Amherst college- down. Beautiful campus. Very hilly. Lovely tour guide however, the info session at the beginning was killing me. So dry. Not that that really matters, but they have no regard for the comfort of the people that were there. I know that sounds stupid, but the room was hot and the seats were uncomfortable and the info session was over an hour long. I was done after 15 minutes. And then when we saw dude Bros playing a drinking game behind one of the dorms while we’re on tour in the middle of the afternoon, my daughter was done with it. She’d like to take a couple of classes there with the five college consortium, but she has no interest in living there.
Mount Holyoke moved up for me and moved down for her lol. I thought it was gorgeous. The grounds were beautiful, South Hadley is lovely and safe and seems like such a wholesome place. And the interiors of the buildings were gorgeous. The science building was amazing. she was just so so about it. I think when we got there and we could not find a center of town to grab a bite to eat and get some gas, she was discouraged. She wants to be in a place where there’s public transportation, and that is walkable. we live in the woods at home. We’re in semi rural Maine so she’s looking for the opposite and Mount Holyoke was not opposite enough.
Smith college moved right up to the top of the list. Northampton is amazing. I knew she would love the town, but she loved it more than I expected. She wanted to explore every avenue and pop into every shop and buy bubble tea and get slices of pizza and have curry and Ramen and all the fun things. Our tour guide was so genuine and sweet and that really made a difference. I love the idea of the five college consortium and an all girls college. You get the best of both worlds. She loved the idea of the PVTA bus coming right to the campus every 20 minutes or so to take kids all over the place. She loved the idea of no cars for students for the most part. She hates driving and is pumped to not be allowed to lol. She loved the open curriculum and she loved the vibe. It’s a very liberal vibe which she identifies with. And she love the idea that there is a train station off campus so she could take a train to New Haven and transfer to a train to New York City for a weekend away. She loves the city.