Smith or Vassar for English/Psych

[DramaMama2021]

I agree!

Vassar was in my D’s top 3, and if she’d changed her mind about med school so that we did not care about merit she would probably be there now.

[mle77]

I’m a Smith alum, class of 2000. It was definitely not all white women then, and the school is even more diverse now. Women come to Smith from all over the world. Northampton and the whole Pioneer Valley is such a great area to live. Art and music are strong at Smith, you won’t suffer there. I looked at Vassar with my daughter last month, and that’s a great school. I did find the lack of a real town adjacent to campus to be a downside, but wouldn’t be a dealbreaker for me. The campuses otherwise feel quite similar to me. Is the cost the same for you? If one is less expensive, go there. You truly can’t go wrong. I love Smith but I’m sure I’d love Vassar too if I had gone there. Congratulations and best wishes to you!

[cquin85]

My perspective is only partially informed: direct experience with Smith and a lot of contact with Vassar, along with having close friends who attended or have kids who recently attended.

Both are fabulous schools, both have stunning campuses (IMO) and both have a strong brand for academic excellence. Smith of course is all women, and unlike Bryn Mawr or Barnard, it will feel all women most of the time. The campus is not overrun with men from the other consortium schools taking classes, so don’t count on that.

I’m not surprised, and I’d say it’s typical, of people to prefer Northampton over Poughkeepsie. And if I had to pick one, I suppose I’d go with Northampton myself. But I’m also a grown adult and don’t mind quiet (even though I do prefer the pace of the city). The one thing I’ll add here is that the Pioneer Valley is spread out, and so while people will say there is proximity to Amherst, it won’t feel close by. You have to drive and it’s a little ways. Same with South Hadley, which is a bus stop little community, so being close to it is nothing.

This is all to say that, while Northampton is a fairly cute and cozy little community, it can feel isolated. And even if you disagree with my ‘sense’ that Amherst doesn’t feel close, Amherst has its own limitations. Cute and manicured, yes. But it’s tiny.

All in all, while Poughkeepsie is no great shakes, I would score Northampton and the Pioneer Valley as a risk for feeling isolated, and again, I really like the area, the town and Smith College. But even with a car, Western MA is sleepy. I remember once driving to Deerfield (not that far from these schools) on a grey winter day and thinking to myself that there’s no way I could have gone to school there. Literally out in the middle of nowhere.

Others may have the opposite take. I just occasionally throw in another opinion about the Pioneer Valley because it has a strong following on CC. Lovely, but comes with limitations.