Smith: The Big Picture
The best thing about Smith is that you can try different things and see how they work for you. Want to take a Bio class? Sure. Wanna try a language? Why not? Which one? Arabic? Mandarin? Russian? Japanese? Hindi? There's always something to try or something to do here. I love Smith because it has an open curriculum and encourages you to try things you wouldn't normally sign up for. It really expanded my horizons and I was able to maximize my education.
I spent most of my time in Smith's psych department, mostly because it was my job. Second to that, however, I spent a lot of time in my house. Smith doesn't have dormitories. We have HOUSES. Yeah, does sound a little bit like greek/sorority style living, but it isn't like that at all. In your houses, you make your best friends. You always have someone to talk to, doors are almost always open; all with no wacky paddling-rituals or weird frat boys hanging around a keg.
Northampton is definitely not a "college-town". It has a hippy-granola feeling with lots of art, music, good (organic) coffee, natural food stores, and small businesses that you never tire of. There are a ton of really great places to study; Haymarket cafe, The Yellow Couch, Woodstar, good 'ole Starbucks, Better Thyme Deli (great tasting, cheap sandwiches!)..the list goes on and on. If you ever get time, hit Sweeties, the candy store and try their Vegan Peanut Butter Melts! They also have fantastic non-vegan candies which are good too.
Students usually complain about dining. Unlike other colleges, we have an in-house dining system. However, Smith has undergone many changes in their dining since 2003. All students are given One-Cards (which are student ID-Cards that let you into the gym, copy rooms, computer labs, your own house, and dining halls). With your one card, you may have dinner(or any other meal) at any house you choose. Each house has a different menu, which you can peruse at your leisure from the Smith website. Students often complain that it has had a negative impact on the culture of the houses, puts undue pressure on cook staff (who are already over worked), and have limited options. Moreover, the food will quickly run out especially at speciality houses (houses with themed menus). This is especially true when certain houses serve Indian or Asian food, Breakfast-for-Dinner, and other types of very popular dishes.
Despite complaints: One experience that will stick with me forever is Convocation (especially the one from my first year at Smith). Convocation is a Smith tradition (one of MANY traditions we have here) that celebrates the beginning of the school year. I remember the thousand or so Smithies packed in the John M Green Hall auditorium in their school pride and other decor/costumes. Every house has their own traditions surrounding this event and it was awe inspiring to see so many women celebrating their education.
Smith Academic Life
Like any college, you need to work hard for a professor to get to know you. Get good grades, go to department lectures, ask questions...all that good stuff. However, it is much easier than big universities! The class sizes are TINY compared to public schools! My Russian class had 10 people in it. I learned a lot from classes like this. Smithies are definitely spend a lot of time outside of classes having intelligent conversations. We tend to make TIME to do things mindless; TV, movies, video games. (These are almost unheard of in our houses!)
Students are not competitive with their class work; most of us tend to know that we're talented, capable, and intelligent women. What we do compete for, unfortunately, is our stress level. We all too often play the "I'm more stressed than you" game.
Smith's academics, at least for my major, was geared toward academia rather than getting a job after college. When approached for grad school recommendation requests, professors (whom I worked with for three years) wouldn't write me a recommendation since I was only pursuing a Master's degree and not a Ph.D. Much of introduction to Psychology is learning to write in APA style for journal submissions! Lectures outside of class are held, explaining to students how to prepare for Grad school; which schools to apply to, prepping for GREs etc. Students are expected to contact the Career Development Office if they aren't interested in going to grad school after college.
Smith's Student Body
I would say that Smith is an extremely supportive and accepting community. As a queer person, I had no problem with coming out to friends or coworkers. The community was so diverse in this respect that I found a lot of support. However, race and class issues are abundant, but subtle. Smith has a programs during orientation that are geared toward international students and "students of color" that emphasizes how to find support, academic help, and introduces students to diversity clubs on campus. These orientation groups are fantastic in helping students find support and familiarity, however, I think that the idea is fundamentally folly. The orientation program geared toward "women of color" automatically calls attention to "otherness" rather than encouraging integration, awareness, and bridging cultural and racial gaps. Class issues are frequently brought up in discussions of inequity, but the college hardly does anything to help students with financial difficulties. Class and privilege are hardly discussed campus wide, but students tend to be more aware of this than the administration.
Smith Student Activities + Social Life
I met my friends in my classes and in my houses. We tend to spend a lot, A LOT of time studying. We'll often take big trips out to a cafe to study together or we'll sit in each other's rooms to work. Honestly, Smithies hardly EVER party and if we do, it's not an all-out, drunk fest either (since we have militant HRs). We have too much homework. However, there are houses that party more than others. Never fear, there are other campuses to go to if that's your bag. The cool thing is that Smith teaches you that you don't need to drink to have fun. Sounds like something you'd hear on Mr. Roger's neighborhood, but true.
