NEWS ranking....</p>

<p>Why, what are the different definitions between you and your D?</p>

<p>most of the heavy partiers you wont even find at smith on the weekend. theyre at Amherst or Umass. If you dont want to be around them dont take the pvta past 11pm.</p>

<p>Whoa-and ecapes "dont live near the quad...old money" thing...not so true. It seems like economic status is equally dist among the campus. It's obvious smith is really white and quite a few come from old money, but it sure hasnt bothered me.</p>

<p>{{Why, what are the different definitions between you and your D? }}</p>

<p>She said “DAD, you're incredible. You were drinking Blackberry brandy--we had Ripple also but I won’t lower myself to admit to it--under the high school bleachers when you were 15 <em>before</em> you went to the local parties. You and your friends hid booze by the 18th green at the CC teen dances. Then in college there was always a keg tapped or a party by noon. That’s heavy partying dad”</p>

<p>What am I missing? Seemed normal to me. :)</p>

<p>{most of the heavy partiers you wont even find at smith on the weekend. they’re at Amherst or Umass. }</p>

<p>I agree, but many who go to Amherst and the other campuses don’t get smashed. My daughter is there fairly often and she doesn’t drink but enjoys socializing with some of the track team and many other students she has met through friends that attend Amherst and Holyoke.
The seniors have wine and cheese, Champagne and strawberries, etc, depending on the week every Thurs afternoon before dinner. Is that heavy partying?</p>

<p>{{It seems like economic status is equally dist among the campus.}}</p>

<p>I haven’t been aware of that. My daughter is not getting aid, her best friend is on a full ride. No one seems to care who has what.
From my experiences, except for a few Beemer/Porsche driving stuck-up b****<em>s, there really isn’t much economic animosity. Many years ago, yeah, Smith had a great number of students from old money--prep schools, Greenwich, etc.--but so did Yale, Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, et al.
If you were suave enough, you could marry a Smithie whose daddy brought into the *firm</em> Ahhh the good old days</p>

<p>Alright... well I had one friend move from Cutter to the quad, and she complained of there being a lot more white, old-money there to the point she felt uncomfortable... but maybe she was wrong... or maybe it was just the house she lived in. I lived in Talbot last year (nearer central campus) and was personally offended by a lot of the conversations I heard going on, like 10-15 freshman gathering in a group and talking about breastfeeding being disgusting, talking for a 1/2 an hour about the importance of shaving legs with sincerity, and making fun of a Philipino girl who moved-in half way through the year and was shy around them, saying it was b/c she was Philipino, all accompanied by a lot of giggling... so where you get waspy flakes probably IS random. The quad DEFINITELY holds more predominantly straight parties than central campus areas though -usually every weekend. </p>

<p>As far as what I'd call hard-partying? Probably getting smashed on a weekly basis. A student group in my stats class did a survey of students for their final project, and the % they came up with was DEFINITELY larger than 5%, but I don't remember exactly what it was. I doubt we're going to find out what the exact number is on CC, frankly. It's mostly Fri when people would come in hungover. Then I had that one experience for my gov class when out of 10 girls I was literally the only one who understood all the reading, or else, the only one who did most of the reading. But really, I think the ONLY way for prospies to know how they'd fit in at Smith, is to go and sit in on several classes. </p>

<p>I'm certainly not the only person who had the experience of Smith being easier than hs -a girl in my chem class who'd gone to a small private hs had a similar experience -but she turned down Williams to go to Smith b/c it was a less WASPY environment. My roommate who was a smart girl from a mediocre hs worked hard to make a strong GPA and she loves Smith.</p>

<p>A thought occurs: is it the Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts that you go to or is there another one?</p>

<p>D has encountered the New England "old money." Has never encountered a groupthink as described.</p>

<p>I am also wondering about the "heavy partying" thing. Most of my friends go to state schools in CT...UCONN, Eastern, Western, Central, etc. To them, normal partying means drinking thursday, friday, saturday and sometimes sunday nights. 3 times a week, for the most part. Beer pong, kegs, etc. This is not MY idea of a fun party. Is this typical at smith? I dont think that it is..but, I am wondering how similar or different smith parties are compared to this.</p>

<p>By all accounts, Smith is not much of a party school compared to many, so it is all relative. The binge alcohol rate...Mini will be along shortly with the numbers...is less than half of what it is at, say, Amherst. From what I gather, the more party intensive students go off campus to Amherst or U/Mass.</p>

<p>TD, all things are relative, you know? And maybe I got unlucky with the people I had in my classes and your daughter got lucky. I know people who got smashed and high at Smith every week, and I personally went off campus to party every weekend but I'm not a heavy drinker -and the story about the girls in Talbot is true. Your daughter never encountered girls she considered flaky. That could mean either A) your daughter and I have different definitions of flaky, B) she got lucky in housing AND classes and/or my friends and I got unlucky. REALLY, I think prospies should visit several classes and spend the night and decide for themselves. Since everyone is coming from a different place prior to Smith, everyone will have a different impression of Smith while they're there, relative to what they're accustomed to and what they want from college.</p>

<p>D said she has friends in Talbot and this tale doesn't match any of the people she knows. She also muttered something about a stereotype of "Smithie with chip on shoulder." And "after one semester it could be luck, after three semesters it's not luck."</p>