<p>So... here I am doing one last-minute application. VERY last minute. I am either going to send my last app to Bryn Mawr or Smith, and the decision is difficult. What appealed to you about Smith?</p>
<p>Any comments would be extremely helpful!</p>
<p>Apply to both.... or neither. You're obviously not passionate about either, and both schools are special enough to deserve more than a last I-don't-really-care application.</p>
<p>Agreed with LiT that both schools have their own personalities and that thorough research is necessary to determine whether either will be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>With that said, however, I applied to Smith and not to Bryn Mawr. I felt that both schools would challenge me academically, but when push came to shove, Smith had more to offer me; in the end, I'm relieved that I chose Smith because BM doesn't have an engineering program. I think that you'll get a great education at both, but I have heard that BM is a tad more intense than Smith. You'll also get more academic freedom at Smith due to the open curriculum.</p>
<p>The biggest differences between BM and Smith, IMO, are the sizes of student population and locations. Keep in mind that I've never visited BM, so most of the things I know comes from a friend who went to high school across the street from the campus. BM has about 1200 students, so the campus can seem pretty quiet despite the fact that it's right by other (co-ed) schools. It's also in the suburbs, so you'll have to get a bit aways from campus for entertainment. If you wanted to get off campus, Philly is just a bus ride away, but from what I've been told, the trip isn't as easy as some make it out to be. </p>
<p>Smith, on the other hand, has about 3000 students (including graduate students) and is located right by downtown Northampton, which, depending on where you live, is between 5 to 15 minutes away. There's ample shopping, restaurants, and other stuff you might want/need (banks, churches, etc.). Getting off campus is really easy as there are buses running frequently and Smith students ride for no charge (the fares are paid as part of your fees). We aren't as close to other colleges as BM is, but taking classes/going to activities at other Five College campuses is an option. It can sometimes be a hassle to work in the scheduling details, though, so I have to throw in the caveat that the Consortium isn't as great as it is hyped up to be.</p>
<p>Each school also has its own "feel," but it's difficult to describe. I can only say that you'd have to visit to understand, but people who like one usually don't like the other and vice versa.</p>
<p>I touched on why I chose Smith a little earlier, but in the end, it came down to the availability of my chosen major and fit. I think that Smith is the most wonderful place and I hope that you'll decide for yourself the same thing, but in the end, be sure to visit whichever campus you apply to so you can see what it's really like.</p>
<p>I don't know how much work it is to apply to Bryn Mawr, but Smith (last year) was a very easy application. It takes the common app and it's free if you apply on-line. You need to send test scores, recommendations, and also a "why Smith" part of the application.</p>
<p>So maybe if it's not too onerous you can apply to both.</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack the Smith thread but I would like to set a few things straight about Bryn Mawr:</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr has about 1400 undergraduates and a total student body of about 1800 students. It is true that it is located in the suburbs, but there is a movie theater, several restaurants, banks, churches, grocery stores, one pharmacy etc within walking distance of the campus. The train station is less than a 5 minute walk from the campus and Philly is just a 20 minute train ride away. The closest mall is in Ardmore, maybe 5 to 7 minutes by train, and the college sponsors free bus rides to other malls during the semester.
Bus rides to Haverford and Swarthmore are free (and buses run until 2 AM), and we get reimbursed for train tickets to the University of Pennsylvania when we take classes there. Taking classes at Haverford is really easy and commonly done because it is so close and the time slots for classes are coordinated (e.g. Bryn Mawr classes meet x:00-y:00 and Haverford classes x:30-y:30 MWF, allowing enough time to comfortably get from one campus to the other). Swarthmore and Penn classes are more difficult to squeeze into a busy schedule. Technically we can also take classes at Villanova but nobody does.</p>
<p>What ultimately drew me to Bryn Mawr was its graduate school with the 4 year BA/MA degree options.</p>
<p>To get to the differences between the two campuses: I don't know how good this list describes Smith (You</a> know you are a Smithie when...), but a few items are not definitely not true for Bryn Mawr:</p>
<p>
[quote]
2. You can count your heterosexual friends on one hand.
46. You can snuggle up your friends and not be looked at funny (even with you're straight).
87. You have made out with a girl or thought of making out with a girl.
[/quote]
The vast majority of Bryn Mawr students is straight.</p>
<p>
[quote]
9.5. Your nalgene is covered with so many stickers that no one can tell what the liquid is inside of the nalgene.
9.75. At least one of those sticks is a rainbow flag, inverted triangle, Venus sign, human rights campaign, and/or ani difranco/alix olson or random band sticker.
13. Half of the first years in your house have shorter hair now then they did when the first arrived, dyed their hair, their noses are pierced, have a tattoo, hooked up w/ one of their friends, and/or 'finally' came out of the closet.
77. You have a preferred tattoo parlor.
[/quote]
Bryn Mawr seems to be a lot less hippie than Smith.</p>
<p>
[quote]
