<p>Ok. Ive narrowed my choices down to Smith College and American University. Kind of a weird choice I think I eliminated Boston University and Mount Holyoke College (too stingy). </p>
<p>Im also still hoping that my waitlists will fall through Georgetown, University of Chicago, Brown, however unrealistic that is. </p>
<p>Im pretty passionate about IR and it is important to me that I get into a good grad school. Im leaning towards American ($18,000 scholarship) over smith ($14,000 grant), but Im wondering: am I passing a good thing up at smith? I have visited Smith and it seems very supportive and accommodating. I am visiting American University this Friday. </p>
<p>Things that are making this decision difficult
- Smith is ½ hour away from my home
- American is in DC and has lots of IR opportunities prob.
- American might not be as strong as Smith academically
- American is a university Smith is a liberal arts college -not sure what I prefer/need
- to complicate it even further - I was also accepted to the honors program at UMASS and I could take classes at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, & Hampshire for cheap at UMASS
- weak i know but, its obviously harder to access guys at smith </p>
<p>Oh my gosh, that was ME two years ago!!!! Smith vs. AU</p>
<p>I actually wound up staying at AU last summer for a DC internship- I missed Smith housing right away! I can only really tell you what it's like to be AU in terms of living day-to-day. For one, you really have to make the trip to fun stuff (about 15-20 minutes trip from AU to metro to whatever stop you want). It's pretty far up NW and there isn't much in Tenleytown though if you can stand to walk 15-20 minutes up NE, you'll find yourself in Friendship Heights with amazzzzinnnnggg shopping and some good food. What I did like about AU was that it's actually a campus that's bit on the quieter side. So it's a nice escape from downtown DC, Dupont Circle, and Georgetown.</p>
<p>In case you missed this during your tour- there are NO Wednesday classes because students use this day to do their internships in DC. I don't know too much aboout academics as I actually never attended a class because...when I went to overnight there, I had already sent my deposit to Smith. (Just wanted to see "typical" college dorm life). They do seem very supportive, if not favorable, towards their SIS/IR program over other programs at AU.</p>
<p>I have a friend at UMASS who is in the honors program.... she liked the smaller sized classes but other than that, it didnt seem much different from being a regular student.</p>
<p>I chose Smith over American for the following reasons-
1) Prestige (c'mon, we know it.)
2) Strong academics- smaller classes, especially that I wanted to take Russian and needed a lot of personal contact
3) DC is a place where you can always live in- it's practically my summer home now
4) Wanted to try the all-women experience
5) Felt that I would transfer out of AU quickly because it just felt a bit like high school, not too challenging, just the students being really laid-back</p>
<p>It was hard to give up American for its amazing opportunities and location, but I'm glad that I did because I saw that IR was really the only good thing about AU- if I had switched majors, my life probably would've sucked because the other departments didn't seem too great. I wanted the liberal arts option so I could switch majors and still be assured of quality teaching.</p>
<p>My $0.02. DC will always be there for you, Northampton won't.</p>
<p>Some of TMP's notes bring support here. We visited AU and it was one school that all three of us actively loathed. It felt a <em>lot</em> like high school. The housing was insipid. And--I keep track of presentations very carefully--academics was the <em>seventh</em> issue the associate admissions director covered at our presentation, which is about where I think academics in general rates at AU. The IR program is about the only good thing about the place, imo. In our info session, they were more proud about how draconian their drug policy was than they were about academics. The AU students as a group showed none of the "spark" that I ordinarily get around Smithies...even ex-Smithies. ;)</p>
<p>I don't deny that spark but I do deny being called an ex-Smithie because I think if I do have that spark and particular characteristics that Smithies have, then I am still a Smithie. Just not as incredibly intense all around, only in the academics. Smithies are passionate about everything that they do and I just can't do that on competitive basis.</p>