<p>I posted yesterday about how strong we understood Smith was in Studio Art and Science, which was a huge plus in my daughter's initial attraction to Smith.</p>
<p>I spent quite a bit of time reading the Smith forums last night, and thought that I should confirm my understanding of Smith's strength in Studio Art and Sciences.</p>
<p>When reading, it seemed that Studio Art may have less professors than previously and that the classes are over-enrolled and hard to get into.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t know as much about studio art at Smith as I do science, but it is very well thought of. I understand there are amazing facilities where you can do just any kind of art, so if the classes are over-enrolled, I can understand why.</p>
<p>The sciences are off the charts at Smith, well represented with 30% of declared majors. My daughter’s a senior and English major; among the majors of her closest friends are geology, biology/neuroscience and marine biology. The phenomenal internships, extra research opportunities and the close mentoring with their advisors to the point of grooming them for graduate programs have been thrilling to see. They have worked their tails off and they have thrived. </p>
<p>I’m sure you know about Ford Hall, the newest building on campus dedicated to engineering and the sciences. The engineering program is really intense and challenging, yet it’s an amazing women’s engineering program where they can blossom, develop confidence and hold their own in what is, unfortunately, currently a man’s field.</p>
<p>[News</a> Office](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice12-025.html]News”>News Office)
<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice11-042.html[/url]”>http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice11-042.html</a>
<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/giving/cfr_grants.php[/url]”>Grant Highlights | Smith College;
<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/cwl/toolbox_funding-dept.php[/url]”>http://www.smith.edu/cwl/toolbox_funding-dept.php</a>
<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/collegerelations/SpeakingofSmith.pdf[/url]”>http://www.smith.edu/collegerelations/SpeakingofSmith.pdf</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>I’m not sure how Smith is computing the number of science majors, but my guess is they included psychology and philosophy majors. Tisk tisk. The number of women who majored in a hard science is 18%… 4% physical sciences, 9% biological/life sciences, 3% engineering and 2% computer science.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.smith.edu/ir/docs/Smith_CDS_2012-2013_002.pdf[/url]”>http://www.smith.edu/ir/docs/Smith_CDS_2012-2013_002.pdf</a></p>
<p>CrewDad, I can always count on you to be wonderfully precise. Thanks for the Common Data Set information. Perhaps they were counting psychology (9%) which could include neuroscience, but that still doesn’t quite come to 30%. Perhaps these numbers were from a previous year, not this current year. I do think it’s a bit of a stretch of imagination that they included philosophy! ;)</p>
<p>You left out math (2%) which brings it up to 20%. They probably included neuroscience which would bring it up more. The common data set percent is based on majors rather than headcount, so double-majors are counted funny. It’s possible that 30% of students majored in a science (with some also double-majoring in something else) but that only 20+% of all majors were science. I didn’t see any numbers anywhere to be able to compute this.</p>
<p>Photodad, thank you for pointing out my errors. It would behoove me to remember that a careful reading of all the information presented will eliminate most careless mistakes. The common data set percent is indeed based on majors rather than headcount. However, I’m still curious which majors Smith classifies as a “science.” Smith also doesn’t reveal the majors that are included in their statistic that 18 percent of majors are in the sciences.</p>
<p>There are a lot of different ways they could be computing these numbers. The quote above is “30% of declared majors.” It’s possible that science and engineering majors declare earlier than humanities majors since they tend to have more prerequisites and requirements, and may want to get a major advisor sooner rather than later. If that’s the case, the percentage of declared science majors could be higher than the percentage of graduating science majors.</p>
<p>In any case, focussing on these numbers is getting us away from the comments about the strength of the science and engineering programs. My daughter and her friends have been quite happy with their science and engineering classes and labs (as well as the opportunity also to take first-class humanities and arts classes). It’s really nice that at the Smith research conference later this month (Celebrating Collaborations) there will presentations and posters by not just seniors, but by first-years, sophomores, and juniors as well.</p>