<p>as a social liberal, and more towards the right economically, i enjoy having intellectual conversations with people of all political views. will that be possible at smith?
also, alsthough i personally have no problem with non-straight people, i am heterosexual myself. i have the understanding that a lot of people at smith are some form of lbtq, and i was just wondering how that impacts the experience of heterosexuals at smith. i'm not asking about dating opportunities- , i'm definitely not picking a college to meet boys; i already found a pretty damn good one and i know that the 5 college thing would yield plenty of opportunities if i decided to meet someone new. this is a very badly phrased question, but i was just wondering how heterosexual women experience smith.</p>
<p>My straight D has experienced Smith just fine. The pandemic PC-ness is sometimes annoying but I think that's true of an awful lot of colleges; best if you can just let it roll off your back when you don't agree.</p>
<p>Passionflower..these questions keep coming up time and time again from prospective and new students alike. Although Smith students, and many other students at LAC's are of a liberal bent, great discussions are everywhere. You will be surrounded by bright, articulate women of all types; enjoy the diversity around you and soak up the atmosphere. Anytime you are surrounded by 2500 people you will notice differences of sexual orientation, political affiliation, etc. This makes Smith, and just plain attending college, fun! You will find many students who have the same mindset as you do, and many whose are different from yours. You will probably tend to hang out with those of the same ilk. Let it be. The important thing is that you will be encouraged to be yourself; whether that's straight, bisexual, gay, transgendered, democrat, republican, or independent. How you deal with the people who are not "like" you, is what will eventually make you successful or not at Smith, or any other college for that matter.</p>
<p>"Anytime you are surrounded by 2500 people"</p>
<p>Around 2630 students, but who's counting! :)</p>
<p>Two great answers.....</p>
<p>wow thanks for all the great advice. generally i prefer to be around a diverse group of thinking people, rather than those who are hardline right/left. it sounds like smith, whatever its political bent or lack thereof, is a great place to be:)</p>
<p>Oh, Smith has a definite bent, there's certainly no lack thereof, but it's certainly neither homengenous nor compliantly quiet. Even if some voice are more daft than others.</p>
<p>Meh. Smith's pretty hard on the left. Anyone will tell you that- even my most liberal professor at Colgate who's also hard on the left but thinks Smith is even more so than he is! :) </p>
<p>Just take me as an exception, I think, if the other posters insist that there's diversity. I saw tons of PC around campus- especially with sexual orientation/identity issues. <b>My best advice for surviving social life at Smith is to be incredibly open-minded and absorb any new experiences that you will encounter. </b> You will find Smithies who are opinionated and dead-set in their views (makes for difficult conversations). Otherwise will be quiet and listen to your ideas. I found more students that fit in the former category, unfortunately. I also feel that if you're social conservative, try to keep your opinions quiet or face some cold shoulder. </p>
<p>I was really disillusioned at Smith- things aren't what they're supposed to be. Underneath it all, they're really great students who care about the world around them, they just don't present themselves to me as well as they should've.</p>