Womens Colleges

Colleges and Universities A-Z Smith College
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I've been trying to figure out where I want to go to college, and I've been throwing all the mailed stuff from Scripps, Wellesly, Mt. Holyoke etc. into the trash without a second thought. Then I reconsidered, because I was looking at Amherst but like the area more than the school, but I know absolutely nothing about an all-female institution. My mother went to an all-girl's school when she was young, and loved not having the pressure of boys around, so she's totally up for it. I don't care for dating, I'm pathetically oblivious as to what gender the person is I'm talking to. But I don't know how being all female shapes the atmosphere, etc. Any input?</p>

2

<p>This is straight from one of Smith College's publications (I was just there Friday)</p>

<p>"Even when women and men sit side by side in a classroom, they don't receive the same value for their tuition dollars. Compared with female students at coeducational colleges, studies say, women's college students:
-participate more fully in the classroom and in the community;
-develop greater self-esteem;
-have more opportunities to hold leadership positions;
-are significantly more likely to major in traditionally male-dominated desciplines such as the sciences;
-are more satisfied with almost all aspects of college;
-are more likely to graduate from college; and
-after graduation, tend to have more succesful careers, hold higher positions, be happier and earn more money."</p>

<p>also taken from their publication:</p>

<p>"
-Of 76 women members of Congress, more than 20 percent attended women's colleges.
-Graduates of women's colleges are more than twice as likely as graduates of coeducational colleges to receive doctoral degrees and to enter medical school and receive doctorates in the natural sciences.
-20 percent of women identified by Black Enterprise magazine as the 20 most powerful African-American women in corporate America graduated from women's colleges.
-Almost half of women's college graduates in the workforce hold traditionally male-dominated jobs at the higher end of the pay scales, such as lawyer, physician or manager.
-Nearly half of the graduates of women's colleges have earned advanced degrees; 81 percent have continued their education beyond college."</p>

<p>Sorry if there are any typos, I'm typing fast. I've visited Smith several times and LOVE the atmosphere. Not meant to offend anyone, but I'm totally straight and if anyone is bothered about the all-female environment, well, I'm not worried about it at all. You should definately give all women's colleges a chance. Hope this helps!</p>

3

<p>Those stats are cool, and I don't mean to demean them in any way, but I can't help thinking that these studies were conducted based on observations of women who went to college about 20 years ago or more, especially for the Congresswoman stat, and things have changed significantly since then. Womens colleges were really empowering when women entering the workforce was a new phenomenon, or for the Congresswomen before colleges significantly opened to women. In modern times, when women are lawfully on par with men, is there such a descrepency?</p>

<p>I'm still considering womens colleges, I'm just wary around publications.</p>

4

<p>Well, publications aside, from what I've heard and seen Smith is a really great school. TheDad, Stacy(a student at Smith), etc. are really helpful. I'm just another prospective student. I'm applying to Bowdoin, Williams, Dartmouth, etc. but Smith is my top choice. The town is AWESOME, the campus is beatiful, and the houses (dorms) are amazing. The Career Development Office is also very helpful. I'm not even a student and the director and I have already been emailing each other. If you have any questions about their recent grad school and career placements, or anything else, you can email her (Jane Sommer) at <a href="mailto:Jsommer@smith.edu">Jsommer@smith.edu</a>.</p>

5

<p>Honestly, a lot of students fall in love with Smith itself, not the fact that it's a women's college. All the other schools I applied to were coed, and had I chosen to attend one of the other schools I was accepted to I would have most likely chosen to live in coed dormitories, etc. I have a friend who came from an all-girl boarding school, and I don't think she was looking for another four years of all women but just found the fit with Smith (I'm pretty sure her second choice was coed, too).</p>

