What is it like being a student at Smith today?
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I am connected to more than a hundred years of women that have gone
before me. I am the first one in my immediate family to attend a college
ranked this highly. When I graduate I will be part of less than a third of
Americans with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
My family cannot afford my tuition. When I graduate, I will be thousands of
dollars in debt. The unemployment rate in my home state is 10% and roughly
half of new graduates are unemployed nationally. When my family and I talk
about this, we say Smith is “an investment.” My parents are investing in me to
invest in Smith.
In one of my lecture classes at Smith, I know the names of more students of
color than I have my entire life.
As a premed student I hope one day to keep people healthy but my workload
makes it difficult to do so for myself.
I get 4.5 hours of sleep every night (5 if I don’t have that much work).
I feel like everyone has their life figured out, they have research, they have
internships; I just feel lost.
I’m very thankful to be here but I am also very very stressed.
I am currently on financial aid, I am paying the rest of my tuition by working. I
feel a lot of pressure to get good grades and be on top of my game all the
time. If I fail to do that, I will not go to a good graduate school or end up
having to pay a lot of money for it which I cannot afford and my parents
obviously cannot. As much as I am so very thankful each minute to be at
Smith because of the infinite opportunities it provides and its strong academia
at the same time it is a lot of stress, competition and constant anxiety about
the future. I sincerely hope I make it out without diabetes.
I really appreciate how most of professors I had are always willing to teach
students. And competition doesn’t stress me out/ I’m just stressed out about
figuring out what I really like...
Being a Smith student is stressful but at the same time it’s stress that’s worth
it. I feel that I will leave Smith knowing most of the essential things about
Chemistry, and other fields. I still wish sometimes that I had more free time,
but I know at the end this will all work out.
The most surprising question I have recently is “what do you do for your free
time at Smith?”
I feel as though many of my courses expect me to devote all of my time to
that class, and not acknowledge that I study more than one subject.
It’s sad how many science classes are not enjoyed by Smith students and are
only being taken to fulfill pre-med requirements.
I wish more people would understand how empowering it is to be educated in
a women’s college instead of giving you an oddball look, especially if you’re in
the sciences. You’re more willing to take the bigger risks and take the time to
understand complex systems than your peers, and your willingness and
courage has a lot to do with your time spent in a women’s college.
I sometimes feel that I could be putting more effort into my assignments, but I
also realize that if I devoted all my time to all of my classes I would never
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sleep. It’s hard to choose between grades and physical/mental health
sometimes. At the same time, I am always grateful that I am here and
learning, and that I am able to pursue my passions, because there are many
people who cannot.
I wish we as a Smith Science Community would set better female role models
in the sciences, or make science and math interesting to a younger
generation of women, give them a role model they can look up to, which I
don’t see anywhere around me in mainstream media/tv. Which film or TV
shows have you seen that has a female scientist as the lead character?
(response: Bones) And most of the time If I’m not studying, I know I”m
watching random things on online, and I’m pretty sure most science students
do the same. Everyone talks about having 50% female civil servants or 50%
women in congress, but no one ever talks about the lack of women in
chemistry labs or physics labs!! The only celebrated female physicists I know
to this day is Marie Curie, and she was around over a 100 years ago, what
have we been doing since then?
I feel at times like Smith is a cold, competitive environment. We are supposed
to be supporting and empowering each other, but instead we compete and
devote most of our time to studying instead of forming deep friendships.
Especially in the sciences. If you had a huge paper due and a friend needed
you, would you blow them off or take the bad grade on the paper?
I think Smith does a good job of throwing a lot at us to see how we handle it
all, but I think it can be easy to get lost in the mess and lose perspective on
what things are really important. There’s definitely a lot of pressure to do well,
succeed, make the most of your time at Smith, and go on to do great things.
As the people around me get closer to graduating, I see how the need to do
well is really getting to them. The college gives us a lot of “good outcome”
futures, going to grad school, getting a job right away, doing something
meaningful directly after graduation, but I don’t think we have a good basis for
learning how to turn a bad situation into a good one. Smithies need to be
taught how to take steps forward out of not so ideal situations, so that we can
get to a place that we can be proud of.
