Can you ask to be in a particular house as a freshman?
My daughter will see Smith in 3 weeks and she asked if there are dorms for freshman that are known to be quieter than others. If there are quieter houses, can she request to be in one?
All of the Smith Houses have students from all four years included in them, so there are no first year only Houses.
Accepted students complete a housing form in late spring/early summer (like for other colleges) and answer a series of questions. You rank the different areas of campus where you would like to be rather than specific houses although there are no guarantees. I have read that sometimes students request a specific house when filling out this form (maybe in an “anything else we should know?” type question?), but again, no guarantees.
Note that students can change houses from year to year, and many do. And if they are unhappy right away during their first year, they can also put in a request to change roommates/houses after a waiting period of a few weeks if need be. But really, there are enough different types of people in each house that a student is likely to be fine.
Which is in my opinion superior to sequestering first-year students.
The benefit of first-years living with upperclasswomen is that there is always an older, and hopefully wiser, student close at hand 24/7 who can assist with any issues that may arise and help navigate the transition to college life.
First-years residing in the same house as upperclasswomen also make it possible for the Smith tradition of the big sister-little sister matchup of returning students with first-years. I trust the tradition of the big sister decorating her little sister’s room door is still being practiced. Many of the ‘door decorations’ were extremely creative and amusing.
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My D is a first-year at Smith. The housing form asked for preference of house and/or area of campus. She got exactly the one she wanted. To your daughter’s question, the Quad has a reputation for being loudest and least “homey,” Green Street houses probably the quietest, Central Campus (Haven, Wesley) most “homey.” My D picked the Quad because she wanted to be drawn out a bit, and she is very happy. Some days she wishes she lived closer to town and classes (Lower Elm maybe) but she has grown attached to her house and she is staying.
The other thing she should consider is room type. Many students stay in the same house for all 4 years. In some houses, notably the Quad, almost everyone gets a single by Sophomore year or the second half of the first year. In many houses Sophomores still have doubles. Look at the smith.edu site under Student Life/Residence Life for detailed information, including layouts for the houses that tell you how many rooms there are of each type. While you’re at it, look at the Dining site and think about what food she most wants to eat. Smith students can eat in any dining room, but when it’s 9F with 8 inches of snows, location matters.
And yes, the big sister door decorations still happen 
you rank your desired areas of campus, but you can request a specific house in the comments section.
Green Street is generally considered the more quiet area of campus… check out smithbysmithies on Tumbler to see individual house profiles!
I think most people get the house they request, and if not the specific house, they likely will get their first choice area of campus (i.e. green street, quad, upper elm, lower elm). Green street is close to the gym, libraries, classes, and downtown. The quad is further away from those things but you get larger houses and mostly singles. There are pluses and minuses for all. The other thing to consider is proximity to food. About half of the houses have dining - if they don’t have dining, they usually have kitchens. My D loves that her house has dining - she can roll out of bed and eat in her PJ’s! lol!
My D is a first year and requested her house and got it. If she is visiting during accepted student’s weekend some of the houses have tours. Your D should thinking about when she may want a single, what type of house community she wants, desired location. My D fell in love with the look of her house and she loved the location. Her house doesn’t have a lot of singles. She is very happy. Some students choose to stay in the same house all four years. Some like to move around. Some don’t like their first house and find a better fit. There are lots of good .options and changing houses isn’t hard.