<p>I'm straight, and though I would like a boyfriend, I don't feel like I'm missing out by not having one. I don't really notice that there aren't men in all of my classes (there will still be some due to the five colleges) and I feel that personally my class participation isn't any different than it was in high school. I like that the science programs are dominated by women and that there's no feeling like a third wheel because you're the only woman in my program (a high school friend who planned to major in Engineering at UPenn said that her impression of the other students was "they are all boys or Asian") and it's perfectly okay to major in the sciences at Smith because a large number of other students do, too. When I visited, I came across a student who was a math major and she was so excited with her major that I wanted to have that excitement too, regardless of what I ended up majoring in.</p>

<p>One of the things I really liked about Smith was that there were no distribution requirements. When I started my first year, I wanted to major in English or Anthropology but I also wanted to be able to take math classes, and I felt that if my math class was to fulfill a requirement it would be full of students complaining to take it instead of people who just wanted to learn more about the subject. I ended up changing my mind completely about my major in the middle of my first semester, and I plan to declare a math major as soon as I choose an advisor. </p>

<p>I feel like my response may be a bit all over the place, but feel free to PM me if you'd like to hear more. I'm an '08, so I just finished my first year and am eagerly anticipating September. :)</p>

6

<p>TKM, judging by grad school/professional school placements, I expect those stats to hold up currently.</p>

<p>My D is one of those who fell in love with Smith, not the fact that it was a women's college. In fact, every Smithie I've ever talked to has said something along the lines of "Well, I never <em>meant</em> to attend a womens college." (Btw, Borgin, she's an '08 Math/Government major.) But the light bulb did go off when a girl at a prospect party compared Smith to Amherst, where she also took classes. "The girls at Amherst have got to be bright to be there. But Smith students don't dumb themselves down in class just because the guys are there" or something like that. Sad that it occurs even on <em>that</em> level but it does and D had thoroughly had her fill of being around that phenomenon and expectations in high school.</p>

<p>What Wifey said about the campus, the town, etc.</p>

<p>As a parent, I've been struck by how <em>everything</em> at Smith has been "how can we make this work for you." Our first exposure to this was when visiting campuses. The orchestra director at Columbia wouldn't even meet with D until she was admitted. The orchestra director at Smith not only set up an appointment for the day we were going to be there but, when he found out we weren't leaving until the next day, invited D to a rehearsal that night so that she could sit with her section on stage while they rehearsed. That's only one example but I've found virtually every interaction with Smith to be like that. Even the Financial Aid people have been pleasant & reasonable to work with. </p>

<p>I had an experience similar to Borgin's about Math. I heard the chair of the Art Department at presentation here in L.A. and it made me want to drop everything and major in Art. There's an enthusiasm at Smith that's hard to describe...not too many slackers at all. Some throw themselves into EC's, some are towards the grind end of the spectrum, and some are more balanced, but they all seem to be pretty highly engaged.</p>

7

<p>Wow. You guys should be hired to advertise :)</p>

<p>Now you've got me thinking about Smith, but I read that it's not the very strong in Biology. Is that true? Many people major in it, but are there research opportunities, resources, are the courses very challenging? I'm looking most seriously at Vassar right now. How do the hard sciences compare?</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Those stats are cool, and I don't mean to demean them in any way, but I can't help thinking that these studies were conducted based on observations of women who went to college about 20 years ago or more, especially for the Congresswoman stat, and things have changed significantly since then.

[/quote]
Interesting observation and, I'm sure, true to a degree. But, as a math geek, those stats JUMP out at me. Women attending women's colleges make up maybe 0.1% of college students (I do not know the exact number but it is very-very small) ... and women who attended women's colleges are over-represented by multiples of at least 100 or 200 when looking at all sorts of measures of professional success ... that is truly AMAZING. In addition, the grads I know from women's college handle working in a coed environment as well as women who went to coed schools. I do not know what Smith, and her sisters, are doing but they are doing amazing things ... and I certainly hope my daugher seriously considers them!</p>

