<p>Can someone talk a bit about the social life at Smith? Obviously it all women at not a big party scene which is great, but what kinds of things do students like to do for fun? Also, how accepting are students of someone who doesn't fit the stereotype of a Smith student. I consider myself a feminist and want to major in women's and gender studies, but have been warned that I might be ostracized at Smith for wearing heels and makeup and being very girly overall. Is this just nonsense or should I be concerned?</p>
<p>First of all, there are lots of parties, both impromptu and planned by the houses, often with themes and creative, silly costumes. Some activities are concerts of all kinds, plays, cooking, baking, poetry readings, sports, art museum, hiking and other outdoor activities, restaurants, Herrell’s ice cream, Northampton shops and activities, whatever floats your boat. Don’t worry about your clothes; there’s no real stereotype.</p>
<p>sounds wonderful:)</p>
<p>My daughter has a virtual makeup station in her room:) She also has a friend in her house who brought her own wardrobe to hold her clothes and the house has a free clothes bozx where people share clothes they don’t want anymore! I really don’t think there is any judging on appearance or how girly you want to be. There are alos several social events during the year for which everyone dresses up (I know because I have footed the bill for some of the dresses:))</p>
<p>My D is very girly and has a steady boyfriend.</p>
<p>There is no “typical” Smithie.</p>
<p>My D is not girly at all but has friends who dress in all kinds of girly styles (or non-styles). From what I can tell, acceptance of who you are is one of the best things at Smith. My D has made more friends at Smith than she ever had in high school!</p>
<p>thanks! I had a very positive experience when I visited Smith but some of my more conservative family members thought I would have trouble at Smith socially…then again I am much more liberal than these family members :)</p>
<p>Well I’m a feminist women and gender studies major who wears makeup, heels, and dresses and I think the social scene at Smith is great! 
Just speaking from my personal experience, I see as many “girly girls” walking around campus as I do any other stereotype. Lots of people here wear all different styles of clothing, and I don’t think in general people look down upon any particular style of dress (obviously there are some unavoidably judgey people everywhere, but honestly I haven’t met too many at Smith). </p>
<p>As far as the social scene, it’s very subdued but never boring as long as you are making an active effort to put yourself out there. A typical weekend for me is half studying, the other half consists of going out to the other five colleges with my housemates (though I do have a car that allows easier access to the other colleges’ social scenes), going to see a movie (the student events committee shows movies on campus, and of course you can always take the PVTA to the plaza with the movie theatre - sorry I’m spacing on the name), walking around downtown NoHo, going out for coffee or frozen yogurt, or just hanging out around Smith talking or watching tv, you know, just random fun little things like that. If you want parties (judging from your post you don’t seem like parties are big on your to-do list), it’s actually not such a bad place to go to school in terms of partying. I like that I can go out to a party at UMASS or wherever but still come home to a warm, safe environment.</p>
<p>One of the challenges of being at Smith is having a social life that doesn’t revolve around alcohol. This is true at most schools, though at Smith in order to be in activities with guys you have to travel–to parties or to other kinds of events. It can take an hour to get to Amherst. If you want a non-alcohol method of making friends with guys, you’ll have to join a club at another school. An hour travel means two hours–to get there and get home. If the club (or play, or orchestra) meets for two hours, that’s four hours–usually, but not exclusively on a school day, not weekend. This is something to think about when you consider all the parts of your social life at Smith.</p>
<p>Of course, you can plan carefully and arrange enrolling in classes and spending the day at another campus. But planning will figure in to a social life that involves students outside the Smith population. Sometimes people underestimate how important planning will be.</p>
<p>I think what’s nice about Smith is that if you do think that heels and dresses and make up are part of how you positively express your identity, you’re free to do that. And if you don’t, or maybe you just don’t want to bother that particular day, you don’t have to feel like you have to in order to conform to some social expectation. I definitely felt that when I started at Smith, the norm was to dress pretty slouchy, but by the time i graduated, maybe it was the Mad Men effect, girls were really dressing up for class and in general. Not just make up, but really nice clothes or cool vintage outfits. Wearing sweatpants was sort of out of fashion! So being “typically girly” you should fit right in (though don’t mention how you’re typically girly unless you want to get into a loooong discussion about preconceived notions of gender, hahaha!). There’s no reason why dresses or makeup have to conflict with feminism. </p>
<p>I think radiosonde gave a pretty good description of social life. Smith social life isn’t insane, but it’s varied and rarely boring. I used to go to parties a fair amount on campus, and rarely went to parties off campus (the 5 college party scene was just not for me, plus I didn’t have a car and neither did my friends). Primarily we went to house parties, which could be hit or miss. Some house parties were really well attended, had a good mix of male/female ratio, good music, fun theme, etc. Enough were like that to keep us getting dressed up and coming back, though there were a few duds from time to time. Regardless, we usually had a good time getting dressed up and “going out” in our group for dancing and hi-jinks (no comment). </p>
<p>Though my friends and I didn’t go to Five College parties often (exception being Hampshire Halloween, once named one of the best parties in the nation), we did go to Five College sporting events. UMASS hockey games were popular, so was Amherst football, and you could usually get a group together for the Yale-Harvard football game. Also, my friends were very involved in theater and music, so we often went to plays or concerts on campus, and we were active participants in the local music scene. Northampton gets a TON of good concerts, and famous national bands often tour colleges in the Northeast to try out new material. In my years at Smith we hosted Feist, Vampire Weekend, and Girls Like Boys. I saw The Decemberists play at Amherst for only $10. </p>
<p>Otherwise, we did pretty much what radiosonde described. We went to movies, we had our club activities and house activities (teas, parties, planning for teas/parties, craft projects), we’d watch movies (or Project Runway), hang out in local coffee shops, get ice cream at Herrell’s. Go to the art museum, or take a trip out to the Bookmill. As seniors, when we were of age (forget trying to drink in a bar in Noho before you’re 21, not going to happen), we had the whole downtown bar scene to explore.</p>