Smith doesn’t isolate their SAT range just for international students, but you can find the SAT middle range for all Smith admitted students here: http://www.smith.edu/admission/guidancecounselors_stats.php .

That being said, counselors have told me that they do take into account the fact that, given that English might not be their first language, international students may score slightly lower than domestic ones.

Hope that helps!

Alright, I would first like to apologize for not posting in so long. I kinda suck at this. But anyway, enough of that. Here goes.

It’s been almost two years now since I’ve been at Smith, and even though Smith felt like home pretty much from the moment I set foot on campus, I’ve been around here long enough now that being at Smith feels more normal than being somewhere else. This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, seeing as summer’s approaching and, just like last year, I’m staying in the States and working at Smith instead of going home. This isn’t something I do by choice. Plane tickets don’t come cheaply these days, and I need to focus on making my summer as monetarily painless as possible. If I had it my way, though, I’d spend at least a month (probably more) of my vacation in El Salvador with my friends and family, with the ocean I grew up in, with the warmth that I am used to, with everything that makes up the core of who I am. 

I won’t lie, having to stay here instead of going home does cause some resentment in me. I remember last summer, somewhere in the middle of my break, I would go on Facebook and see pictures of all my friends back home together, see pictures of my nieces and how much they’d grown in the time I hadn’t seen them, or just even pictures of palm trees and sand, and I would feel so incredibly displaced. Mind you, I was also living alone in a house in Easthampton, 5 miles away from the nearest town and without any mode of independent transportation, so I spent a lot of my time sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I jumped at any chance for self-pity. Not that I’m complaining or anything. But anyway. My point is that I miss home. A lot. 

But when I went home for winter break, by the end of it I found myself fantasizing about getting back to Smith and seeing my friends here. It’s easy to forget just how amazing Smith is, until you’re away from it. I’ve found that this is something a lot of Smithies experience, and I guess so does anyone who is in love with the school they attend. When you’re at Smith, you long for home, and when you’re home, you long for Smith. The truth is that Smith is just as much home to me as El Salvador is. It’s a strange feeling, to hold such different places in the same place in my heart. But I guess that this is something that everyone experiences. Going away to college is just the start of a series of many different homes. You move around from one to the other until you find one where you want to stay, but every place you settle in is just as legitimate as the rest. 

I don’t know, I guess I’m just feeling nostalgic for El Salvador, or just extra lovey-dovey towards Smith. I just wanted to say that as much as I miss my original home right now, I know that in two years I’ll be pining for the time I spent here. 

Blah di blah di blah, basically, I love you Smith College.

pearlsandcashmere:

Sandi McRae Duchesne, co-Vice President, Class of 1978.  Straight, but not narrow.  Christian, with mild Buddhist and pagan overtones.  Civil engineer, entrepreneur, and principal at my own consulting firm.  Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve (retired). Cashmere twin set was a 1980-something purchase at Goodwill, and no I didn’t realize when I bought it that my hair would eventually be a perfect match!  Pearls are a treasured long-ago Christmas gift from my husband Bob, to whom I have been married since the summer after graduation.

I chose Smith only because I needed, and received, a very generous financial aid package.   I didn’t expect to enjoy life as a poor scholarship kid at an elite women’s college, although I knew I would get an excellent education. But Smith turned out to be an almost perfect fit for me, and I thrived there.  I was book-smart and athletic but I had virtually no first-hand exposure to cultures other than my own, so the incredible diversity of Smith women and their backgrounds was an education unto itself.  I suspect that the pearls-and-cashmere, upper-class paradise that Ms. Spurzem recalls with such fond nostalgia was actually her mother’s story about Smith College life in the late 1950s, because I remember no such place and I graduated six years ahead of her.  My classmates and fellow Parsons House “Parsonalities” appreciated each other BECAUSE of our differences, not in spite of them, and I have been thrilled to see Smith become even more ethnically, socioeconomically, and culturally diverse over the years. 

When people find out I’m a Smith alumna, I sometimes get the snarky “Lesbian Nation” comments.  I tell them that I think the actual LGBT-to-hetero ratio is about the same at Smith College as anywhere else in the world.  The major difference is that at Smith, it’s much safer to be honest and open about who you are (and are not) – you will still be accepted and welcomed as a member of our college community, regardless of your sexual preferences or your religion or your personal style or anything else that makes you so amazingly…YOU.  Smith is also a nurturing environment for young women to experiment and try out different personae and forms of self-expression, if they are still trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be and how to get there. Many of us came to Smith from families and cultures where variations from the norm were not tolerated, and for these women Smith provides the first opportunity to develop and own an authentic adult identity. Smith College’s inclusive culture and strong support for individual and academic freedom were among the most positive and memorable aspects of my life on campus, and if that is also true for my LGBTQ sister Smithies, I couldn’t be happier.

