Sorry idk if this is the best place to post this, but this forum seemed pretty hopping so here goes.
I’m definitely either going to Smith or BMC next year, but I can’t decide which. I’m not sure what I want to study, but my top choices are political science (or government), french, anthropology, english/comp lit, and area studies. (I will probably end up double majoring.) EC-wise, I am a huge dancer, theatre nerd, and musician. Totally want the flexibility to try new things though. I am NOT at ALL a partier, not even a social drinker, but I’m a very loud, enthusiastic girl who loves people and I like being around similar people who don’t think I’m a freak for screaming over, I don’t know, a squirrel or something.
Like I said, I liked both of them, but Smith seems to have way more going on in terms of the town and clubs (Edit: this seems unclear I mean EC clubs and not like drinking and dancing clubs haha) and activities, like their orchestra and dance program and stuff. I know Bryn Mawr has Philly, but it’s $12 for a round trip ticket and I can’t afford that very often. Besides, it’s much easier to stay in the Bryn Mawr bubble and not go off campus whereas with Smith I could walk right out into Northampton. But I LOVE Bryn Mawr’s honor code!
I’d always read (on here tbh) that Smith is the more “lively, social” college, but when I visited a couple weeks ago everyone seemed, idk, super quiet and studying all the time. Like my host and her friends were barely said anything and it was sooo boring. I had more fun when I left them and walked around by myself. Whereas at Bryn Mawr, everyone was welcoming and there were people dancing around and a lot of people just came up and talked to me cause why not I guess. But I don’t know if that was just my visit to the colleges and I don’t want my perception of Smith to be discolored by a couple of unsocial people. Any thoughts?
When you visited Smith and BMC, did you go during a visit weekend or just a random weekend? If you went during a scheduled visit day, you should know that the students do act a bit differently on scheduled visits than they do during the regular year - so while it’s a good way to get a slice of life, it’s not an excellent way to see how the day-to-day living is at the college. I’m not saying that people at BMC won’t come up and talk to you out of the blue (that happened a LOT at my small women’s college, Spelman - even nowadays I can meet a total stranger and find out she’s an alumna and have a warm conversation with her) but they’re probably not dancing around on a regular basis, lol. Conversely, your Smith host might have just been a quiet person and if you visited a few weeks ago, maybe it was midterms?
Smith also has an [honor code](| Smith College).
I have heard very many excellent things about Northampton as a town. The biggest draw location-wise to BMC seems to be that it’s “nearby” Philly, but as you have pointed out, “nearby” can still be a hurdle depending on what kind of transportation you have.
Just “listening” to your post it seems to me that you are leaning towards Smith for a variety of reasons, but your recent overnight just made you unsure. Your host and her friends are just a handful of the students at Smith, and Smith students do have a reputation for being lively, active and happy. I don’t think they would’ve earned that without it having some semblance of truth to it, so I think you should trust your instincts here.
@juillet Well I’ve done both a regular day visit and the accepted student day actually. I guess I didn’t really think of students acting differently during scheduled visits…I know I’m being a bit biased towards students’ reactions because like I said, I’m SUCH an outgoing person that I’m surprised when people don’t yell when they meet new people because hey, that’s not…actually…a normal reaction. I guess when I think about it, I did talk to PLENTY of people who were outgoing; it’s just that I spent most of my time with my host so I don’t really think about shorter interactions 
Lol and the Bryn Mawr people who were dancing were, well, dancers, but as a dancer myself I was very happy to see it haha!
