I got a email from Smith yesterday that I got off the waitlist! I’m so happy but I also like the school I commited to so I’m trying to compare them.
Can any Smith students tell me how stress culture is like? How easy is it to form good relationships with the faculty? I heard that Smith is really strong in the sciences, so will I, a person who isn’t into science, fit in?
I am a parent of a Smith student and my daughter has many friends with many different majors. She actually didn’t have many science friends (she is a bio major) until second semester. The housing at Smith really helps you to meet lots of different types of students. I think the stress culture is relative to the students choice of major and their HS preparation - but I would say in general that stress is a thing at Smith. That said, there is a group on campus that sponsors a lot of de-stressing activities on weekends and during finals - and individual houses will have “study breaks” where they watch a movie or otherwise have some downtime. I hope this helps!
Smith’s catalog has some information on the relative popularity of majors: https://catalog.smith.edu/catalog_docs/SmithCatalogue2017-18.pdf#page=26.
That URL is supposed to open to page 26. If it doesn’t, head that way.
That’s a pretty good mix of majors, if you ask me. Shouldn’t be too difficult to find “your people.”
Good luck with your decision and let us know what you decided!
Congratulations! My daughter is a non-science student at Smith, and she loves pretty much everything about the place. She has made friends with people in many majors, both STEM and not. She does work hard but I haven’t gotten the impression that she is overly stressed or has felt that it’s all too much for her. The school does offer many opportunities throughout the school year to lessen the stress. The relatively small classes make it possible for her to get to know her professors, and for them to get to know her.