<p>Anyone done/doing Smith College SSEP?</p>
<p>I did! I was a participant in 2005 (so, a bit of a time ago) but they still send me the brochure--not much has changed, as far as I can tell, so if you have any questions/concerns, I'd be happy to help out. </p>
<p>I really loved that summer; for sure it was a great program. Sounds like you're a mom--so has your D gotten in, or are you waiting to hear, or simply considering it? I can't remember when decisions came out, but I have the feeling the application isn't yet due.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm the mom. My D applied early, she really wanted to go, and got in. She's really excited. </p>
<p>Do the dorm rooms have fans? Does it get as hot there in the summer as Boston, or is it cooler?</p>
<p>Any musts or advice?</p>
<p>That's great! Tell her congrats for getting in. :) Out of curiosity, what grade will she enter after SSEP? I was a rising junior at the time. </p>
<p>It's definitely hot/humid in Northampton, probably just about the same as Boston. For sure, bring a fan--the dorm rooms aren't air-conditioned, but the dining room and classrooms are. </p>
<p>One thing that I definitely found helpful was checking the box on the application or confirmation form that requested my two summer professors to write a brief evaluation of me. I think they might say it's for Smith use (like, if your D later applies, they'll look at her SSEP record) but they very kindly sent out my evaluation to all the colleges I applied to this year, as well as a summer program I did the year after Smith. I think it helps college admissions officers--means a bit more to them a professor at a respected LAC wrote something, as oppose to a Mrs. Jones over at say, Springfield High School. </p>
<p>What courses did your D sign up for? I really loved both classes--I did get my second choice for one portion (I was a bit sad, but ended up loving that course. See below.) and tell her not to be upset if she doesn't get her first choice. Honest, they're all really amazing classes. I took 'Truth In Advertising: A Chemical Analysis of the Products We Buy', which is still being offered, I believe, and 'Inside the Human Body'--no longer offered, but the prof (Dr. Scordilis) is still around. </p>
<p>If your D hasn't yet signed up for classes, I would really recommend 'Truth in Advertising'. It was a great class--I loved the professor, and the projects were really interesting! It was basically about how America's becoming so obsessed with "light" and "fat free" products, and how companies manufacture them. I found it fascinating, some of the things companies do--for instance, "light" ice cream actually has air whipped into it. If you examine the weight of equal serving sizes of light vs. regular ice cream, you'll see light ice cream weighs less--less ice cream, more air! I guess because the class relates so much to our everyday lives, I loved it. The knowledge is addicting, too; I can't resist smirking at 'light' products and glancing at the weight/serving size stuff. </p>
<p>If she's interested in chemistry, that's a definite plus, (since it does have a chem slant) but if not, unless there's some other course she's dying to do, I would still highly encourage it. Even if she's already taken chem (I think it says the course is aimed at girls who haven't yet) it doesn't matter (they weren't strict on that policy at all; I did a course that said we were supposed to have taken bio, but half the class hadn't)--the stuff and ideas you do in the lab are unlike any high school chem course. </p>
<p>That was more advice than I had intended! I hope it wasn't too long-winded. Other than that, tell her to take advantage of Northampton (cute little town--also good ice cream at Harrolls, I think it was called) as well as all the activities Smith does, like the movies, playing badminton, all of it. There's no homework, and the activities are all fun. :)</p>
<p>Wow! Great info, very helpful, thank you!</p>
<p>She hasn't had to officially pick courses, yet, but her interests are "Truth in Adv," "Women & Exercise," "Genes/Chromosomes." </p>
<p>She loves her high school biology course. She's only a rising sophomore, and chemistry isn't offered for frosh at her high school. She'll take Honors Chem next year.</p>
<p>In fact, alot of the kids at her high school will graduate without ever taking any chemistry at all. I'm really excited about this opportunity for her, because her high school doesn't have much in the way of advanced science/math. Just graduating from high school is such a challenge for most of her classmates that many don't -- that's way off topic, but for me, the best part of a summer program like this is that my D can see there are other kids out there who do enjoy learning, and that learning goes way beyond the state-issued high school textbook (written on about a grade 6 reading level, haha!).</p>
<p>That's good advice about asking for the evaluation. I'll forward this thread to her!</p>
<p>Momindant, when did she recieve the acceptance letter? I applied early too and didn't hear anything back yet. Did your daughter recieve a confirmation email?</p>
<p>I'm glad I could be of help. If she has any questions herself, tell her to feel free to private-message me, or join this thread. :) </p>
<p>I distinctly remember that Genes/Chromo was a really popular course! I'm in the middle of AP Bio now, and I wish I had taken it; there's so much cool stuff going on in genetics right now that the class covers. Like I said, it's just amazing working in a college-level lab--she'll have the chance to do some of the stuff the rest of us just read about. I think that class might've had the chance to look at their own DNA (coool, no?) which seemed pretty awesome. </p>
<p>My friend took Women in Exercise, and that sounded neat as well, and tell her that they actually do exercise! The girls are their own guinea pigs, per se, and I know that they have girls running laps, for instance, before measuring their heartbeats. I didn't know that (and it didn't affect me in any way; I was just surprised when my friend told me) but perhaps I hadn't read the description carefully enough.</p>
<p>I think that your D will find many girls come from schools where academics aren't always a top priority--Smith's huge on recruiting minority groups, and so I would guess nearly 50% of the program came from inner cities in New York--the Bronx, Harlem, Queens, etc. For me, this was pretty eye-opening; I learned a lot from my classmates as well as from the program. </p>
