Smith Housing System

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
1

<p>Hey,</p>

<p>I've been told that Smith employs some sort of residential college affiliation system (similar to Yale's). Can someone explain in detail what this system entails to me? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Does it seem to be working well or poorly? I heard that one of the goals of such models is to build college community and increase inter-class interaction. Has the res-college model done this? If not, has it done anything else (either positive or negative for the school?).</p>

<p>I would, of course, be more curious to hear what current students have to say, but I'd appreciate any feedback on this aspect of Smith life from anyone who has knowledge about the school. </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Students will have to answer whether they like it or not, but as I know you go to Williams, which is considering changes now, and I know what the system there is....</p>

<p>Smith doesn't have a residential college system. Rather a series of houses (30 of them I think), which students are assigned to beginning in their first year. First-years can request a certain area of campus (and various areas do have something in the way of reputations; whether they are earned or not I'll leave to students). Students can change if they don't like where they are, but most stay in the same house for four years. Each house has a residential advisor, and various "heads of new students", "big sisters", and some other various and assorted (Smith is very big on advisors of all kinds.) There are social activities and residential life advising based in the houses, and there are weekly "house teas". It used to be the case that each house had its own dining room; now, due to budget cuts, but also a wish to diversify menus and mealtimes (for athletes, folks taking courses at other colleges, etc.) there are only 21 or 22 dining rooms, many of them offering different food. (The food quality, from the little I could tell, is about the same as it is at Williams, though there is more diversity.) Some folks like the new system, as it breaks up the insularity of houses. Some dislike the new system as it upsets the "closeness" of the houses. It does build in much more inter-class interaction and informal advising than I experienced at Williams. And if it is your house, you actually live in it (I was a member of Perry House, but lived in Currier for two years, and in those days you basically always ate at your house, so needless to say, I developed very strong legs!)</p>

<p>Students can tell you more.</p>

3

<p>Rice also has a residential college system (which is similar to Yale's and the new proposed Williams plan) and as far as I can see it works out great (I lived on campus while I worked there for a while and talked to people about it). No one really complains about not changing houses every year because they come to love the people that live there with them (aka a second family) and are rrealllllly supportive of Rice and the houses that they live in (since they have sporting events and stuff between the houses)(Kinda like the houses in the Harry Potter movies, so says an alum). This system help tremendously with creating a really good social scene since it meshes together the new freshman and everyone else in their house pretty quickly thus helping freshmen quickly adjust to college life and lets the seniors and everyone else meet the freshmen without going out of their way. Each house/college throws their own themed parties (which I really hope Williams will do cause the theme parties are awesome) which are open to everyone and this helps rotate the social scene so you aren't going to the same place or doing the same thing all the time. The freshman choose a house when they enter and that house is where they will most likely will stay for the four years (my friend in that process right now) unless they really need a transfer. There aren't any real negative aspects to the model (since it really does help create more inter relations between classes and just makes for a better overall social scene and student community) but one may argue that people may get too house proud and each house seperates from each other thus killing an already existing social structure. This won't happen since as long as people have pride in Williams they will always come together plus there are lots of inter- house activities at places like Rice and Yale (my friends bro goes there). The residential system makes a seperated community come together or a decent college life way better. The proof is Rice and Yale students who (I will vouch for this) love their residential college systems and wouldn't have it any other way.</p>

4

<p>Btw, each house has its own mini govt. (yes there is still the overall student govt.) that handles all issues within the house. The President (and his/her cabinet) of the house handles the total budget for that house right down to how much is spent on toilet paper. This really the students in charge of their own lives (I hope Williams does/will do that in the future cause i thought it was so cool to see them control their living quarters and lives like that). Also something I've noticed is that while Rice does have its fair share of drinking problems, the pleasant student life that the res-model creates sort of warps the drinking into more of party drinking and not alcoholic/stress relieving drinking, if you know what I mean. That is another plus. Hope this helps.</p>

5

<p>At the local parties for Smith prospects--I've been to it for three years in a row, this year to be the guinea pig parent for other parents to talk to while their daughters talked to the current students--there have been 15-20 or so current students. They're all asked to state what they like the best about Smith and what they liked the least. Routine among "the best" answers is the housing system. </p>