9

<p>tkm256, I know you hate publications, lol, but it's info.</p>

<pre><code>"Students are strongly encouraged to participate in research projects with individual faculty members during the academic year and in the summer; in some cases this leads to an honors thesis or special studies project. The department's 21 faculty members conduct research in a variety of areas, including biochemisrty, molecular biology, genetics, neurophysiology, plant and animal growth, development anf physiology, marine and terrestrial ecology, animal behavior and evolutionary biology.
The department is well equipped with modern instruments such as scanning and transmission electron microscopes, a confocal microscope, an automated DNA sequencer, PCR, an analytical ultracentrifuge and liquid scintilation counters. Research facilities include plant growth chambers, tissue culture laboratories, an electrophoresis laboratory, an animal care facility, a greenhouse, an extensive herbarium and library with subscriptions to more than 300 journals in various fields of biological sciences."
</code></pre>

<p>During my visit, they also spoke of a new center for sciences, and they're currently renovating their existent one.</p>

10

<p>Also (sorry these are so long:)),</p>

<p>"
-In a study conducted by the Institute for Scientific Information, Smith consistently ranked among the liberal arts colleges making a significant impact as a research institution. Smith faculty research was cited for quantity (having the 10th highest output of scientific papers) and quality (as measured in frequency of citation by others and influence on other scientists and scholars).
-For more than 75 years, Smith has ranked in the top 3 percent of 519 four-year colleges in the number of graduates who have gone on to earn doctorates in science."</p>

11

<p>i'm not a science person, but my sister is, and she wasn't thrilled with the resources she saw when we toured smith (i ended up there, she ended up at a small but science-oriented private university). I think she was spoiled in some ways by doing science research at the big state u in my hometown...no, most places don't have million-dollar confocal microscopes, let alone have undergrads use them. </p>

<p>smith doesn't have the fancy equipment of larger schools, but the difference between smith and the research universities is that you will be able to use everything at Smith and participate in the most important research while still an undergrad (STRIDE students get research positions during their first two years..this is rare most other places). The very nice new science building which will presumably be more advanced, but even the existing science facilities are on par or better than most selective liberal arts colleges. </p>

<p>also, lots of bio students get their heavy-duty research experience at NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduate programs...so if you feel like you want to try the big-school research experience, you can do it over the summer. Attending a liberal arts college will ensure that your profs actually know you and can write the kinds of recommendations needed for admission to an REU.</p>

12

<p>I honestly doubt you will find a college or university biology lab anywhere in the U.S., and I mean that literally, that has more cutting-edge research being conducted by undergraduates than the genomics lab of Steve Williams:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/SWILLIAM/home.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Biology/SWILLIAM/home.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"Womens colleges were really empowering when women entering the workforce was a new phenomenon, or for the Congresswomen before colleges significantly opened to women. In modern times, when women are lawfully on par with men, is there such a descrepency?"</p>

<p>Actually - strangely enough - no. One of the things about the Congresswomen stats that is so interesting is that about 80% of the women are 50 years old and younger - in other words, went to college at times when there were already women at Williams, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, etc. Yet, when you go through the rest of the female Congresspeople, you don't find ANY of them coming out of these schools, though you find lots of men in that age-frame. (You would have thought there would be at least one or two.)</p>

<p>But you could do the same with Fulbright Scholarships. Smith and Wellesley currently have more than any college or university in the country. That's great, as far as it goes. But then count FEMALE Fulbrights at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, etc. and, again, it isn't even close. This isn't to say that the students at those schools aren't equally qualified - they are! But what it speaks to is the quality of advising that exists at the women's colleges that just doesn't seem to surface as often elsewhere.</p>

<p>"As a parent, I've been struck by how <em>everything</em> at Smith has been "how can we make this work for you."</p>

<p>That's exactly how it worked for my d., who was admitted to Williams, and received one of the Zollman scholarships (on the assumption, mistaken I might add, on the part of the admissions office that they thought she was going to Harvard.) They literally created a STRIDE position around her individual needs, which has been totally amazing; supported her summer project doing relief work and documentation in South India, and have frankly been astounding. (She is currently working on a Praxis internship possibility in Italy for next summer.)</p>

