<p>I can believe that art was hit hard by the cutbacks, and yes, the pre-reqs tend to be heavily enrolled. Once you get to the upper level classes people tend to be thinned out, but you have to get through Drawing I and Photo I before you can move ahead. </p>
<p>And finding jobs really do depend a lot on your schedule, and also what you’re willing to do. I was not a science major so I had the luxury of not having to work around labs. Still though, I find if you’re open to any kind of work and you look hard enough, there are jobs to be had. It helps if you join a clubs like Gold Key or the newspaper, I got a lot of my jobs or at least heard about them through orgs I belonged to. </p>
<p>And I agree, if you want straight creative writing, you’re not in the right college. If you want a solid grounding in English (or American, comparative, whatever) literature and literary theory (which some would argue is the best prep for a writer) then you’ve come to the right place.</p>
<p>Thanks, Muff and MwaitingforN! All very helpful info. D will be taking Cell Bio her first semester, but she is well prepared and perhaps I can help with distance teaching! Will make sure that she has some exposure to orgo chem during her breaks. I loved orgo 30 years ago!</p>
<p>Can anyone recommend some easier classes to take at Smith? In the fall I’ll be taking Chem 111, Calc I, and FYS Reacting to the Past. I was thinking about taking Sociology 101 with Professor Adel or Intro to Psychology with Professor Wraga. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Definitely not either of those courses. I would actually look at 200 level courses often those are a little easier and more enjoyable than intro courses because they’re more focused in scope, instead of trying to give you a wide survey of base knowledge to help you on your way to majoriing in that disicipline. I would also suggest going through the catalog and looking for any course that’s listed as a course for non-majors. Those will be the accessible courses that are interesting but not too time consuming.</p>
<p>I’m just curious, why not either of those courses? I’m not really sure what I want to major in yet, so I thought taking a few intro level courses would be help me get a better understanding of where my interests lie. Thanks you for the helpful advice!</p>
<p>Well,if your goal is to explore subjects to get an idea of what you might like to major in, then by all means you will enjoy those courses. But if you’re looking for easy courses that will bring balance to a heavy schedule, neither of those are what I would choose. Intro psych I’m pretty sure has a lab attached doesn’t it? And both will be larger courses with quite a bit of reading and several papers. Both are great courses,I’ve heard good things about sociology in particular, but just think about bringing balance to your life for personal sanity’s sake. That’s what’s nice about the courses offered for non majors, they give you a taste without driving you to the psych ward.</p>
<p>But,you know, if you feel like these classes are calling to you, go and visit them during the add drop period. As lectures they won’t have caps so you can go,try out the prof, get a look at the syllabus, and still be able to drop them if they don’t seem what you want.</p>
<p>Luvdogs, that’s a tough question. As SmithAndProud said, a smaller 200-level course would likely be a more fun class that would balance out a rigorous schedule — that may be the way to go, instead of taking an intro class.</p>
<p>Also, people make many rather spontaneous decisions while signing up for classes their first semester. Things can get very unpredictable — classes you want to take get filled up, scheduling conflicts arise, etc. You definitely want to keep your possibilities open.</p>
<p>According to my daughter, neither Calc I nor Intro to Psych are tough courses. Calculus has the daily problem sets which take time, of course, and the quality of the course depends on the prof. As for psychology, my D said that she found it easy compared to hard science courses, although it is filled with potential psych majors who discover through the course that they aren’t interested in the subject after all. But she didn’t find Intro to Psych demanding, and she likes Prof. Wraga. Now, that’s one student’s opinion, and her strengths aren’t necessarily yours. </p>
<p>Chem 111 is probably the toughest course of the lot, although I don’t know anything about your FYS except that students love it. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t shy away from Intro to Psych. You could also go for an English course, if you like literature. Or Intro to Film, if you can get in. Instead of thinking “easy,” think “different.” You want that fourth class to round out your schedule and to give you a break from the kind of thinking you have to do in the other classes. You’re right that you should explore a variety of fields to both widen your knowledge base and to inform you when choosing a major.</p>
<p>I really enjoyed my reading and writing short poems class, but you don’t have to try out to get in, so there was definitely a mix of talent. Still, it got me my writing intensive credit and I got to write and read poetry in a wide variety of styles. </p>
