poetsheart

Whoa! That alone would have been the deal breaker for my D. She was admitted to both Bryn Mawr, and William and Mary. But because W&M is a mere 25 mins away from home, it was never really in the running, despite the fact that they awarded her a full academic scholarship.

Consolation

Well, Mini, unlike you I am laboring under the handicap of actually being a Wellesley alum whose impressions of how often and why Wellesley students go into Boston is tainted by actual personal experience.

There is additionally no doubt that the delights of Northampton completely outstrip the delights of Boston and Cambridge. Silly me.

mini

If you are, then I can't imagine in my wildest imagination how you can compare the town of Wellesley to Amherst. Maybe you avoided the town of Wellesley for four years?

Keilexandra

No personal experience at all--I've never visited either school--but in terms of which "location" is better, it depends on the type of person YOU are. For me, Smith >>> Wellesley on location since I dislike cities and public transportation; a walkable campus and town is important to me, because I know I won't bother commuting very often. For another student, Wellesley's proximity to Boston might be practically equal to being in Boston and so Wellesley >>> Smith on location.

WendyMouse

Keilexandra, you can't make these generalizations unless you've seen the campus.

The town of Wellesley IS a walkable town. People don't hang out there, because there is little in the way of places to hang out, especially at night and the retail stores cater to housewives. Even so, the town contains a grocery store, the post office, an EXCELLENT public library, two ice cream shops, a pizza parlor, two Thai restaurants, several other restaurants including one that's nationally known (Blue Ginger), a Gap, two stationery stores, several banks, a shoe store, a sporting goods store, a Starbucks, a Finagle a Bagle, Peet's Coffee, a train station, a bookstore that brought in Sophie Kinsella, Allison Weir, Julie Andrews and Brian Jacques for signings when I was a student, two drugstores and two toy stores. The majority of what I have mentioned is within the first two blocks from campus.

It's quite a lot when you put it all together, though there's no longer a CD/Video store, or a movie theater or street performers or nightlife, but the ville is not that bad.

Keilexandra

^ Good to know; perhaps my generalization was too strong. But nonetheless, I think biased posters from both sides agree that the town of Wellesley < the town of Northampton; my point is that for certain students, Boston is justly excluded from the equation.

college_ruled

Wellesley has a pledge for need based aid, while Smith has some merit aid. Smith's student body is larger than Wellesley and I believe its campus is smaller. Students at Wellesley can cross register at MIT, Babson, and Olin. Smith students can register at other colleges in the consortium. (Cross registering may not end up being practical anyways because of transportation times and different schools' schedules.) Wellesley and Smith are making budget cuts, but Wellesley started out with the larger endowment. Students at Wellesley seem to be very happy with the science departments.

Is it possible for you to visit both schools again? They are both "good" schools but one may be better for you. Search youtube for videos about Smith and Wellesley. Wellesley also has a few lectures on itunesU. If you don't know which school is right for you, it is perfectly ok not to apply ED.

Consolation

I've spent only one afternoon and evening in Amherst, and had dinner there. It looked fairly similar to the town of Wellesley: pretty, upper-middle class New England town with a combination of local and chain stores, a few restaurants, an inn, etc. College campus abuts town. Other colleges in region. What's the huge difference?

Yes, Amherst is a bit bigger, and is more of a self-contained town while Wellesley is more suburban. But to say that you can't, "in your wildest imagination" figure out how I could compare the two seems like an overstatement.

SmithieandProud

I think on the town question what people are trying to say is that there's a misconception that Wellesley = Boston, when in fact, Wellesley=Wellesley. It's near Boston, but it's not in Boston.

And that may or may not be an attractive feature for you. When I chose Smith, one of the things I wanted was a semi-rural New England college. I still wanted good ethnic restaraunts, fun shopping and a movie theatre, like I was used to having in the big city where I grew up, but I didn't want the traffic/noise/crime/distractions of a large city. And frankly, I don't really care for Boston much as a city (sorry Bostonians, but it's a personal preference thing).

So for me, Wellesley was out by virtue of location. For you, it may be a bit different.

SmithieandProud

One other thing to consider since you're interested in biochem and pre-med is that Smith is making a huge investment in its science departments right now. They just completed Ford Hall, a huge facility for the study of engineering, genetics, and bio-molecular sciences. I don't know if genetics interests you, but one of Smith's professors is a nationally leading geneticist and they made sure that Ford Hall has the most up to date equipment to facilitate his research and the work of the students. It's a pretty impressive structure, really, and brand new this year.

Consolation

To me, one of the differences between Smith and Wellesley is that Smith had only male presidents until the 1970s. Apparently they didn't trust a woman to run the place?

Wellesley, on the other hand, has always had female presidents.

SmithieandProud

"To me, one of the differences between Smith and Wellesley is that Smith had only male presidents until the 1970s. Apparently they didn't trust a woman to run the place?

Wellesley, on the other hand, has always had female presidents."

For someone who criticized another poster for making generalizations, I think you might tend to your own garden before weeding someone else's.

I think it's very commendable that Wellesley always had female presidents, but I think it's what a president accomplishes, not their gender, that makes them important. Some of Smith's male presidents (particularly John M. Greene and William Allan Nielson) were not only beloved, but made huge contributions to the advancement of women's education at a time when higher education for women was often derided by both sexes.

Indeed, it was under the term of William Allan Nielson that the concept of the "Seven Sisters" began as a fundraising slogan to raise money for women's colleges during the Great Depression. He also established Smith's first study abroad program, in Paris in 1925, which was the second study abroad program established by an American college or university and continues to this day. When foreign scholars were exiled or put in danger by the rise of Nazism, President Nielson rescued them by bringing them to the United States for professorships at Smith, saving lives and giving students real exposure to the great thinkers of the day. Also, Robert Frost wrote "The Road Not Taken" at Smith when he was a guest of President Neilson's. So I guess, even though he was a man, he did a pretty good job.

Smith's female presidents have been equally distinguished. The beloved Jill Kerr Conway founded the Ada Comstock Scholars program (much imitated by other women's colleges since) because she saw her mother struggle with poverty and imagined making it possible for older women to better their lives through good education. Ruth J. Simmons was the first African-American woman to head a top-ranked American college or university.

mini

""To me, one of the differences between Smith and Wellesley is that Smith had only male presidents until the 1970s. Apparently they didn't trust a woman to run the place?"

Wellesley always had males as presidents of the boards of trustees - Smith always women running the show. So I'm not sure one can make much of this one way or the other.

Consolation

I did not make a generalization. I stated a fact.

Now, one can certain discuss at great length what the implications of that fact may be....but it's still a fact.

upbeat

My D is starting her first year at Smith with a Stride and like you, sciencegal, she wants to major in biochem. I think what got her the Stride was her research project and her summer pre-college science courses at some rigorous universities. She also got into Wellesley but they have no merit aid there. One plus at W. was the really cool science building and the super nice faculty she met there. Other than that, the campus looked cold and uninviting, the local town was not college friendly (Boston is not that close) and the reputation for really tough grading ("grade deflation") at Wellesley. She is loving Smith so far. Hope this helps!