<p>bn12gg/David, I am so thrilled for your daughter and for you and your wife! Congratulations! Your excitement and pride brings a lump to my throat. Welcome to Smithie Parenthood, and as my husband just said, be prepared to watch your daughter take off like a rocket!</p>
<p>@ BN: Wonderful news! So great to feel confident your D’s future is in the best of hands… her’s and the community of Smith. </p>
<p>“Take off like a rocket”… CarolynB once again captures it. </p>
<p>As we saw our D grow through HS (with all the eye rolls) was wonderful, but it was slow incremental growth -because we were part of it. And then being part of the college decision was one of the most impactful -seeing our D become a young adult… </p>
<p>But now the conversations we have after but 8 months of her being a Smithie… Priceless! (OK, it DOES have a price, but also an unprecedented value!)
Seeing our D challenged and embracing life at Smith is inspiring. In less than a year, such wonderful stories …far beyond academics. </p>
<p>Congrats to you and your family, BN.</p>
<p>Brie99 and others thanks again. Brie- You really confirm what we hope-- thru the experiences of your talented daughter and her growth. I believe D will “lift off” in the capable hands of Smith faculty and staff. Daughter knows the Smith “fit” is perfect for her and what she wants to do as an undergraduate-- 2nd day of Open Campus marched right over to Admissions and turned in her confirmation card with check. That ended the drift regarding THE choice. </p>
<p>This a.m. I made reservations at a cute B & B in Amherst for the Smith Parent/Family weekend in October. While we’ve been in and out of Boston and the Cape over the years we know little about Western Mass. </p>
<p>Oh, by the way, I’m wearing my Smith College Dad shirt this a.m. The drift over THE choice is finally over for me and W as well. Feels really good.</p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>There are some great B&Bs in the area, and they can be an affordable option compared to pricy hotels. My parents favored the Sugar Maple Inn, which is cute and not far from campus.</p>
<p>Thanks, S&P, I’ll check this out for graduation next year.</p>
<p>The Sugar Maple Inn is a fabulous place to stay. The owner, Criag Penna, is an extremely enjoyable host and knows a wealth of interesting historical facts about the area that he’s more than willing to share. </p>
<p>The inn was built before the railroad that used to pass about 30 yards from the house existed. The old track bed is now a bike path. If you’re fortunate enough to stay at the inn, have Criag relay the story of the railroads’ involvement in changing the ceilings to cloth due the shaking of the house that occured whenever a train passed through. When Craig restored the inn, he was able to save one cloth ceiling and it remains as it was 100+ years ago.</p>
<p>i am soo bummed i missed it…i payed almost 300 for my plane ticket and the night before the flight a couple things happened that prevented me from going :-P</p>
<p>kristinabrown1, I’m so sorry you couldn’t make it! That’s disappointing, but you’re attending next fall, right? If so, then you’ll get the Smith experience hook, line and sinker! The whole enchilada! :)</p>
<p>hell yeah!!! :-)</p>
<p>David - when you go up for parents weekend, you should check out Atkins Farms in Amherst. They sell fresh-picked McIntosh apples in season (and I’m sure lots of others as well, but I remember the Macs being spectacular), and all kinds of fresh-baked goodies. My family has been visiting them whenever we get the chance since my sister went to school in the area in the 70’s, and we stopped by last week during the campus visit (cider donuts, yum).</p>
<p>Mmm, they used to put cider donuts in the care packages that parents can order for students during finals. Best part of finals week.</p>
<p>CIEE83-- Thanks for the Atkins Farm info-- having been raised in Ohio and Illinois, I’m quite familiar with the northern climate and the wonders it has to offer. Western Mass should be fun to explore with D being a reason to be up there a few times per year. It has been fun explaining cold, freezing weather to D. As Boss51 mentioned, she is going to need some cold weather outfits-- boots will be first. Our Florida kid has some experiencing in the weather department to do-- all exciting. </p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>David,
It was so fun to read your posts. I’m hoping to feel that same excitement when my D chooses (and hopefully loves) her college in a couple years. We live in Florida too, and I was just curious as to whether your D seriously considered any of the Florida schools. We are contemplating the likely dilemma of the desire (and hopefully the stats) to go to a school like Smith weighed against the much more affordable Florida schools. If you did debate the merits of a Florida school vs Smith, I’d love to hear more about that decision making process.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your D!</p>
<p>Shobomom-- The path to Smith was an interesting and at times a rough one for our family. Keep in mind that D has two brothers in college currently. The younger will finish his math education degree this Friday at FSU, then move into a pure math grad program at FSU. The oldest is currently working on a modern language masters degree at UCF. The point here is we do expend a certain $$ amount assisting D’s older brothers. In the context of the D having a fully paid Florida prepaid going to a Florida college might have made the most sense $$-wise (made up the word). We were thinking about UF or FSU for D originally, took FSU off the table and settled on UF as a fine “safety” school especially the Honors UF program and its’ nice Hume Dorm. Problem-- D really does not like UF, any large research first University and wanted an LAC where faculty taught first and she could get to them to ask/answer questions. Our position with her was if she could obtain some merit money then an LAC might just work. D applied to UF, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke and Wellesley (I know Wellesley provides no merity $'s). She was accepted at these schools with Smith, Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr providing the nice chunk of merit aid we were looking for. She visited Smith and Mount Holyoke in November and then attend the Smith Open Campus 2 weeks ago. D has been impressed with the Smith culture which in our minds begins with the Admissions Dept being run in an impressive fashion. Essentially, they pursued here once they saw her academic abilities plus other qualities. If the other Departments at Smith are run as well as Admissions it will be an amazing opportunity for D. Bottomline- comparing UF and what you get academically with Smith, I’d have to say you likely get what you pay for at Smith (a superior undergraduate education).</p>
<p>Anyway, these are certain of the factors that were at play in arriving at Smith. D is very happy with here decision-- No, zero decision remorse! She is a SMITHIE! I like this.</p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>Shoboemom-- a couple additional factors came to mind that might assist you. The Smith Network for Smithies post graduation weighed heavily in our decision. When my former academic advisor who until this day teaches at The Ohio State University heard the final choice was Smith, stated “that Smith Network is the best.” Unsolicited and this guy is a former Big Ten administrator.</p>
<p>The other factor was that D’s Smith interviewer actually spent 3 hours talking with D in the park in our town. This Smithie was essentially an extension of the Admissions Dept.</p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>Thank you so much for taking the time to reply! I didn’t realize that some of those schools might offer merit aid. I thought it was basically private=need based, public = merit. Good to hear there might be a combination possible. I do wonder about the networking in our area. It seems that around where we live, everyone is a Gator (although my sister is a 'Nole, through and through). It makes me wonder if employers in Florida will be truly aware of any but the biggest name schools (Harvard and the like).<br>
I really do get the impression, from your posts and others, that Smith and a few other select schools really do seem to take care of their students…much less of a ‘lost in the crowd’ feeling than I imagine from so many schools. Much of what I have read makes ME want to go there!
Thanks…and congratulations again!</p>
<p>You might be surprised about what schools people are familiar with. When I got accepted to Smith, I started wearing my Smith sweatshirt around places and I got asked almost everywhere I went if I was a student there by someone whose daughter/mom/girlfriend/aunt/cousin/niece went there. And this was waaaaay out on the West Coast. I got my share of “Smith? What’s that?” responses too, but also much more recognition than expected. </p>
<p>Also, and I know parents don’t always want to hear this, your D may choose to not return to Florida for work after college, or she may decide to live in a different part of the state. There are Gators all over the country, and there are also Smithies all over as well.</p>