<p>For this reason, the academics weren't extremely intense; the focus was more on the exposure to science, which I think is the program's greatest attribute. It gave great opportunities like working with amazing lab equipment, field trips, (Truth in Adv went off on a number of fun excursions, including Yankee Candle factory, different food factories and a grocery store, which was more fun than it sounds, and the bio ones go off to a huge hospital.) neat profs, and so on all in a very relaxed setting. I agree with you--textbook learning is important, but practical, fun learning is often overlooked. SSEP is not for a regurgitation of high school material--in short, she's not going to learn the traditional chem curriculum while she's there. We spent six hours a day in the lab, (three in the morning, three in the afternoon) and seriously, it was just all lab work! Fun lab work, like measuring the vitamin C in orange juice, or making liquid nitrogen ice cream. I think the teacher talked for maybe 30 ~ 45 minutes at the start, and we discussed for about 30 min at the end, but the hands-on approach was great. Sometimes, we had funny lab results too--when we measured blood hemoglobin levels, we were all supposed to get around 10 ~ 12 micrograms per milileter, or something like that, and I remember I got 8, (making me anemic, which I'm not!) my friend got 3, making her extremely anemic, and another friend got 51, putting her like, way off the charts. </p>
<p>As a parent, if you can make it out for final presentations, I wouldn't miss it, especially if she does end up getting Truth In Adv. In my year, for the presentations, we made liquid nitrogen ice cream for the audience. (big hit!) </p>
<p>If she's excited already about SSEP, then I bet she'll come out of it, begging to apply early to Smith in a few years. (I sure did!) Tell her to keep her eyes open, then, while she's there, because at some point, they'll probably do admissions interviews. (About 2nd/3rd week in) They're 30 minutes, during lunch, and basically they'll provide you with a number, and she'll set up the interview herself. The program doesn't push you to interview, and it's an independant thing--she'll need to take the initiative to call the office, set a time/date and then go. It sounds silly, but I found this a little intimidating--it would be my first college interview, my parents weren't around to help me set it up! oh no! Point is, they're informal, easy to do, and hey, pretty fun. My interviewer was really nice, asked simple questions, so I'd recommend it, even if it's a bit scary to have to make that first leap all alone. If she later applies to Smith, it's yet another thing they can look at.</p>
<p>I'm sure that I have more stuff to say, (can you tell I love talking?! :)) so I'm terribly sorry for these insanely long posts! I guess I'm quite happy to find an excited SSEPer (or the mother of one!) to share my experience/enthusiasm with.</p>
<p>westcoastlove,</p>
<p>Applied 2/26. Received acceptance by letter in mid-March. No email. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>BTW, you must respond with a deposit within 10 days of being accepted, so not much time to ponder.</p>
<p>I did the program last year-- got my acceptance letter within 2 weeks, but it i had some friends on the west coast who got theirs later… i think.
also, there are no fans in the rooms, so bring your own! the heat isn’t oppressive, but fans are a good idea. u can buy one in Faces (u can buy just about anything there, actually). or u can just browse. i recommend that too.
and don’t forget to get ice cream at Herrells!</p>
<p>Soooo, SSEP of 2010 officially starts in one week.
I’m excited and kinda nervous 'cause my parents and I just dropped off my brother at the CTY program – he called back, and he sounds bored already :/</p>
<p>Basically, what I need is reassurance to be completely honest.
I went on a campus tour @ Smith last spring break, and I thought it was pretty great.</p>
<p>But about the program itself:
- the list mentioned a bike (should I bring one? are they just a hassle or would it be helpful?)
- and uh, can’t think of anything else right now, but if you want to mention anything at all abt SSEP, that would be amazing. thanks so much.</p>
<p>Many thanks to all who have shared their experience about participating in the SSEP at Smith College. I am thinking of having my daughter, a rising junior, do this program next summer. She will have completed AP Biology by next summer. </p>
<p>Will having completed AP Biology means the labs at SSEP would not be challenging enough for her?</p>
<p>Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t notice this thread before! I went to SSEP last year (summer 2009), and I absolutely LOVED it.</p>
<p>I was entering 12th grade, so I was one of the oldest there, and I had taken a lot of AP math and science classes, but I still found my class really interesting and certainly not easy! I took Designing Intelligent Robots, which was great - I loved the professor, and we did really cool projects. It definitely isn’t a super serious lab experience; it’s more about exploring new things and getting girls interested in math/science/engineering. We built robots from Lego Mindstorm sets, and we also made webpages using basic HTML to track our progress. </p>
<p>The program was amazing, and I met some absolutely awesome friends with whom I’m still in touch. I did get into Smith, but I ultimately decided not to attend - however, having attended SSEP made the decision that much harder! I will be attending Carnegie Mellon for engineering in the fall, and my roommate is actually (totally coincidentally) one of my friends from SSEP!</p>
<p>hey, i’m trying to apply for 2012 summer science program in smith college. when i see the application form, they are asking abt essay.
they said that i should write essay about “why you hope to attend the Smith Summer Science and Engineering Program. Which research courses are of interest to you and why?”</p>
<p>here, i wonder what the “research courses” refers to, is it refers to biochemistry, engineering, chemistry, or some courses such as designing intelligent robots, and those.</p>
<p>please help…</p>
<p>Designing intelligent robots</p>
<p>No, actually, they are just looking for biochemistry, etc. They choose the courses. You only provide the area of science you like.</p>
<p>Do you get to do your own research?</p>
<p>No, there’s courses… But the courses are actually pretty interesting for the most part…</p>
<p>And gah, I have to mail my application today, but the roads are so bad because of all the snow D:</p>