<p>Gay-related issues are not something that comes up a lot at Smith itself as issues per se. It does come up as an issue or concern for some prospective students and some parents. My sense of about 1/3 gay is second hand from second-hand reports of student surveys done of the years cross-checked with some non-student adult observers. </p>
<p>There are all sorts of odd anecdotal snippets, including gay women thinking it very cool that a straight girl was taking a class focused on gay issues, the occasional "Nuts, wrong orientation!" discovery upon being attracted to someone, etc. </p>
<p>Borgin has it right as far as I can tell: it's not a question that comes up most of the the time though eventually most people figure out who is inclined in what direction, e.g., it's a tip-off when bf/gf visit.</p>
<p>As a rough guess, I'd say half students are lesbian or at least act bisexually while at Smith. This does not have to be a problem, and I actually did learn a lot the year I was there simply from being in an all women's environment where nobody shot you down for talking about feminist issues in a serious manner. That being said, just because you didn't care about dating in hs, don't assume it will remain the same in college. I was a late bloomer -it's not that unusual for academically-focused people to not date much until they're at college and on their own and find people more similar to themselves.</p>
<p>I suppose I should note that "the quad" is supposed to have a higher percentage of straight and generally mainstream people than the rest of campus. I did not live at the quad, so that could affect my perception.</p>
<p>re: scholarships--Zollman scholarships are half-tuition merit-based awards, offered to about 10 students a year (since the yield rate on these students isn't super--most of them go to ivies--there are probably only about 20 Zollmans on campus. But it doesn't really matter, because they don't hang out together or ever formally meet each other). </p>
<p>STRIDE: Student research in departments, merit-based award offered to about 50 students a year. Allows you to get a paid research job with a faculty member for your first two years (this replaces work-study if you're eligible for it but you can get STRIDE whether or not you're eligible for fin aid). You also get a $2500 grant all four years. Zollmans automatically get STRIDE jobs, but not the grants. The research jobs are not all science oriented. People work with professors in all fields. My project was in the sociology department but involved a lot of historical/legal research. I loved it. </p>
<p>Mary Maples Dunn--a smaller, newer merit aid program that is less selective than Zollman (not sure how it relates to STRIDE).</p>
<p>There are also scholarships for community college grads, international students from developing nations, and residents of Springfield, Mass. None of these require a certain major. And of course need-based aid is available to any admitted student who demonstrates need.</p>
<p>To emphasize something Stacy says, a lot of the STRIDE projects are NOT science oriented. There are quite a few in the social sciences and even a few in the humanities. Now my quick-reading memory recalls that more of the "grunt labor" projects were in the humanities but I seem to recall seeing something that I thought would be both interesting and useful in a wide range of fields. One of my personal faves was in the Classic Department. Most of the projects don't seem to assume any particular prior knowledge/course of study, except a few where a particular foreign language was deemed useful.</p>