One would expect that at a women’s college we would be working together to
get past the assumptions much of the world seems to make about
women. But a lot of the time it seems to me that many people here are
constantly looking for affirmation that they are good at things, that they will be
able to be successful and independent in life. I don’t know why this is,
because to get here all of have shown some success and independence. But
I think we should be doing more to affirm each other. While at Smith, our
peers are our competition. But once we leave Smith, our peers will be our
support system in a world that doesn’t always seem quite ready for us.
I recognize that I’m part of an amazing tradition of excellence in women’s
education - both my mother and her mother were Smithies, and so while
Smith is a historical connection for me, I can also find myself at Smith (in the
sense of finding things I’m interested in and are valuable to me).
When I walk around campus, especially on those really beautiful sunny days,
I can’t help but feel so grateful to attend this institution. Whenever I hear of
the achievements of my peers and alumni, I am overcome with pride. These
feelings offer me strength and solace on those hard days when I feel
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inadequate, and trust me, there are those days. Because of academic
demands Smith asks of all of its students, I find myself and others extremely
overwhelmed and drained. But then I have to reconsider the situation; college
isn’t necessarily all about the grades. It is about understanding how to
balance your time and energy and prioritize. And through all this, one matures
into an adult. Smith provides me a place in which I can safely test the waters
of adulthood. Smith challenges me, pushes me, and sometimes makes me a
little crazy, but I know that because of my Smith College preparation, I will be
well prepared for the social and academic challenges I will face in the future.
My college experience at Smith is atypical and different (and not necessarily
in a bad way). There are times when I find myself choosing between work
and sleep. The professors definitely expect a lot out of you and sometimes
give you more than you can handle. But at the same time I find myself
enjoying my classes and the work I’m doing. All the work and stress is often
balanced by my appreciation for what I’m learning and the other positive
aspects that Smith provides. Smith has offered me many opportunities that
has allowed me to grow and given me friendships that I know will last beyond
the Smith campus. I guess Smith can be anything depending on how you look
at it-if you think positive, the Smith experience can be positive.
I think Smith has become so challenging that I begin to have some serious
self-doubt. The majority of days I go to bed feeling inadequate because I
don’t understand something, or I don’t know how to memorize everything. I
think about medical school and the very real fact that I may not get in and that
terrifies me. And then I go to class and I talk to my professors, and they all
believe in me. They know that I was meant to be at Smith and that I will go
far. They believe in me even if I don’t. I think that’s what makes Smith
amazing, is that they throw so much at us and see how we deal with it. If
we’re struggling, the professors are there to help us. It makes Smith a really
wonderful place, even with the self-doubt present, there are people here who
believe in us and who help us through the difficult times, and celebrate with
us when we make it through.
When I think of what it’s like to be a Smith student today, the only thing that
comes to mind is: stress. I know that being at Smith is an amazing
opportunity and I’m grateful for it, but I was also grateful for the large amount
of financial aid I received that allowed me to come here. Unfortunately, Smith
has raised their tuition this year, but did not raise my aid by same amount...
And now my family has to pay twice as much every month as we did last
year, and it has just added to the academic stress I’m already under. Also,
sometimes I feel as though Smith forgets that students have lives outside of
their school work... And being a pre-med student, everyone is always talking
about how important it is to have extra-curriculars along with excellent
grades. But I spend all my time on my school work or working at my job, and
barely get any sleep as it is. Most of the time I feel drowned by all my work, I
don't understand how anyone else has time for other activities.
I’m not totally sure if this google doc is answering the question in regards to
orgo or a smith student overall - the email and the title of the doc seem to be
saying two different things. BUTT if its in regards to being a Smith student - I
think part of what makes us Smith students (and therefore extra special!) is
our dining hall system. We get a different hot meal made for us three times a
day … not just a cafeteria with the same pizza every night. We get to eat at
big communal tables. It’s pretty awesome, and creates the opportunity to let
us know what’s happening all over campus from housemates, etc.