<p>Congratulations on having a Smithie AND on finishing the process! The college application process is grueling. I, too, have one child. When people tell me that the process is easier with the second one, I have a hard time believing it.</p>
<p>Must be something in the air, Tomboat. Mustangmom became Proud Smith Mom last night.</p>
<p>Yay! Congrats to both you! Welcome welcome to your daughters.</p>
<p>Zweet, my D was a Government/Math double major who did a STRIDE with a Computer Science prof and has now been accepted into a PhD Econ program. </p>
<p>I don’t know that the odds of doing research w/o STRIDE is low but you do have to be proactive and assertive. As a point of departure, I’d get a hold of the list of STRIDE projects when it comes out…surely someone will e-mail one to you if you ask around…identify projects you would be interested in, and then go around to the profs during the first two weeks of class and see which ones didn’t have STRIDE students accept. The research is still there waiting to be done, the only difference is that you probably won’t be able to get funding, so, depending on how much work study you have, you might have to be exquisite with your time management. But I think seeking out the research would serve you in good stead.</p>
<p>Tomboat, we have only the one child too and I’ve likened it to “boutique” parenting (as opposed to mass-market). If it’s any consolation, I doubt you’ll ever be as intensely involved in any of your D’s decision making again. Feel free to find a seat in the bleachers along with the rest of us. (I mean, I once fantasized telling D I’d be willing to help search for husband candidates and the look I envisioned could have frozen the Amazon in three seconds…)</p>
<p>Congratulations, MustangMom. Send one of us your snail mail address and we’ll make sure you get your secret decoder ring, fedora, and Tommy gun.</p>
<p>MustangMom and Tomboat, congratulations on your daughters making decisions AND in favor of Smith----hooray!!! May their years at Smith be wonderful and rewarding.</p>
<p>Tomboat, we have twins so everything for most of their lives has been in lockstep and the 2-1/2 year college application process was no exception; we saw 23 LACs. The upside is that once you’ve moved through a process, you’re done, but in the meantime, it’s a real emotional roller coaster.</p>
<p>As my dad used to say, “I’d like to extend the right hand of fellowship” and encourage all new Smith parents to join the armchair Smith league, or as TD says, the Smith Mafia, with us. The more, the merrier!</p>
<p>Congratulations! You won’t believe how fast those four years will go.
By the way, if it’s not too indiscreet, what finally tipped the balance for your daughters?</p>
<p>Tomcat–congrats from another newbie Smith family member. Since my d decided on Monday, I have been going through some kind of mental exhaustion release/relief. After so many months of feeling the tension of “how will she decide” and “the clock-is-ticking when will she decide?” it is weird now not to have that in my life!</p>
<p>We also only have one child and I am happy for it even more now having gone through this college process.</p>
<p>RE: money; we like you, and probably most parents, are going out on a limb for this, making it work with a jumble of resources, so know you are not alone!</p>
<p>Tomboat and upstatemom – congrats on your D’s decision! I think they will both enjoy their Smith years. Good luck and best wishes to all.</p>
<p>Lost,
What tipped it was that my D found Smithies had a sense of humor in addition to a work ethic, and she kept thinking of something her father advised–choose the college you want to be on your best day and your worst day.</p>
<p>I think that is excellent advice.</p>
<p>One motto I heard on CC in the days before I made my final decision that stuck with me is “Go to the place where you think you’ll thrive.”</p>
<p>Welcome to the family!</p>
<p>That sense of humor often comes out in quirky ways, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I don’t know that D ever expressed it in exactly that way but I think it was a component of the comfort level she felt when comparing Smith & Wellesley.</p>
<p>My D also officially enrolled at Smith on Tuesday after months of indecision. She was close to applying ED but really couldn’t quite commit at either ED point. All of her acceptances were very strong LACs with great reputations of around the same size as Smith and with similarly progressive philosophies. All coed except Smith, so it was hard to narrow the choices. Tipping points that made it stand out: STRIDE (both because it was the best financial offer she had and because she was impressed by the posters at Open Campus and by the whole concept of mentoring; we were thrilled to get that letter); the diversity and friendliness of all the students she met on both her overnight visits (she was particularly impressed by how different