3. You've ever had to console a friend for getting a B+ on an essay.
[/quote]
We usually do not talk about grades (and talking about grades in public spaces like classrooms or dining halls is a violation of our honor code). The idea is that you should try to push yourself rather than compete against your classmates. Of course you can complain about a devastating grade to a friend, but only after asking her if she minds talking about grades (Bryn Mawr students are very respectful of each other's comfort zones).</p>
<p>But I agree with the above posters that you should try to apply to both colleges if you care about both or to neither if you don't care about either.</p>
<p>b@r!um, that list is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Smith is not overwhelmingly gay, nor is it overwhelmingly hippie, and not everyone here talks about grades. (My best friend and I are already planning a trip to the good mall for the spring semester.)</p>
<p>I agree that the OP might as well apply to both (or neither) if she doesn't have a preference for one school over the other.</p>
<p>"The vast majority of Bryn Mawr students is straight."</p>
<p>11% of Smith students are lesbians (which, as I recall, is precisely the same as the last reported survey at Bryn Mawr.) Both are about 1/3 the percentage of gay men at Yale. </p>
<p>My first instinct is that you should apply to neither if you haven't already figured out something that appeals to you about them. On the other hand, come April, they might just seem more appealing. Why not flip a coin?</p>
<p>I included a disclaimer saying that I do not know how true those stereotypes are. <em>I never visited Smith.</em></p>
<p>I just highlighted statements that I would never use to describe the Bryn Mawr student body, that's all.</p>
<p>^^I thought that picking out those stereotypes was kind of misleading, though. Personally, I would never use those statements to describe the Smith student body, even though they did come from a "You know you're a Smithie when..." list.</p>
<p>I did visit Bryn Mawr, and I visited Smith, and I chose Smith for the simple reason I didn't much care for Bryn Mawr, it didn't suit me personally. </p>
<p>The atmosphere didn't suit me, it was in too small of a town, and my tour guide made it seem like everyone went to Haverford to have fun on the weekends, instead of having their own thing (I know Bryn Mawr people will dispute this, but that's the impression my tour guide gave me). </p>
<p>It's a great school, but it didn't really feel right to me, whcih is the least helpful thing ever, I realize, but that's all I can say. </p>
<p>What I love about Smith is that it does suit me perfectly in all those je ne sais quoi ways that I think are important. I like that the town is busy, but not overly distracting. It can be as much or as little town-life as you want. And the ice cream shop is awesome! </p>
<p>I like that we are competitive students but that we don't really compete against each other. If Smithies care more about grades than the students at Bryn Mawr, it's only because we all want to excel as a group, rather than so we can be at the "top of the class". It's a cooperative atmosphere, we help each other out, care for each other. At it's best, Smith is a family, and that appeals to me. </p>
<p>The careers office is really second to none for colleges of our size, so I like that i have access to an amazing network, and because they come from Smith too, they are ready and willing to help another part of the family get the opportunity to advance. </p>
<p>In terms of proximity to large towns, I personally prefer Boston over Philadelphia. </p>
<p>Also, I like most of all that Smith is generally a very open-minded place. It's where you can explore who you are as a person in ways that more restrictive environments don't allow. This could mean exploring your sexuality, exploring your political horizons, finding new issues to be passionate about, trying a new subject or job field through an internship, or even something superficial like getting a piercing or dying your hair a crazy color. </p>
<p>Borium has to be excused for misinterpreting the list of "you know you're a smithie when"s because they've never been to Smith. So what is actually just an expression of Smith's general open-ness and its ability to encourage a variety of new, sometimes radical, sometimes silly interests and ways of life seems to Borium as making Smith a "Hippie" or "Gay" school. I think that our variety is what makes us Smith. I wouldn't be happy at a place where we couldn't reach out to the outer boundaries of living. Isn't that what college is for?</p>
<p>Smithieandproud that's a great response. My daughter is a first year and surely echoes your thoughts.</p>
<p>One of my best friend is at Bryn Mawr and I was at Smith in my first year. I'll say that when we compared notes throughout our first year during our visits at home... is that the two places are VERY different in terms of attitudes. We both agreed that Smith is much more left-leaning and lax about sexuality on campus. I can't compare with the academics but there is something to say about how the open-curriculum affects the students versus a core curriculum at Bryn Mawr. Had I stayed at Smith, I would never take a math class or a science class again (as I did at Colgate, YUCK!) and thus my curriculum would have probably been filled with literature, language, and history classes. My friend didn't love her curriculum as it was set in a more rigid way that she could not study abroad in her junior year as she switched her majors very late and is taking more courses in the major per semester than necessary because so much of her first two years were defined by the curriculum (actually she took an elective course in her major and just fell in love with it, not because the curriculum demanded her to take something within that area). However, Smith's open curriculum CAN work for you- it's how you make it and Smith's Latin Honors requirements basically demands a core curriculum anyway. In fact there was a study sometime ago on Smith students that discovered that 80%+ of the students ended up following Latin Honors curriculum (which going for it is absolutely optional) anyway.</p>
<p>Both schools are very similar and offer similar advantages found in a liberal arts women's college. You just need to look beyond the basics- look at the area schools for social and academic life, support in the career services office, networking, etc.</p>
<p>Honestly, all it really comes down is to visit both campuses when you're accepted and see how you feel there.</p>
<p>Smith has engineering? That sealed the deal for me. I mean, I don't know if I've gotten in, but it's what made me apply to Smith. I liked the idea that it was close to four other campuses as well.</p>
<p>Close to other campuses? <em>cough</em> Not really by PVTA... 55 minutes to Amherst by bus! (and 25-30 minutes on Rte. 9 unless there's some backroad...) UMass is probably abou 35-50 minutes...from my fading memory.</p>
<p>Heh, not any better than BMC anyway except for Haverford.</p>
<p>oh, well we drove... that might have something to do with it then, haha.</p>
<p>it IS across the street from Hampshire though, if I remember correctly?</p>
<p>uh, not across the street, Hampshire's in a whole different town. But the fact that there are so many college students in the valley is nice, and you do get interaction with people outside of your own school (as opposed to say, Williams College, which is much more isolated).</p>
<p>So why did you leave Smith after a year? Was it something specific about the school, or about being at an all women's college, etc?</p>
<p>sarahhs- I PMed you.</p>
<p>^ can you PM me too.. Even I wanna know the reason!.. Plz..</p>
<p>Moi aussi?</p>