I will never get to put my name on a Smith College building, but I do what I can each year to ensure that future women leaders from all walks of life will continue to be able to get a Smith education.  Currently I am helping the Class of 1978 raise funds for a dedicated scholarship that will bring women to Smith College from post-conflict and developing nations around the world, and that is a legacy that will benefit the entire planet.  You can help too, if you want:  go to the Smith Fund webpage https://www.smith.edu/future/giving/giftform.php , click on the “Gift Purpose” tab, and then select “Class of 1978 Fulfill the Potential” from the drop-down menu on the lower right portion of the page. You don’t need to be a member of the Class of 1978 to contribute…and thank you for any amount you can kick in!  My next gift to the Fulfill the Potential Fund will be in honor of outgoing President Carol Christ and her commitment to keeping the Smith College campus diversified and VIBRANT.

edwardspoonhands:

liamdryden:

eligoesrawr:

No matter how long the slinky is, the bottom of the slinky will stay still (hover) until the top reaches it. Even if the slinky is over 1000 feet long.

woah

woah

I just wanted to say that the replies I’ve been getting to the newsletter I sent out to Smith International Applicants keep giving me goosebumps. The sense of community, respect, and incredible determination is already so strong, even with just Smith applicants. This is an especially fortifying thought, given the recent letter to the editor written by Smith alum Anne Spurzem. It reminds me that there is so much more to all of us than where we come from and how we got (or are going to get) to Smith, and that there is so much more to Smith itself than its statistics. The international community, and the Smith community in general, contain some of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet, and who, without a doubt, will erect literal and metaphorical monuments of their own, in their own time. 

And I’m proud to call all them my family. 

Part of my job as International Recruitment Intern at the Admissions Office is to write newsletters so that international students considering Smith can get more of a feel for what it really is like to go here. Here’s my first one!

I know I’ve been awful about keeping up, but now that I’m back in tune with the whole Smith rhythm, I’ll start posting regularly again. 

For now, here’s a picture of where I was for winter break: Home, sweet home!

Hi, Winnie.

I completely understand what you mean. Not only are you traveling however many miles to be somewhere you might have never seen before, but you’re also experiencing a culture and way of life that might be different from your own. And to top it all off, you don’t know anybody there! It’s incredibly daunting.

Smith does a few things to help you cope with this. Admitted international students are automatically enrolled in International Students’ Pre-Orientation (ISP), which starts about a week before the actual orientation for all incoming students does. During this week you meet all the other international students coming to Smith for that year (really awesome people - I made some really, really good friends there!) and you attend several workshops and presentations that are meant to make the transition into Smith and the US a bit easier. You learn about the US tax system and how to start and keep a bank account in the US, about the different resources offered to international students and Smithies in general, about the things you can expect from your first semester at college and how to deal with them, how living with an American roommate (if you have one) might be like, and many other things. You also have free time to bond with the other students there and go to the mall and stuff like that. You get to move into your house early and meet people there, too. What I’ve come to believe about Smith’s international community is that it is very close-knit and extremely supportive. We all understand what it’s like to be far away from home. Some international students here don’t go back to their home countries during the entire four years they’re here, and I’m sure they find support in the other students who are doing the same. Basically, we’re all on the same boat, you know? We look after each other. 

Aside from the international community, your house community will be very helpful in making you feel at home. Heads of New Students (HONS’s) are upper-class students who specifically in charge of welcoming new students to Smith and making them feel at home. I am HONS for my house this year, and, along with my co-HONS’s, I have organized several events to keep the new students in my house involved in house community and to make sure their first semester is going well. Smith houses are like families. We eat meals together, hang out together, go out together, do homework together… everything. My housemates are my best friends at Smith. I feel at home because I’m surrounded by people I’ve gotten to know and love.

I’ve found that the Smith community in general is also very welcoming. Even students who don’t hold any particular position on campus are very helpful and friendly. The opportunities are here for you to make your experience at Smith what you want it to be! Parties, campus-wide events like barbecues and socials, movie showings… anything you can imagine. Plenty of chances for making friends! 

Does that answer your question? If you’re wondering about anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me again!

Good luck with everything!

Ceci

College life is a bit crazy, but it has its upsides. Here’s a picture of me celebrating Thanksgiving with my ¨substitute¨ family in Tennessee. Being away from home for so long (it’ll be a whole year away from El Salvador pretty soon) is hard. Very, very hard. But I’m lucky to have people I love all around me. Happy holidays!

Nope! 

Smith has an open curriculum, which means that, outside of your major and/or minor requirements, you aren’t required to take any particular class.

The only exception to this is that you are required to take a writing-intensive class during your first year. Smith has specific classes, called First-Year Seminars, which are offered specifically for first years to fulfill this requirement. They range in a variety of topics. I took a first year seminar called Literature and Medicine, where we read stories related to medicine and then wrote responses, and even our own stories. There are also classes all throughout the curriculum that are writing intensive. So if you don’t want to take a literature class, you can always take a class in another discipline to get the credit.

In order to graduate you need to have 128 credits, 64 of which have to be within your major. The other 64… well, they can be whatever you want them to be!