When you visited Smith and BMC, did you go during a visit weekend or just a random weekend? If you went during a scheduled visit day, you should know that the students do act a bit differently on scheduled visits than they do during the regular year - so while it’s a good way to get a slice of life, it’s not an excellent way to see how the day-to-day living is at the college. I’m not saying that people at BMC won’t come up and talk to you out of the blue (that happened a LOT at my small women’s college, Spelman - even nowadays I can meet a total stranger and find out she’s an alumna and have a warm conversation with her) but they’re probably not dancing around on a regular basis, lol. Conversely, your Smith host might have just been a quiet person and if you visited a few weeks ago, maybe it was midterms?
Smith also has an [honor code](| Smith College).
I have heard very many excellent things about Northampton as a town. The biggest draw location-wise to BMC seems to be that it’s “nearby” Philly, but as you have pointed out, “nearby” can still be a hurdle depending on what kind of transportation you have.
Just “listening” to your post it seems to me that you are leaning towards Smith for a variety of reasons, but your recent overnight just made you unsure. Your host and her friends are just a handful of the students at Smith, and Smith students do have a reputation for being lively, active and happy. I don’t think they would’ve earned that without it having some semblance of truth to it, so I think you should trust your instincts here.