Bryn Mawr’s honor code just seemed to be way more used than Smith’s is though. Also, I do sound like I prefer Smith, but that’s just today! Last night I was about ready to ask my parents if I could commit to Bryn Mawr. sigh
I don’t know if I should take into account the strength of my possible majors at each college, or if they’re about the same or whatever. I mean, I loved Bryn Mawr and felt really at home there. But I’m worried about the size (~1300 undergrads!) and a few other things I won’t bother you with. And with Smith, I’m a bit cautious there because I LOVED LOVED my first visit, but my last visit had such a bad vibe and I didn’t like it. I’m concerned about the two extremes, if I make any sense. Especially since my latest visit (like three days ago haha) with Smith was so bad and my visit four days ago to Bryn Mawr was fabulous, my current perception of Bryn Mawr is friendlier and a nicer place for me than Smith is. But on paper and everything Smith seems better and I just don’t know I’m sorry I’m rambling now
Oh, and maybe this is stupid, but it seemed like Smith had a much bigger party/smoking atmosphere than Bryn Mawr did. Especially when I look on the smith housing tumblr page, there’s a lot of mentioning of drug use and alcohol, whereas it seems the only campus drier than bryn mawr is bob jones university. I don’t mind if other people drink or whatever as long as that’s not a huge campus culture. I just don’t like being around that for personal reasons (and smoking for medical) so that’s a big, perhaps unfounded, concern too.
Bryn Mawr IS a friendly place. Excellent anthro courses at both Bryn Mawr and Haverford. I’ve also heard wonderful things about french and comparative literature majors. I know Political Science is very strong at Haverford (don’t know much about it at Bryn Mawr).
Plenty of cafes, shopping around Haverford. Philly can’t be beat for museums, music scene, art galleries, cheap ethnic food joints, etc.
Getting into Philly from Bryn Mawr should cost less than $12 round trip, especially off peak.
And! You can get free tickets from student activities: https://brynmawr.wufoo.com/forms/shyk9wo0kvb6td/ 
@doschicos oh good to know! I probably just took the train during peak time when I visited then I’m not sure haha. I suppose my biggest worry at bryn mawr is scheduling classes, since I want to take two foreign languages and the large majority of classes only have one section, so I’m a bit concerned about that…but I didn’t know about the free tickets thing–that’s cool!
@chitownproud - Don’t forget you have the full range of classes at both Bryn Mawr and Haverford to choose from which makes your choices much broader as well as scheduling. SUPER easy to get and take classes at Haverford. It’s done all the time. In fact, the 2 schools use the same registration system.
BMC alum here – what I really appreciated is that BMC is very collaborative, not competitive atmosphere in terms of academics, and I think that is reflected in the openness and warmth you experienced on campus. The Honor Code is not just an academic “no cheating” but something which shapes the way students treat each other on campus, in the dorms etc. With the course options at H’ford along with BMC, it is a vibrant, easy academic collaboration. As you have probably heard, course times are staggered on the two campuses so that students can get from one campus to the other easily on the Blue Bus to take classes on both. Also, certainly the towns of Bryn Mawr and Haverford are easily accessible to students, Bryn Mawr is 2 blocks from campus. You can argue about the pros and cons of Main Line Philadelphia, but there are movie theaters, restaurants, shopping etc. right there, with Philly of course a quick train ride.
It sounds like you are responding to very real difference in your reaction to being on campus at each school. As a parent, I have come to accept that its important to respect that in a prospective student’s response. Visiting schools over spring break with my younger son, he had real reactions to schools that were based on intangibles, and maybe they could not be rationally explained, but it just didn’t feel like home. As crazy as it makes me (“what do you mean you didn’t like X? Its a match, blah blah blah”) he’s the one experiencing it as a prospie, not me.
Good luck, you will have a wonderful education at either school, the challenge is to figure out which school feels like home in which you can grow as a young person.
Bryn Mawr alum here. Both great schools - I had the same decision to make 30+ years ago. Go where you feel most comfortable. I will say, if you go to BMC, you won’t be going into Philly often. It’s time consuming and there is plenty to do in the bi-college community. The best thing about the proximity of Philadelphia is with regard to post-graduation employment. Many alumni work in the area for their first ‘real job’ after getting their degree.
