<p>It's quiet. Too quiet.</p>
<p>It just so happens I was on the Smith campus yesterday picking up my daughter as a surprise birthday present for my husband. It was very quiet there too. Too quiet. But it was 9:30 in the morning -- in between classes -- on a typical dank March morning in New England. I killed time in the Campus Center with a cup of coffee and a (cough cough) chocolate donut. They're all in for a treat today, though, with temps projected in the 50s/60s and bright sun. I guess it's hard to appreciate the joy of such a day if you haven't been through a New England winter.</p>
<p>The donut sounds good to me, Pesto! It is very quiet, with the exception of the many new names I have seen on the Smith posts regarding admissions lately. It's nice to see new people (possible students) on the Smith posts. Although, I do wish Smith adm. would get the paperwork straightened out for those poor folks.</p>
<p>Pesto, what a sweet thing to do for your H.</p>
<p>The campus may be quiet because, classes aside, it's the middle of mid-terms. D is off on a retreat this weekend, taking along her best friend of the moment, a take-home Calculus IV test. I hope it's easier than the take-home Math Analysis tests from last semester; the shortest time logged by anyone in the class on the mid-term was 21 hours.</p>
<p>I have three exams on Monday and Tuesday, so I should really be studying.</p>
<p>Instead, some friends picked me up around noon and we spent four hours outside the Clarke School, talking, playing on the playground, and getting minimal work done. Luckily it's perfectly acceptable to do homework on Saturday night, so I'll probably put in a movie while I work on practice exams.</p>
<p>Yes, having his D home was the only present my husband could have wished for and we had a very nice weekend together, although she spent as much time in front of the computer screen working on a paper as she did with her oldy moldy folks.</p>
<p>After returning her to campus this morning, we took a look at the celebrated bulb exhibit in the greenhouse. If anyone has a chance to get to Smith before the show closes next weekend, it's really worth a visit. What a gorgeous spread of color! Entering the greenhouse from the monochrome of March is like being in the Wizard of Oz as B&W metamorphoses into the vividest technicolor.</p>
<p>I loved Smith. It was a wonderful college experience, with all the bells and whistles. However, it was a wonderful experience that came with a cumbersome burden... enormous debt. 5-figure loans are nothing to sneeze at when you're 21 and unemployed. Obviously this is not a problem limited to Smith grads, but if I could do it all again I would go to technical school and be an air conditioner repairwoman or something. Not everyone gets a cushy job when they graduate. In fact, of my many hard-working and talented friends from Smith (all of whom graduated at least four years ago), NOT ONE is gainfully employed in the field of their choice. It's so unbelievably depressing.</p>
<p>OK, thanks for that post and thank you for finding us...I see that that was your very first post. (How did you find us?)</p>
<p>The job situation is indeed spotty. <acid comment="" about="" the="" bush="" administration's="" glowing="" descriptions="" of="" economy="" suppressed.=""> </acid></p>
<p>The purist in me notes that there's often a disconnect between education and vocation. But at the end of the day, groceries have to be bought, vehicles fueled & insured, and loans paid back. </p>
<p>Starting out is one of the more difficult times. There's an old adage that it's easier to find a job when you already have one. (Btw, I don't think any grad gets a "cushy" job unless perhaps in a family firm. Most people have to work their butts off.) </p>
<p>Out of curiosity, what majors did you and your other under-employed friends have?</p>
<p>I haven't seen RLT for several days. I've been under the weather myself so my own posting has been kinda sporadic but as I'm coming back up to periscope depth, I don't see his phosphors anywhere. Yo, RLT, what's up?</p>
<p>Btw, OK, there's a thread in the Parents Forum, "Student Debt, A Reality Check," where you might want to weigh in.</p>
<p>Smith seems to be about 50% larger in enrollment than other elite women's colleges. Do you see this as an advantage or disadvantage?</p>
<p>Actually, Smith is fairly close to Wellesley in terms of enrollment.</p>
<p>Larger = more social choices, larger departments, more course offerings...a larger LAC = best of many worlds, imo.</p>
<p>Wellesley has about 2300 students attending, Smith a little over 2500. Too close to talk about any substantive differences. Depends on you intended major, I think. The Wellesley campus did nothing for us when we visited; saw lots of beer bottles on campus and in dorm halls. Maybe just a bad day, don't know. Campus felt kind of lonely to us as well. Smith had a much different feel to it; active, alive, engaged. If interested in sciences, IMHO, you can't get much better than Smith; and I don't care where you look.</p>
<p>Other things that may affect a choice between Wellesley and Smith:
