@pauler80020 My D is also looking at both of these and she’s actually out there NOW visiting! She and my husband drove out this week from Chicago since it’s my D’s spring break. Like you, we visited last summer on a whirlwind college tour. She liked both equally on paper, but LOVED the town of Northampton. So when she got into both (With a Zollman from Smith and a Trustee scholarship at Mount Holyoke), she wanted to visit again with the students in session. While the money offer is significantly better at Mount Holyoke, she was leaning pretty heavily toward Smith. Surprise, surprise! She fell in LOVE with Mount Holyoke! She was there yesterday for an accepted student Q & A with admissions, then went to two classes, took a tour, had lunch with her tour guide, then did an overnight. She loved the students! She said there’s “every type of girl” there–preppy, athletic, nerdy, activist, internatioinal–and that made it really cool for her! Then today she went to Smith and went to three classes and is now doing an overnight. She likes it, and LOVED her French class there today, but overall said her “gut” tells her that Mount Holyoke is “home” for her–it just felt more like HER than Smith. I think visiting is key!
She is flying out to visit Scripps in a few weeks and Barnard is a possible dark horse in this competition (but WAY more expensive), but definitely visit Mount Holyoke AND Smith. I bet she’ll have a clear preference.