<p>I know, I know; there are at LEAST a million and one threads comparing Smith and MHC. But I have a slightly different question. I was admitted to MHC as a 21rst Century Scholar. All I know about the program is this:</p>
<p>"The Twenty-First-Century Scholars Program honors 30 incoming students
who show exceptional promise. As a Twenty-First-Century Scholar, you
will receive a $20,000 scholarship (renewable for four years),
admission to a first-year honors tutorial with a faculty member, and
funding for a summer internship. And, as a group, you will be invited
to participate in select intellectual and social events." </p>
<p>No details and, since it's the first year of the program, no past recipients to relentlessly question. I'm honestly at a lost about what to do; while I realize that this could turn out to be an awesome opportunity, I also love Smith. What would you all do? Do you think it'd be possible to find similar opportunities at Smith if I was enough of a proponent for myself?</p>
<p>Um, honestly, I would go to MHC. A $20,000 renewable scholarship is a LOT of money, there’s nothing comparable to that at Smith, though STRIDE scholars get to do faculty tutorials and everyone at Smith gets summer internship funding. </p>
<p>Unless money is really no object for you, or unless you absolutely think without a doubt that Smith is the only place you could be happy, I would go for the scholars program. </p>
<p>If you have questions about it, email the person in charge of it at MHC.</p>
<p>Well, there are automatically some differences that can’t be ignored. At MHC, you get a chunk of merit money that you don’t get at Smith–if Smith offers you as much in need-based aid, it may be in loans even if it is equal. So there’s that. Smith probably does make available opportunities for grants for summer internships, you just won’t really have to work as hard for it at MHC. The first-years honor tutorial sounds like a pretty unique opportunity, because I don’t think Smith has honors tutorials for first-years (I could be wrong, but I don’t know). The select intellectual and social events sound pretty sweet… </p>
<p>so I know this isn’t necessarily helpful, but it really has to come down to which school you like better, if that’s important to you.</p>
<p>Well, Smith offers a guaranteed $2000 grant for an unpaid summer internship after the sophomore or junior year. The application process is easy and as long as you fill the application correctly you get the money. I don’t know how this compares to what MHC is offering, though.</p>
<p>Unless you got an amazing financial aid package at Smith, I’d strongly consider Mount Holyoke’s offer. It sounds like a pretty good opportunity.</p>
<p>In grants alone, Smith matched the monetary aspect of the scholarship, especially because I didn’t get any need based aid from MHC as the result of the scholarship. It would cost a bit more because Smith’s price is higher, but for now money isn’t AS much of an issue. Sorry, I meant to mention that in my first post but totally spaced it. </p>
<p>So just in re: to the academic side of things, do you think an honors tutorial and the invitations to “select social and academic events” would be significant enough to weigh heavily in MHC’s favor? As of right now I am completely undecided; obviously I’m planning on doing a bit more research–emailing Smith and MHC, etc.–but was just wondering what other people thought.</p>
<p>Apparently, the STRIDE is now 15K a year at Smith, so you’re talking about a difference of 5K which can be a lot or not, according to the difference in Finaid between the two schools. As a Smith Stride, you will work as an assistant to a professor, and the experience will be what you want it to be. If you are motivated, you can co-write papers, and get your first experience of real research. Moreover, as I said in a previous post, you get a personal advisor before you declare your major who is truly interested in what you do and how you are. On the other hand, it was death to procastination in my D’s case, as her Stride professor upgraded every single one of her second semester classes to the 200 and 300 level, even calling some collegues to get her into classes for juniors and seniors. No, she didn"t get straight As, but by God she was stimulated.
As for the right fit, I’m willing to bet that whatever school you pick, you won’t want to change.</p>
<p>Oh, well I didn’t receive a STRIDE, Lost in translat. Otherwise I wouldn’t be so conflicted, as I feel like a STRIDE and an honors tutorial amount to the same thing. :]</p>
<p>Bear in mind, the 21st Century Scholarship is “locked in” for 4 years. Grants from Smith this year may decrease next year based on family income and need.</p>
<p>Yes, I would second brassring. The $20,000 at MHC is for 4 years, with Smith financial aid your percentage of grants almost always shrinks as you move forward and your percentage of loans usually grows (unless you have some kind of big financial shift), so you may not get as much grant aid the second year. </p>
<p>Select social events probably means like teas with other 21st century scholars and maybe invitations to luncheons with the President or distinguished visitors, but I don’t think it sounds like much of a swing factor.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The dollar amount of loans in the need-based aid package usually increases from year to year b/c the federal cap increases.</p></li>
<li><p>The MHC internship funding is than praxis in several respects: the award is based on demonstrated need, so there is no gaurantee of a set amount (ie: a student could receive lses than $2k), but the MHC awards go up to $5k. Praxis requires that a student work a minimun of approx 7 weeks f/t (which leaves as much as 8 weeks for earning money during the summer), I don’t know how many hours MHC students are required to work.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I’m not sure, but Mount Holyoke does have the MHC-International Internship Program and we are required to go for at least six weeks if we want any funding at all. I would guess that the internship that comes with the 21st Century Scholars Program would be just about the same in terms of time commitment. </p>
<p>I would choose the school that gives you more money. Smith and Mount Holyoke are pretty comparable in terms of academics and if you would be happy at Smith, you’d be happy at Mount Holyoke and vice versa (most of the time, anyway). </p>
<p>Select social events is probably a lot of networking – things that will help you out secure an internship for your future. Right now, we have large scale social events where we meet alums and are able to talk to them, but your social events would be a lot more tight-knit and would probably guarantee that you have connections. In this economic climate, your best bet is to go for the money.</p>
<p>You said that the “grants” (not loans) from Smith equal what MHC offered. If this is the case, I would definitely recommend visiting the two schools ASAP to see which is a better fit. They are extremely different in character despite their being in the same geographic area and both being single gender liberal arts colleges. The faculty advisor/social aspect shouldn’t be a big factor UNLESS you are extremely attracted to the prospect. Smith offers many opportunities for mentorship from faculty members, although, of course, the students have to follow through.</p>
<p>Also consider your intended area of study. Which is stronger? Don’t count on the five college consortium since the logistics of it aren’t as fluid as advertised.</p>
<p>If Smith hadn’t offered grants to equal MHC, it would be a no-brainer – MHC, for sure. As described, however, your decision is more complicated.</p>