@literallyleslie has just worked her way through this same choice. In the end, she liked Bryn Mawr better. If you read through her thread it might help you clarify your own thoughts - and you may decide that Smith is better for you.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1760189-seven-sisters-vs-state-school-p1.html
@happymomof1 cool, thanks for the link! It’s kinda concerning that she and I both had the same ish experiences with students at Smith…if anyone has other views/interactions with the students please share! I would really welcome it!
@Midwestmomofboys @Snowdog thank you for your contribution! I always love hearing from alums of schools! 
(A side note: if there’s any Smith alums/students who want to share their experiences I’d love to hear from you too!)
I’ve been trying to figure this out: with schools that are as similar as Smith and Bryn Mawr, how big of a deal should the whole “gut feeling” thing be? I mean, I’ve only visited both schools twice, once briefly at each school and then again at accepted student day, which @juillet pointed out the students probably don’t act quite so normally. But on paper, in terms of classes offered, town setting, and extracurricular opportunities, Smith seems a better fit. But when I visited, Bryn Mawr seemed more, I don’t know, homey. But should I really count that as more important than everything else Smith offers? I’m so conflicted 
(Also sorry I’m so, I don’t know, high maintenance haha. I’m a first gen so my parents and I are pretty bewildered and confused lol)
Is the financial picture the same? If so just pick one, you’ll be fine either way!
When people discuss “fit” what they often really mean is they just feel like they will be happier there. If the only remaining factor that truly differentiates the options is “gut feeling”, it is OK to go with that.
You might appreciate this story of a young woman who literally flipped a coin to make her decision. http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/bryn-mawr-hannah-smith/?_r=0
My D is a recent BMC grad so I’m coming at this from my perspective as a parent. I think you’ve received lots of good feedback to help in making your decision. You’ve got two excellent choices. I’d just add one thing–I perceive the BMC/Haverford/Swarthmore consortium (Tri-Co) as a great opportunity to have many choices, perhaps more than you’d get at most LACs of the same level. There’s a great deal of flexibility in how you can use the consortium–I don’t know if you’d have this much flexibility at Smith.
For example, a friend of my D’s felt that there was more opportunity at Swarthmore to focus on a particular subfield within her major. That friend (who was a student at Haverford) was able to take many of her major courses at Swarthmore. My D took courses at Haverford every semester and a few at Swarthmore as well. D’s roommate took two courses in urban planning at Penn to supplement her Cities major at BMC. Finally, you can take courses at Penn, if the course you want isn’t available through the Tri-Co. I don’t think these experiences were unique to my D and her friends, although I grant you it’s anecdotal data.
I’d agree that going with your intuition isn’t a bad way to make a decision. Good luck with your decision.
I always see posts praising the opportunities that STRIDE scholars receive–and while that’s great and all, I didn’t get one. So do non-STRIDE students receive the same opportunities and in general the professor connections, or would I be better off at Bryn Mawr, where all students receive equal opportunities? Also, while I love science I don’t have any interest in majoring in it. Are Smith’s programs in French, anthropology, and poly sic (well, nevermind, I know their gov program is fantastic) good? I’m particularly interested in the first two, especially knowing that Bryn Mawr excels in those areas. Smith’s larger size/course selection appeals to me, though.
Instead of comparing BMC to Smith for coursework, you really need to compare BMC+HC to Smith. Be sure to look through the HC course offerings as well. For some majors, students take a lot of classes at Swarthmore and Penn - not as easy as getting to HC, but still doable. So look at what is going on there as well.
@chitownproud, we asked the question re: research opportunities for non-STRIDE scholars at a recent Smith info session and were told that all students would have access to research opportunities. I think the difference is that if you are STRIDE it is a ready-made opportunity whereas otherwise you have to take more initiative. Also, you wouldn’t start first semester.
Good luck with your decision. My D was also accepted to BM and Smith, as well as Mt. Holyoke which has offered her a large merit award. She likes all of them very much but all things being equal is leaning to MHC.