<p>I don’t know much about the upper level poetry writing courses (if, indeed, there are any), but being an English major neccessitates a great deal of poetry study obviously. Besides your elective courses Milton is required and you can study everything from the early epics to the moderns.</p>
<p>Biggest pieces of advice if you like poetry are A) take a class with Annie boutelle, besides being a great poet, she is a terrific teacher and a hilarious scotswoman. And B) make the effort to attend the monthly readings given by professional poets brought to campus by the smith poetry center. It’s a gift to get to hear from so many working poets for free and the day before their public reading they usually do private q and a’s at the poetry center for students and interested parties. They may not be poets you’ve heard of but they are often noteable in the poetry world and talking and hearing from them is a great way to build your skills</p>
<p>A few huge pluses I didn’t know about until I was almost done at Smith:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Alumnae-funded scholarships for graduate school. These can be extremely generous. Now that I’m starting to repay grad school loans, I’m realizing just how much lower my monthly payments are because of the scholarship.</p></li>
<li><p>The life-long alumnae network. I got a taste of this while working at reunions (which everyone should apply to do–the money is great and you get to learn so much about the campus and the alums) but it was only after moving several hundred miles away and enjoying the local Smith club that I really appreciated it. It’s a rare and special thing to hang out with women aged 23-77 and hear about what they’re up to. </p></li>
<li><p>The Kahn Institute. They pay about 20 students (and an equal number of faculty) each year to do a project on a specific interdisciplinary theme, and meet weekly to discuss progress, hear speakers, plan campus events, etc. So basically my job was to study something I enjoyed, eat nice lunches, and talk about interesting topics with interesting people. Doesn’t get much better than that!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>After all of the helpful feedback, I searched the Smith catalog again to explore my course options. I completely agree that my fourth class should be different and fun, so Im now debating between The Art of Theater and Design or Playing the Game: Introduction to Exercise and Sport Studies. Ive never taken a theater class, but I figured I would give it a shot. As Im a very active and health conscience person, this class might be interesting. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s neccessary. You will need strong qualitative skills if you plan to major in the sciences at Smith (or any college), and if you are a good math student and feel that taking the SAT II’s for math II will showcase your skills, then it won’t hurt to take them. Usually I think the only reason to take extra tests at a school that undervalues SATs like Smith does is perhaps if you have a low grade in that subject on your transcript, but a generally strong ability in that subject, it helps underscore that you have the skills even if you had a bad class. </p>
<p>Or if you are, like I said, particularly good in one subject and want to underscore that with a high score, great. But I wouldn’t beat your brains out to take tests just because.</p>
<p>Although Smith is strong in the sciences, that reflects the education one gets in those departments, not what it takes to get admitted. Of course, I can’t imagine anyone getting a subpar education in ANY major at Smith.</p>
<p>As for SAT II scores, you probably have to take them for other schools you are applying to. If this is the case, take the tests you’re likely to do the best in. If you do well, report them to Smith. You want to make your application as compelling as possible.</p>
<p>I’d question the notion of Smith as a science school. I think that Smith is, because of its strong science departments, more of an “across the board” strong LAC, as opposed to many where sciences are weaker than humanities, social sciences, and arts.</p>
<p>Smith is the only women’s college in the United States with an accredited engineering program, and it’s very good, but it doesn’t specialize in chemical engineering (I don’t think you pick a specialty when you study engineering at Smith, it’s a general engineering degree as far as I know, but I would check the website or ask smithiegr to elaborate). </p>
<p>The econ department is great however. I was a government major, and the gov dept. and the econ dept. tend to be pretty closely aligned as many gov majors minor/double major in econ and vice versa. Strong department, good diversity of courses, really fun and kind of wacky professors many with their own strong following of devoted students who rave about their teaching. My roommate was an econ major and now she’s going to Harvard Law School, hoping to work in business or entertainment law, so it can take you a lot of places.</p>