Smith College

Colleges Smith College

Smith College

Smith College

www.smith.edu

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location students adm. int’l. fresh grad GPA ACT SAT TOEFL
Northampton, MA 2,506 20% 13% 89% 75% 3.9 33 1470 100

Smith College is a private institution that was founded in 1871. It’s set on a 147-acre campus in Northampton, Massachusetts, about two hours from Boston and three hours from New York City. Smith is one of the largest liberal arts schools for women in the country. It features more than 100 student organizations, which range from Smithies in Computer Science to Crapapella, one of several a cappella groups. On campus are Smith’s Museum of Art and Botanic Garden, the latter designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Smith is part of the Five Colleges consortium, which includes Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts—Amherst. Students have access to over 7,000 courses, additional clubs, libraries and special collections, and more. Smith is also part of the Seven Sisters colleges, a group of seven northeastern liberal arts schools that were originally for women.

Academics

Smith College has 50 academic departments and programs, and is structured around an open curriculum, with the only requirements being a writing intensive class during the first year and the fulfillment of a major. Undergraduate admissions are exclusively restricted to women. Smith also offers several graduate degrees, all of which accept applicants regardless of gender, and co-administers programs alongside other Five College Consortium members. Smith’s graduate programs offer master’s degrees and a doctoral program. The college was the first historically women’s college to offer an undergraduate engineering degree. The student-faculty ratio at Smith College is 8:1, and the school has 69% of its classes with fewer than 20 students. Popular majors include Research & Experimental Psychology, Data Science, and Biology.

Special Highlights

Mountain Day. Mountain Day is observed early in the fall semester. The president of the college selects a crisp, sunny, beautiful autumn day when the leaves are in full color, and announces the cancellation of classes by having bells rung on campus at 7:15 AM on the chosen day. The eager anticipation of Mountain Day leads to intense speculation about meteorology by students in the weeks leading up to the surprise announcement. Traditional observance of Mountain Day by students might involve New England road trips or outdoor pursuits, and college dining services provides box lunches to be taken off-campus. Many of the Houses go apple-picking together. In recent years, on Mountain Day, it is customary to wear flannel.

Ada Comstock Scholars Program. The Ada Comstock Scholars Program is an undergraduate degree program that serves Smith students of nontraditional college age. The program accommodates approximately 100 women ranging in age from mid-twenties to over sixty. Ada Comstock Scholars attend the same classes as traditional undergraduates, either full or part-time, and participate fully in a variety of extracurricular activities. They may live on or off campus. Financial aid is available to each Ada Comstock Scholar with demonstrated need. The program is named for Ada Louise Comstock Notestein, a graduate and former Smith professor of English and dean of students. She devoted much of her life to the academic excellence of women.

School Mission & Unique Qualities

Smith College is among the largest women’s colleges in the United States, with students from 46 states and 78 countries. An independent, nondenominational college, Smith remains strongly committed to the education of women at the undergraduate level, but admits both men and women as graduate students. There are no dorms on campus, but instead, Smith’s unique housing system includes 41 self-governed houses that bring a greater sense of community, tradition, and mentorship together to foster belonging for everyone. Smith’s Guaranteed Internship Funding provides students with a stipend of up to a few thousand dollars through its “Praxis: The Liberal Arts at Work” program to take advantage of any internship opportunity that interests them.

Student Reviews…

“The faculty and staff are devoted to helping you achieve your goals. The campus is beautiful and you’re able to find your place at Smith regardless of what type of person you are. There are so many things to do on campus and the neighboring towns. Everyone can acknowledge that we are not there to fit in to a standard, but rather surpass it.”