<p>But one of the things we also found out (and was confirmed by the admissions office) - you actually have to come kick the tires on campus to see it. The LACs look very similar to each other in their view books, etc. - Smith looks like Amherst without men until you actually visit The admissions office has discovered that the odds of getting a student to apply, and to accept an admissions offer increases radically if they can get the student to visit.</p>

<p>(My d. was also in the camp of having never really thought about looking for a women's college. She had spent a year at coed Evergreen. However, she was put off by mostly male athletic/alcoholic cultures - it works for some people, but it wasn't her cup of tea. If you are considering a Dartmouth or a Williams or an Amherst, I urge you to visit in term on a Thursday night. If you feel comfortable, go for it! They are great schools.)</p>

13

<p>The research opportunities are tremendous. My D got a summer job for seven weeks at Smith as part of an interdisciplinary team that included engineers, computer science majors, and a math major (her). </p>

<p>I looked over the various STRIDE opportunities when she was making her selection. There were some typical "slave labor" jobs but there were some eye-popping ones as well.</p>

<p>TKM, I've heard that bio is the strongest of Smith's science offerings.</p>

<p>3toGo, those stats are indeed spectacular when you consider how relatively few women's college grads there are.</p>

14

<p>I second that on visiting a college such as williams and amherst on a thursday night, you'll ReallY get a feel for what your getting yourself into. I was totally set on Williams and Bowdoin throughout my junior & senior years. But when i visited willims I hated it! I thought the classes were ok--the students seemed tired and disinterested and when night time came it was alll booze. </p>

<p>This is just one account--its all about who you hang out with and other factors, but really go an visit. After that visit I went to smith and just felt comfortable, there were so many opportunities for each night i was there: aerobics classes, movies, concerts, nightclubs in noho, restaurants and shopping. PLus 5 college things. and the classes at smith i found much more engaging. </p>

<p>to be honest I never thought id end up at smith, but here i am moving in in less than two weeks! </p>

<p>hope this helps! any questions feel free to ask.
~sara</p>

15

<p>Per the Gold Key literature, approximately 1/3 of Smithies are majoring in a science discipline.</p>

16

<p>I heard that population of lesbians are pretty high at Smith college. How high is it?</p>

17

<p>it's not the sort of thing they collect data on. </p>

<p>no matter what your sexual orientation is, or how fluid it is, you will not feel isolated. but if you feel that living with people of a different orientation will be difficult or offensive to you, smith is not the place.</p>

18

<p>I don't mind homosexuality. I don't even pay attention to heterosexual activity. I'd probably spend most of my time studying/practicing; I just need a small group of friends to keep sane. I assume women's colleges are a magnet for lesbians because they want to escape the persecution of big coed schools, so if I want to escape them, I'll just go the opposite direction. But honestly, I don't care. If academics are good, the professors are personable, and the campus is pretty, :) I'd be happy there. I'm just worried about competition and what-not.</p>

19

<p>I knew schools wouldn't collect data on their students' homosexuality. That's why I wanted to know how it is from students who actually go to Smith. I thought they might have a good guess or better answer (like "a half of all students" or "a quarter of whole population") than students from other schools who only say "homosexuality in Smith is very high."</p>

20

<p>I couldn't even tell you how many of my friends at Smith were homosexual. It's not a question that I've asked anyone upon meeting them, and some I don't even realize until they bring it up themselves. I believe TheDad might have made an estimate based on what he knew from Hubbard House, but I couldn't do the same with my own (Haven-Wesley).</p>

<p>I will echo Stacy and say that Smith is welcoming of people of all sexual orientations. I come from an area where not a lot of people are openly gay (I live in conservative Central Pennsylvania) and didn't feel that the transition to Smith was very difficult.</p>