A Smithie's Perspective
This blog is not affiliated with Smith College and does not represent the views of all Smithies.
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Q: I don't know if you're still checking this blog, but it's a Smith question, so I thought I'd ask it here. If I visit in the summer, will I really get the Smith vibe? I live far away, and the summer is really the only time I have to make a trip to Massachusetts, but I'm worried that I won't get a true sense of Smith since most students are gone.
A:
Yes, totally. It is a little different because most of campus is gone, but come into the Admissions Office and do a tour and an info session. You’ll have a student sit in on the info session who can give you more a feel for their experience, and the tours are all done by students. Depending on what day/what time it is, you might even get me in either your info session or as your tour guide. :P
And if you come for Summer Preview, we have a lot of stuff planned. :)
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Q: So this might be an incredibly large and impossible task, but I was wondering if you could give us incoming Smithies a run down on housing? I'm trying to figure out where I'd like to live next year but you can only get so much from the smith website.
A:
Okay, so there are basically four main areas of campus, the Quad (East and West), Elm (Upper and Lower), Center Campus, and Green Street. Here is the breakdown as I see it (so take it with a grain of salt, because I live in the Quad and don’t actually live in the other areas of campus).
Quad
- reputation for being the party area of campus
- loud at night on the weekends, but also sometimes in the middle of the week
- more of a dormlike feel in regards to the actually architecture/buildings; largest houses
- practically guaranteed a single after first year (not always, though)
- beautiful
- about 80-100 people
- house community varies, but Jordan has sort of a laissez-faire community; you can be really involved and love it, but if you don’t want to be super involved, there is no pressure to participate
- a little crazy sometimes
- farthest residential area, but it’s nice because you actually feel like you’re going home at the end of the day instead of still being at school around academic buildings and such
Elm
- closer to downtown; literally, you can walk down the street and be in Noho
- kind of separated from the middle of campus (you have to cross Elm Street street to get home)
- medium-sized houses
- really interesting architecture (like, there are really cool wall closets or random alcoves in the hallways or in the rooms)
- great house communities, from what I’ve heard
- house/home-like, but not too small
Center Campus
- close to the Campus Center and the middle of campus
- buildings vary in size
- I don’t know much about center campus…
- Quiet-ish, I guess? Maybe?
Green Street
- known for being the quiet/studious area on campus
- close to academic buildings, theatre, music building, and gym
- smaller, homier houses
- people can literally roll out of bed five minutes before class and get there in time
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Crazytown
So, I am finally getting to all those questions I let sit in my inbox for like a month. Sorry about that. It was finals and there was a lot of stuff going on, so I kind of abandoned this blog for awhile. But I’m back! And I will answer your questions and then post an update about my Smith life right now (because I haven’t left yet). :P
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Jane Lynch, at the Smith College 2012 Commencement!
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”My counsel to you, women of Smith College? Let life surprise you. Don’t have a plan. Plans are for wusses. If my life went according to my plan, I would never ever have the life I have today.
Jane Lynch, Smith College Commencement Address (via luminosiity)