performing arts (dance, orchestra, wind ensemble) are integral at Smith, afterthoughts at Wellesley. For D, this was big.</p>
<p>Smith's House system is terrific. </p>
<p>You'll get into NoHo far more often and with less impact on your studies than you'll get into Boston. The town of Wellesley itself is drop-dead boring.</p>
<p>The stereotype says that Wellesley students are more tightly wound. I believe there is a core of underlying truth. And I think the difference in US News rankings is way overstated due to the differences in approach to SAT's...I wouldn't concede on inch on Smith academics, beyond that, check about individual majors.</p>
<p>True, true, and true! If you have any interest in the arts, Smith is the choice as well. My D was swayed by their great biology major and dance, especially ballet I-VI. I agree with TD on the rankings also.</p>
<p>
[quote]
September 22, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE </p>
<p>Smith College Forms Center for Molecular Biosciences </p>
<p>NORTHAMPTON, Mass.Smith College will use a portion of a $1.3-million Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant to establish a Center for Molecular Biosciences that will expand opportunities for interdisciplinary research and teaching.</p>
<p>The college named the centers interim director, Wen Li, to lead the initiative, which supports several decades of curricular reform that has focused on increasing opportunities for exploratory, hands-on science learning and student-faculty research collaborations. </p>
<p>Plans for the center include funding 20 undergraduate research fellowships each of the next several summers, hosting workshops on molecular research techniques, and expanding outreach to local schools to facilitate the entry of biotechnology into classrooms.</p>
<p>The Center for Molecular Biosciences will bring together the expertise, equipment and technical support needed to facilitate interdisciplinary teaching and research, said Christine White-Ziegler, associate professor of biological sciences and a member of the centers faculty steering committee. </p>
<p>Experience with sophisticated instrumentation is fundamental to the curriculum as students work with faculty on increasingly complex research questions and report results to professional audiences.</p>
<p>In addition to White-Ziegler, the faculty steering committee includes Stylianos Scordilis, professor of biological sciences, and Steven Williams, the Gates Professor of Biological Sciences. Li previously served as a research associate to Williams and earned her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has expertise in the areas of molecular biology, genomics and bioinformatics.</p>
<p>Li will both maintain the technology, located in the Clark Science Center, and train members of the scientific community in its use. Experiments involving DNA sequencing, DNA fingerprinting and microarrays, which measure gene expression, will be coordinated through the center. </p>
<p>Significantly, we are finding that a molecular approach to questions initiated or identified by faculty members in one traditional discipline are best answered through a collaborative approach and by using techniques common to faculty across disciplines, said White-Ziegler.</p>
<p>Smith is one of the top four-year colleges sending women to doctoral studies in the sciences. Thirty percent of Smith students major in the sciences more than three times the national average for women.</p>
<p>Smith College is consistently ranked among the nations foremost liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from every state and 60 other countries, Smith is the largest undergraduate womens college in the country.
[/quote]
My D is officially salivating!!!!</p>
<p>hi,
I am starting at Smith this fall and right now I am interested in architecture ...is anyone here who can tell me a little bit about the program? Is it more theoretical or practical? Which classes/ professors in the art department should I look for?
Thx johanna</p>
<p>Here's a start: <a href="http://www.smith.edu/art/major/major.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.smith.edu/art/major/major.htm</a></p>
<p>And I think the difference in US News rankings is way overstated due to the differences in approach to SAT's...I wouldn't concede on inch on Smith academics, beyond that, check about individual majors.}}}</p>
<p>The academic ranking (US News) for Wellesley for the past 20 years has been 4-5. Smith has been 5-6 Holyoke 19-21. .There isnt a significant amount of difference between Smith and Wellesley that the academic reputation should even be a consideration when making a decision between the two</p>
<p>There are differences by departments. I don't think there is really any doubt that Smith is stronger is music, dance, biology, and probably some of the Romance languages. Wellesley is well-known for its extraordinary math and political science departments, as well as great strength in chemistry and physics.</p>
<p>The major differences (besides geography) are in the profiles of the student bodies, with much more economic diversity at Smith, and many, many more Asian-Americans at Wellesley.</p>