<p>hello all!</p>
<p>a good friend of mine just got off of the waitlist at smith (yay!) and is now deciding between Smith and Hampshire. As she has to let Smith know her decision by May 17th and she only found out she'd been accepted yesterday, she is fervently contemplating her two options. any advice to her? her areas of interest are photography and gender/women's studies. quick/timely answers are much appreciated due to her short time frame!!</p>
<p>thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I think unlike the Moho/Smith debate these are two very different options. I do know Hampshire has a bigger and more accessible photo department. Know someone who teaches photo there and likes it. Smith obviously has excellent gender/women’s studies an a fantastic archive to access however I think the real debate would between traditional and nontraditional education - despite not having requirements Smith still operates on a pretty standard LAC format where as Hampshire is much more open ended in its structure. Although this wouldn’t apply to her area of interest a lot of Hampshire students have to take core science classes at other schools since they aren’t offered there. Knowing kids from both places I would also have to say that some of the stereotypes about Hampshire are based in some reality - it is definitely way artier/funkier in it’s overall student body than I’d say Smith is not that there aren’t variants at both and I do think Smith is more demanding academically. I’d say Hampshire if the photo art thing is primary and Smith of the gender studies/academics is primary if there is no strong leaning to the structure of the school. I think this is a apples or green beans vs apples and oranges type choice.</p>
<p>Is she a very self directed person? To do well at Hampshire you need to be EXTREMELY self directed, and very committed to what you want to do. It’s not going to be a place where procrastinators or people who only do the assigned work are going to flourish. Also you need to like a life with absolutely no structures or rules. Think about it carefully. No rules sounds great, but having to create your own order can be very daunting and difficult to do properly. </p>
<p>In superficial terms, the housing is better at Smith and the food is much, much, much better. At least until you’re a sophomore at Hampshire and can move into a mod and cook your own food, the institutional food is fairly gross. I’ve eaten it. </p>
<p>Hampshire has more interesting theater opportunities than Smith, though any Smith student can try out for a Hampshire play so it doesn’t make a huge difference. Hampshire doesn’t have a major town nearby, so you have to bus to Amherst or Northampton for a little culture and to the mall for shopping (Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc.) I don’t know how their photo departments compare, though Smith’s photo dept is very good and their gender studies department (known as the Study of Women and Gender or “swag” in campus terms) is of course excellent. You can even study the original papers of founding feminists right there on campus. </p>
<p>For me, Smith was a good balance of freedom and structure. I like to do my own thing and I don’t like i when institutions keep me from doing what I want. But I also need some structure and some tradition. I like getting grades, it makes it easier when you’re applying to graduate schools and jobs for one thing, and for another, I like measuring my performance in terms that make sense to me and are more or less easily quantifiable. The whole concept of evaluations never really appealed. </p>
<p>Hampshire at its best is a great place to nourish free-thinking. But I guess I experienced enough of Hampshire not at its best as a Smith student to know that it’s an experiment that works out well for the really really dedicated, focused, and self directed kids, and not well at all for the kids that are in between.</p>
<p>So sdangelo, what school did your friend choose?</p>
<p>she chose smith :)</p>
<p>Hooray!!! Another Smithie! Tell her welcome!</p>