<p>Is it realistic to take any more than a handful of courses over four years in other consortium schools?</p>
<p>Can you work up a schedule that allows time to get around?</p>
<p>Can you get a seat in other school's classes when you want one?</p>
<p>Is the task of navigating five different course catalogs too overwhelming?</p>
<p>Do people actually take a large number of courses at other schools?</p>
<p>Which schools' students seem to take a lot of courses elsewhere?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. It's going to be difficult sometimes, but I know people who manage to take a class off campus quite frequently.</p></li>
<li><p>It depends on the class.</p></li>
<li><p>There's actually a Five College Catalogue so it's one stop search. </p></li>
<li><p>Once again, it depends. There are those who love to take classes elsewhere, and there are those who don't ever take classes within the other Five Colleges.</p></li>
<li><p>No idea. Sorry!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In my experience, students at Hampshire take lots of classes off-campus (I've especially noticed them in econ and foreign language classes), and Smith is the most popular destination for students at the other colleges who choose to take classes off-campus. I think I've had students from all the other colleges represented in my classes over the years, though.</p>
<p>It is definitely possible to take a lot of consortium classes, and if you want to do film studies or dance in particlar, it's very neccessary to do so. </p>
<p>The main problem is, it will cut down on what you take at smith. I know some students who make it a point to take most of their classes in the consortium, but that also means they're more limitd in what they can take at Smith, because of scheduling and transportation isssues. </p>
<p>But they seem to like things that way, so if it's important to you, it is possible.</p>
<p>Much appreciated.</p>
<p>I don't know where you are in your application process but if consortium is a big issue for you I would look at other women's colleges that have good consortiums as well. Don't get me wrong, I love Smith, but each consortium is different from Scripps where it's a bit easier to get to other colleges b/c they're right next door to Bryn Mawr where you can go into the city for UPenn classes.</p>
<p>It's true that the consortium at Smith is not as easy as say, taking Columbia College courses at Barnard. It's a nice feature, but if you're thinking of majoring in something that Smith has a strong department in, you might not find yourself using it much. </p>
<p>For example, I'm a government major, so I've taken one course at Amherst (a theory course, Amherst has a much more interesting theory department than Smith and you've got to take two theory courses for the gov major). It was fine, but I didn't find it much better than Smith courses (a little worse actually). I liked the bus cause I could count on an hour each way where I could get reading done without distractions like the internet and so on, but it wasn't especially convenient. </p>
<p>I don't plan on taking any more five college courses. I'm down to my last year at Smith and I want to be there full time. Plus, with such a great gov department, there's really no reason for me to leave. </p>
<p>What I do like about the consortium is that you can take the bus to the mall for free if you want to go shopping or see a movie, because the bus between the five colleges is free for students. You can also take it for free to go to parties or go out to eat in Amherst and so on, which helps widen your social life. </p>
<p>THere are some other perks, there's a five college language center, so you can take special language courses if you want to learn a less-taught language (Swahili, Farsi, Bangla, etc). It brings men (and women) in from the other schools so you can take a class with the other gender. You have access to the libraries at all five schools if you want to do a big research project. </p>
<p>But purely academically speaking, it's just okay in my opinion.</p>
<p>i'm a smithie who has taken a class at Umass and Amherst, and while I really enjoyed both courses, the travel time on the bus is a major obstacle to taking them. I would definitely take more if I had a car because it's a relief to get off campus- but with the travel time, i'm just about killing myself trying to get back and forth to amherst.</p>
<p>What is Smith particularly strong in?</p>
<p>I can only really speak to the Humanities departments, though the sciences are supposed to be quite good, and someone with more experience can tell you about that. </p>
<p>This is also only in my opinion, other people may think differently. but in my experience and understanding of Smith, these are its strongest dept. </p>
<p>For Humanities:
Government (esp. International relations and American Govt), English (though not Creative Writing), European History, Dance, Architecture, Art</p>
<p>For sciences (from what I've been told, not from what I know personally):
Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience (?), Geology, Environmental Sciences, and once we finish the new building, Engineering.</p>
<p>Languages (especially Western European ones).</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I read somewhere that Smith's economics is also top ranked in the country.</p>
<p>The econ dept. is supposed to be good, though I never got beyond the intro courses, which were generally adequate if not awe-inspiring.</p>