<p>Many of the houses are in fact houses; my D's is a Victorian built in 1879. There is one small seniors-only house and a few theme houses, e.g., French-speaking, vegan, older students (Ada Comstock scholars, ages 26-60+), etc. but the vast majority have students from all four years. </p>

<p>I don't think that D would say that everyone is her best friend but it's a well-bonded group of people. She's bummed that some of her best friends are sophomores with whom she'll never share the house again...next year they'll be doing junior year abroad programs and the following year they'll be back for their senior years but she'll be gone on her junior year programs. Such is life.</p>

<p>Different houses seem to have different personalities and I'm guessing that some of them do change in flavor from year to year. Different areas of campus also have different reps: D lives on Green St., which is reputed to be more studious than the quad and also has a higher percentage of those in performing arts. The Quad is more "social", i.e. they hold the keg parties used as bait for the guys from Amherst, U/Mass, Hampshire, etc. But as a style of living, my D likes it very much.</p>

6

<p>Mine is a lower Elm Streeter. She wanted to be as close to town as possible (and to the Quaker Meeting House) - a bonus is that it is across the street from the kosher kitchen, and she goes and cooks there. She has friends in other houses as well: her best friend is in the rival house next door. She also has become good friends with a senior in the house (who commented favorably on her India writing, and they struck a friendship). The lower Elm houses seem to attract a bunch of folks doing languages as well, as the French house is located there, and folks who like to hang at coffee shops and bookstores.</p>

7

<p>I live in Center Campus, which is nice because it's about equidistant from Green Street and the Quad if I need to go to either place to see friends, work on projects, etc. Living next to the Campus Center is nice, too, for food at night and being able to run over there when I need to without worrying about the time it takes to get there. The library and academic buildings are a nice distance away, too. I can make it to Seelye in less than five minutes, which was useful the one time I woke up 15 minutes before class started.</p>

<p>My closest friends are in my house, but I have friends all over campus, and I've enjoyed spending time with them in their houses. My house is big on community, so we're one of the few houses that turned up for Float Night and there is a subsidized trip to New York coming up for a weekend this spring, which has me a little excited.</p>

8

<p>So to clarify a little bit:</p>

<p>Smith students are associated with their house (does this mean actually living in the house?) from the beginning of their first year on? While they're able to list house (or campus area) preferences, they have no definite choice over where they end up, correct? Students have the ability to leave the house but few take it (but can students leave their house with a group of students? Can they pick where they'd like to live outside of their house or are they just randomly assigned somewhere else?). </p>

<p>Are there any more traditional dorms at Smith or is all of the housing in these houses? How large is each house (ie: how many other students will a Smith student be living with approximately?).</p>

9

<p>The houses vary from about 20 to 110 (the ones in the quad tend to be larger; those in lower Elm tend to be 40-75). The largest ones look more like traditional dorms from the outside, but on the inside they have much more common space than, say, Fayerwether or Currier or Sage or such at Williams, and have more in common with the smaller "colleges" at Yale - though it is no longer the case that each house has a dining room. Students LIVE in the house from the beginning of their first year. They can list campus area preference, not house. They have no definite choice (but about 90% or more end up in their area of preference.) Students can leave their house, but few take it. Students can choose where else they decide to go, and if there is room, that is usually honored. (No random assignment.) </p>

<p>I haven't heard of whole groups of students moving from house to house. There are a few student apartments, and a vegetarian coop house.</p>

10

<p>The houses in the Quad appear to be more like traditional apartment-style dorms.
Houses range in size from around 12-14 to 70-100; my D's is something like 52...she requested one not smaller than 50 to maximize social opportunities.</p>

<p>Yes, being assigned to a house means living in that house and in general you don't get to choose, though I know one student's request that was honored for a really cute reason. </p>

<p>I'm not 100 percent sure about reassignments but I believe that it's random reassignments...you can't choose. A very few students live in apartments off campus; housing at Smith is guaranteed for four years. The group-of-students-picking-up-to-go-together phenomenon would be very odd at Smith given the intensity of the house structure/bonding.</p>

