#prospies

[smith-pocheese]

Find out more at: https://www.smith.edu/admission-aid/explore-admission-aid/women-distinction-program

[legogradstudent]

Peeking into a faculty panel speaking to the admits, the grad student ruefully chuckles at their wildly cheerful overview of the program.

[nooritothedoorito-blog]

My love story

Now, this post isn’t as exciting in the way that you might think it is. This is the story of how I fell in love with Smith College.

My sister advised my to apply to Smith during the college application process because it was free. I still remember Smith’s Supplemental essay question because it was the most unique one I had encountered out of all twelve schools I had applied to. The question asked us to write about a moment where something made us laugh. Right away, I knew that Smith was different from other colleges. It wasn’t a school that was necessarily geared toward the students with the best test scores or grades, but students who Smith knew could foster to make a difference in this world.

Smith accepted me early, even though I didn’t apply for early acceptance. They sent me a t-shirt, so that was kind of rad. During the spring, they flew me in for Discovery Weekend, and that’s how I knew that Smith was the right choice for me. My host was Areej, who was a senior and also a Pakistani-American Muslim. She was very open to all of my questions and gave me great advice. And I know that she greatly shaped how I saw this school, which is why I plan on hosting a prospie during Discovery Weekend as well.

These are just a few aspects of Smith that I loved:

-Paradise Pond

-Botanical garden

-Cutter-Z House

-Al-Iman Muslim Student Association

-The environment

-The small campus

-Downtown Northampton restaurants & shops

-The people

-The dearth of boys

For all you first-year prospies out there, I really hope you consider Smith as your home for the next four years!

[legogradstudent]

Ignoring the admits during a department-funded dinner, the grad student obsessively focuses on having his best meal in months.

[hollinsunofficial]

It’s snowing! Even the weather is pulling out all the stops for the prospies!

[simonathesmithie-blog]

Why Smith?

The big question prospective students are most likely asking is: Why Smith? What makes this school so special? Why should I apply here? 

Here’s my story about how I discovered Smith and my reasons for knowing that it’s the perfect fit for me. 

As a freshman and sophomore in high school, when college seemed like just a fantasy in the distant future, I had my heart set on forever leaving the East Coast and going to school in the Bay Area of California. I was obsessed with schools like Stanford and UC Berkeley, especially after visiting them the summer after my sophomore year. 

^ Little sophomore-year me geeking out at Stanford

The first time I heard about Smith was at my high school’s college fair during my sophomore year. I picked up some brochures and thought Smith seemed like a cool school, but it wasn’t on the West Coast so I initially pushed it to the back of my mind. 

However, Smith kept popping up in my life. I found out one of my old camp counselors went to Smith, and that my mom’s colleague went there as well. Even Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black, was a Smithie. I greatly admired all these women and decided to give Smith another chance. 

Before visiting campus, these are the things that appealed most to me about Smith: 

Engineering - Smith is the only women’s college with an engineering program (and a wonderful one at that). I’ve known for a while that Engineering is the field of study that I want to pursue, so this was a must for me. Apart from Smith, I actually mostly looked into applying at tech schools like RPI, WPI, MIT, and Harvey Mudd. However, I was always turned off by the fact that I would be in the minority in my STEM classes, so a women’s college with a kick-ass engineering program just sealed the deal. (I’ll talk more about this in future posts)

Size -  I’ve always known that I didn’t want to go to a huge school, so Smith’s size of ~2,500 is perfect for me. 

Location - Somewhere at the beginning of my junior year of high school, I realized that I didn’t actually want to pay for a 6 hour plane ride every time I wanted to visit home and put my West Coast dreams on hold (still planning to go out there for grad school though). Smith is around a 2 hour drive from where I live (right outside of Boston), so I won’t feel like I’m still living at home, but getting home is still quite easy thanks to the Greyhound busses. Plus, Northampton aka NoHo has such wonderful little shops, cafes, and restaurants. It feels very familiar to me, but enough of a change that I won’t feel like I’m hanging out where I did in high school. There’s also a ton of rock climbing in Western MA, another must have for me. 

Once I actually visited Smith’s campus during the fall of my junior year, I was almost immediately sold. At Smith’s Fall Preview, I got to go on a tour the campus (and another of just the engineering and science buildings), sit in on a class, visit a house, explore NoHo with my mom, and listen to Deb Shaver, the Dean of Admissions, speak about Smith. These are some things that I learned about at Fall Preview that made me realize Smith was the school for me: 

Houses not dorms - Smith’s house system is totally unique and one of my top reasons for wanting to go here. At Smith, you don’t live in a dorm, you live in a house, which is exactly what it sounds like: a giant house converted into a student living facility. Every house is different, but they all have a strong community and house pride at their core. Click here to learn more about all the different houses. 

Open Curriculum - At Smith, outside of your major, there are no required classes, aside from one writing intensive class your first year. Open curriculum allows you to truly explore your interests without having to take classes in subject areas that you don’t want to. I absolutely love the idea of crafting my own education and can’t wait to explore all the classes Smith has to offer. 

Traditions - From Mountain Day in the fall to Ivy Day in the Spring, Smith has some uniquely awesome traditions that students get really excited about. 

“The vibe” / community - I’ve saved this one for last because I feel like all of my other reasons for choosing Smith feed into this one. After being on campus for only a couple of hours, I could tell that the atmosphere at Smith is welcoming and empowering. There are so many opportunities at Smith, and people to support you in all your endeavors in a way that I couldn’t really see at many other schools. Smithies really care about one another, even years after graduation (Smith has a huge and very active alum network). 

^ Me at Fall Preview during my junior year of high school

^ The sunset over paradise pond when I first visited Smith

Every time I’ve visited Smith, I’ve fallen more and more in love with it. I went to another Fall Preview my senior year, which made me realize that I wanted to apply Early Decision. After being accepted I visited campus again with some Smithies from the class of 2020. I have absolutely no doubt that I made the right choice about going to Smith. I truly feel like I belong there, and I cannot wait for this fall! 

[whatshouldwecallastro]

Trying to coordinate faculty to meet with prospective grads during their visit

[owutheatrememes]

when an excited theatre prospective goes to rehearsal with you