types of women mixed so comfortably); the quality and visible presence of the studio art program (it was surprisingly hard to get a handle on that everywhere else she visited with one other exception); the quality of the science program and facilities–especially the greenhouse/Botanic Gardens; the fact that she heard and saw less emphasis on partying than at any other school (though she knows people party at Smith, too, it was nice that it wasn’t the main topic of discussion); the consortium opportunities; and the location (Northampton is perfect in every way and of course, the campus is beautiful). She is still a bit nervous about giving up a co-ed setting but the other factors were just too compelling. In the past week I kept reminding her that had I actually kept a tally of every positive thing she’s said about the various colleges, Smith would have the most points by far–and I think that helped. </p>
<p>I would never have thought of a women’s college for her, but in the course of this process I have become very impressed by Smith and am happy that she has the opportunity to benefit from its unique advantages. Reading this forum has also been very helpful, so thanks to all who take the time to provide thoughtful responses!</p>
<p>Mommycat, congratulations to your daughter and welcome to the Smith family! I remember when my daughter sent in her acceptance how nervous she was for a few days about whether she’d made the right decision. Your tally is really coming in handy! I hope she loves her experience of STRIDE as much as my daughter has and I’m glad you have found our mostly thoughtful, sometimes wacky conversations to be helpful to you. You’re invited to pull up an armchair and contribute anytime! :)</p>
<p>MC, congratulations to your D.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of Smithies (and probably their parents) I have met say, at one point or another, “I never <em>meant</em> to go to a women’s college, but…” And while there must be some, I haven’t met any Smith alumna that regret the choice. The days are long but the years are short.</p>
<p>
belongs in the “Food for Thought” thread.</p>
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</p>
<p>From what I’ve seen (and from my own D’s experience), this reaction is common among eventual Smithies. My daughter easily tossed aside the co-ed college acceptances, not because they were co-ed but because they simply weren’t as “good” (from her perspective) as Smith. And she hadn’t even wanted to look at all-women’s colleges when we first started visiting. Some women seek out the single-gender environment, but just as many – and maybe even more – never envisioned themselves falling in love with an all-women’s college. To me, that says a lot about the remaining all-women Seven Sisters.</p>
<p>That co-ed thing–is a tough one to let go of. I’m soooo glad to hear my D is not alone in ambivalence about that! Now onto the questions of how that gets worked out. Smart women with good senses of humor out to figure that out, right?</p>
<p>MWFN nails it. And of the young women who choose Smith, you can infer what they think of their experience there by the strength of their alumni network and their enthusiasm on places, well, like College Confidential.</p>
<p>I don’t really care for St. Paul, would slap the man silly if I ever met him, but I have to confess that with respect to women’s colleges, I started out a skeptic who, if not coming to scoff, still stayed to pray. Kudos if you can follow that tangled set of allusions but, gah, no time for a rewrite, gotta run.</p>
<p>Re the Food for Thought thread…thought about adding to it but didn’t want to be the next one to bump it. But I definitely had it in mind when I was making the above list.</p>
<p>My D also didn’t consider going to a single gender college at first. I told her that, at a co-ed college, admissions is trying for a 50-50 mix for the incoming class. That means half the slots are eliminated for her. At a womens college ALL the openings are for women so it was simply a matter of numbers at first. After visiting Smith (and an exhausting number of other schools co-ed and not) she decided to apply to 4 all women out of the 10 applications and was accepted to all of them. She still was rather reluctant to consider a single gender school but she wanted to go out of state and didn’t get into her top choice (co-ed). The financial aid at the womens colleges was better in general. STRIDE (and 21 Century at MOHO) helped make them attractive too. So it all boiled down to open campus. She came away from that overnight visit visibly excited for the first time in all our college visits. Her host and her host’s friends and their prospies made the rounds to all the events that evening but they all ended up hanging out and talking till 4 AM. D says it was like hanging with a bunch of her friends it was so comfortable. I think THAT was what really sealed the deal.</p>