<p>X-posted with Mini: Mini, I know of someone who did not get transferred into the House she wanted. But now that I think about it, others (from the past) have. Hmm. File that under "for further investigation."</p>

11

<p>To add to the house discussion, this is my understanding:</p>

<p>The houses at Smith are considered so much a part of the experience that you graduate by your house - not by your department.</p>

<p>But it is actually not that unusual to switch houses. In addition, there is a "primarily seniors" house. The house system is a bit less "intense" now that dining has changed to a "go where you want" system. That has its plusses and minuses. </p>

<p>One reason that people tend to stay within their houses is because when you do "room draw" in the spring, you get higher priority in your house than you do for another house. Everyone who wants to stay in the house is placed before any new transfers in. (Of course, a group of rooms is set aside for first-years.) But switches do happen. And when people change houses, they do tend to request a house where they have friends. </p>

<p>Many of the smaller houses take on more individual personalities. For that reason, some people like to start out in the Quad, with the larger population houses, and then switch to a smaller house once they are more familiar with the scene.</p>

<p>With the dining changes, all this is becoming more complicated. People make dining options another factor in their housing decision. When all the menus were the same and every house had its own dining, that was not a factor. </p>

<p>People who go abroad or away for a semester are asked to list their housing preferences before their return, giving six house choices in order. Every effort is made to honor requests, and I would imagine a request to return to a previous house would be given a very high priority. My D did move to a house where she had friends from her previous house who had relocated. She was open to staying in her house, but placed this other house a bit higher in her choices. </p>

<p>I still think the Smith house system combines some of the positive things of sorority life (closeness among people of different years, smaller community within the big community) without the negatives (exclusivity, pledging, cost, etc.)</p>

<p>At the end of the year, at a dinner for the house seniors, the seniors would formally "will" some of their cherished room items to specific students staying in the house - one sweet tradtion, among many others. Don't know how the dining changes will affect this. :-(</p>

12

<p>This may be nit-picking, but I wouldn't call the quad houses "apartment-style", at least not my daughter's house. They're definitely traditional style dorms with bathrooms and a small kitchen down the hall. The rooms are larger than those I saw at other colleges, closets are good sized & lots of singles are available.</p>

13

<p>TheDad mentioned that the houses on Green st. tend to be more focused on the performing arts. In general, do different areas of houses cluster based on interests? Also, does anyone know how likely a freshman is to get a single room, if requested? I am trying to decide where to request housing this fall. I was leaning toward the green st. houses because they are nearer to the barn!!</p>

14

<p>Firelu, I think the most singles are in the Quad but I don't know what the chances of a first year scoring one are. And a nuance but I don't think the Green St. houses are more focused on the Performing Arts...it's just that a higher percentage of students in the Performing Arts seem to opt for there. Green Street also has a reputation for being on the more studious side, e.g., they can walk over to the Quad for parties, leave the noise behind when they're ready to leave.</p>

15

<p>firelu- Do not worry! You do not need to walk to the barn so choose your house based on where you really want to be. The barn gives rides to its riders by the hour at Sage Hall, at the end of Green Street. Unless you tend to be very very late to things, don't make the barn the reason to be on Green Street :) Lower Elm is only a 3-5 minutes walk.</p>

<p>It's just a concidence that houses are clustered by interests like the Quad for athletes and Green St. for studious people. But really, you will find all kinds of people in a single house and the house dynamics can change very greatly from one year to the other. So if you're interested in science fiction, right now Ziskind is a good place to be since that's where most of the SFFSS members are. But next fall? They may not even be there!</p>

<p>I'd be interested to see how Albright looks in the fall...</p>

<p>As for singles, if you really want one, definitely try to make Upper Elm your top choice, then Lower Elm and write Gillett or Northrop as your top houses. Those areas have the greatest number of singles. Practically every first year in Gillett- Northrop have a single! As for a single in the Quad, that's really restricted to King-Scales and not very many first years are in those houses. In other areas, don't expect a single for your first year, particularly Green Street where houses are smaller.</p>

16

<p>Thanks alot for the advice ticklemepink!</p>