My chances at Smith College?

CrewDad
Sun, 18 Mar 2018 03:01:15 +0000

@Akgj10

We heard through the grapevine that needing financial aid plays a more important role than what they portray

Portray where?

In the past, Smith stressed on their website that at least 95% of students are admitted without their financial aid need being a factor. However, ~1%–5% of the remaining admits may be reviewed with financial need as a consideration.
In other words, Smith was need-blind for 95-99% of those admitted.
I wasn’t aware until now that Smith’s website no longer makes any mention to what extent financial aid need affects admission decisions or even that Smith is in some form need-aware versus need-blind.

I’ve been a supporter and Smith advocate for decades. However, intentionally failing to be upfront regarding the role financial need plays in the admission process is disappointing. It would behoove Smith to emulate the integrity of Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr and include the nexus between financial aid need and admission decisions on the website.

Is Bryn Mawr College “need-blind”?

https://www.brynmawr.edu/financial-aid/faqs-first-year-applicants

Is Mount Holyoke College “need-aware” or “need-sensitive”?

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/sfs/first_year/prospective_faq

To be fair, Smith isn’t the only college that is less than forthcoming. Although Haverford recently switched from need-blind to need-aware admissions, there’s no mention of that fact on their website.
Hamilton purports to have a need-blind admission policy when in reality the college is need-aware for the large cohort of January admits.