<p>Hooray! I've just received my acceptance letter as a transfer student for the Fall. As a rising junior, I'd like to jump right into a major. What do you know of the art history and spanish departments at Smith? What fields does Smith excel in? I am hoping to major and minor and take some extra courses of interest while still fitting it all into the two years. Do-able?</p>
<p>Another thing, are males allowed in the houses? </p>
<p>All and all... I am so incredibly excited. I am from Las Vegas and transfered from a two-year school. I know very few people on the East coast and am a little nervous. From what I have gathered Smithies seem to be a pretty friendly bunch. Feel free to tell me anything and everything about Smith that you know which will a) increase my already high level of excitement and/or b) prevent me from failing miserably when I make this somewhat intimidating transfer.</p>
<p>Were you on the waitlist or were you accepted regular decision? I am thinking about applying for Fall 2010 but the idea that it would take until June 4th to find out a decision makes me reconsider applying. Since most colleges require a deposit on May 1st.</p>
<p>Shereenist, congratulations on your transfer! I’m excited for you! Other than that, about all I can do is welcome you because my D will be attending Smith as a first-year. I’m sure more experienced posters can help you with your questions.</p>
<p>I think there’d be sit-ins if males weren’t allowed in the houses.</p>
<p>So yes, males are allowed in Smith houses, and there aren’t any times by which they’re required to leave. Different houses have different rules about which bathrooms can be used by male guests (some designate certain bathrooms, others have no rules at all).</p>
<p>Art history and Spanish are both very strong (and very popular) departments. I have no factual info to back this up, but I <em>think</em> the more popular the dept, the stronger it is since they can hire more professors, offer more courses and resources, etc. I’ve had very good experiences with the Spanish department, and I’ve heard that the art history dept is great (though there are some professors you should probably try to avoid…ask around when you arrive on campus).</p>
<p>As for whether you’d be able to take everything you like, I don’t think we could answer that without knowing what you’ve taken already in terms of requirements. If you haven’t taken any (which is probably not a good assumption), you’d have to take 17 courses for an art history major/Spanish minor or 16 courses for a Spanish major/art history minor. The normal course load is 4 per semester (though some do take 5-6), so you could see for yourself how many “free” slots you’d have for electives. From talking to other transfers, I would probably suggest you stick to 4 your first semester (for the same reasons firsties should too).</p>
<p>I think Smith allows you to arrive at the same time as the first-years (not completely sure though), and at that time you’ll be shown the ropes. To be honest, I don’t think that being a newbie at Smith is much different from being a newbie in a house (with the exception that the latter already knows other people within the Smith community), so don’t worry too much!</p>
<p>everytime… I was accepted regular decision. I believe that if you apply before the February deadline you will get an admissions decision faster. I applied in mid-May because I was less than satisfied with my initial list of schools. Because I applied so late, I was a part of the “round two” notification period and found the June notification date to be pretty fair… all though very nerve-wracking.</p>
<p>Thank you Smithiegr. I am kind of set on the art history major and spanish minor. Hopefully I can make it work. I have already taken one of each and as well as the studio art requirement of the art history major. I was really hoping to fit in a museums concentration and maybe a class in Urdu. hah. so much to do in so little time. For this, transfers are at a great disadvantage. I may have to invest in a summer term…</p>
<p>Anyways… How about housing? which do you prefer and why? where do people seem to be happiest? I’m somewhere in between a social butterfly and a homebody. Not a big partier but am… earthy. Also, I’m from the desert and winter is going to be a new experience for me. Because of this, a central location/close proximity to the bus stop would be ideal.</p>
<p>Shereenist, everybody walks on campus. Smith isn’t big enough to have bus routes to get from point A to point B. Of course, there are busses that go to the other colleges and to the mall, but, unless you’re enrolled in a five-college course, you aren’t likely to use it a lot.</p>
<p>Oh, if you want to limit your walk to classes, you might want to look in the to Elm St. housing. Those houses are on the art museum side of campus.</p>
<p>Smith doesn’t offer summer terms, so any classes you want to take <em>at</em> Smith must be done in the fall or spring semesters. There are also some January term course offerings, but they are mostly one-credit book classes (with a few other options - ESS courses, a few other options that vary from year to year, and I believe the French department offers an intensive class every January).</p>
<p>To clarify further, you don’t need a bus to get into town, either. It’s a five minute walk (or less!) from the closest parts of campus to the downtown area, about ten or so from the Quad.</p>
<p>There’s a train station in Amherst, but from what I heard while at Smith it was much easier to take the Peter Pan bus to Springfield (there’s a Peter Pan station downtown in Northampton) and then walk to the train station in Springfield.</p>
<p>The SGA runs busses to the airport in Hartford for Thanksgiving (both ways), Winter Break (to the airport only), and spring break (both ways) for a small fee. Otherwise students take a shuttle (I’d recommend Valley Transporter - it is about $45 each way) or get a ride from a student with a car. If you’re flying out of Logan, you can take the Peter Pan to Boston, either all the way to the airport or just to South Station where you can switch to public transportation.</p>
<p>Another question. How often do students take courses at other colleges? Do they have a summer term? I am concerned about fitting in all the credits I need/want within two years so thought perhaps I could take a summer course at one of the other schools. Do the credits count as transfer credits or just… 5 college credits? How does that work?</p>
<p>It really depends. You couldn’t get some people to budge off campus whereas others go out of their way to take classes at the other schools because they’re such a great experience (IMO). </p>
<p>I think that the only school that has a summer session is UMass. Credits are a direct transfer (if I took a math class elsewhere that’s 5 credits, it would transfer back to Smith as five credits). The only exception is UMass, where a 3 credit course is equivalent to a 4 credit Smith class.</p>
<p>My only issue is that coming into smith I would be at max capacity for transfer credits. Does that mean I would not be able to take classes at other colleges?</p>