Smith College

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Biochemistry
Minor: Sociology
Student Self Identifies as: Bengali-American Pansexual Female

Summary

I did more extracurriculars in the beginning of my college career and don’t do as many now. Now, the only thing I do outside of my classes is research. I also held leadership positions in my dorm.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Bengali-American
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

High School Experience: Public high school in Staten Island, NY with a graduating class of about 700 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Biochemistry
Minor: Sociology

Extracurricular Activities: I did more extracurriculars in the beginning of my college career and don’t do as many now. Now, the only thing I do outside of my classes is research. I also held leadership positions in my dorm.
Did any of the extracurriculars you joined in the beginning of your college career have a particularly big impact on your experience?
I joined the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students my freshman year because I had an interest in going into health professions but I decided I didn’t want to go into that [professional area], so I dropped it. But, I did really like partaking in it because it was a way to help me acclimate to college life. I think extracurriculars are a good way of going about doing that.
How easy was it for you to get involved in research?
For me personally, it was more difficult because I had to figure out what research I was interested in and that included talking to a lot of professors about their work and really trying to see if it’s a good fit for me. That was really important and I didn’t get into any research until my junior year.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your major?
It’s a lot of labs, exams, and problem sets. With your lecture, you take your lab course concurrently so it’s an extra four-hour course basically.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly?
They do a lot of things well. There’s a lot of support for when you’re struggling, which I appreciate because it’s a hard major. The professors are generally good at helping you if you need it. Their office hours are good and they’re flexible with their time in case you need to meet with them outside of office hours.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s half and half. Generally, at Smith we’re competitive with ourselves but we try to support ourselves too.
Do people tend to study by themselves or with other people?
It depends on the type of person you are and what class you’re in because some classes are manageable to do by yourself but there are other classes, like Biochemistry or Organic Chemistry, where you would really benefit from studying in groups.
What is your favorite class you’ve taken for your major?
An elective course on pharmacology. It was a seminar-style class and there were only nine students in it for three hours one night a week. That sounds like a lot but the professor lets us have a break in the middle to recharge, which I really appreciated. Some professors here are very receptive to the students’ needs, which I really like about this school.
What is your least favorite class you’ve taken for your major?
Organic Chemistry.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I came into Smith wanting to be a Biology major, but I started off pre-med and had to take Chemistry classes too. I then thought Biochemistry would be a good major for pre-med, but once I decided I didn’t want to do pre-med, I was on the brink of switching my major. I ultimately decided to keep it instead of switching to Biology because I felt that all the Chemistry coursework would help me understand biological processes and really did feel I understood a lot of biology because I had exposure to chemistry.

Reasons to Attend

1) We have a standard meal plan for everybody so you’re always fed as long as you live on campus.
2) We have really good support for STEM. If you’re a woman interested in going into a STEM field, this place is really good in supporting you in that endeavor.
3) We have an open curriculum. You can take whatever classes you want outside of your major.
4) The professors are really supportive and you have a lot of good academic support in addition to the professors. We have a writing center and a quantitative learning center. Each STEM field usually has its own tutors or teaching assistants that you can meet with if you can’t meet with the professor.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) If you’re the kind of person that needs active things to do all the time and need to be out and about consistently, this is not the place for you.
2) Smith’s a very small school, so you’ll end up seeing the same people a lot.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on and around campus?
Freshman & Sophomore: I lived in Park Complex in Central Campus, which is two separate buildings that they turned into one house community. I lived in a double in Park Annex with the same roommate both years.
Junior & Senior: I’m living in the big house, which is called Park House. Junior year I lived in a double with a different roommate and this year I have my own single.
What was your favorite living situation?
The single, for sure. I liked my roommates that I had before and we lived together well. But, it’s always nice to have your own space.
How do you like living in the same complex for all four years?
I liked it because having some semblance of consistency was really helpful for me because it allowed me to adjust to being here. The consistency was an important factor for me. People move, and I know a few people who have moved quite a bit, but I could have never tried to acclimate to a new house community each year. If you want to do that, it’s up to you.
How was transitioning from Staten Island, NY to Northampton, MA?
It’s quite a bit of a transition. In Staten Island, I’m used to all the crazy business and all the people and noises. But, when I came here it was so quiet and there aren’t as many people. It’s more peaceful here.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
It’s extremely safe here. Barely anything ever happens around the area.
What is your favorite off-campus restaurant?
Bombay Royale. Their Indian food is so good and during the weekdays you can get $10 lunch buffets.
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
Northampton has a really good variety of small-town cafes. I like to hang out and do work in them every once in a while if being on campus is getting boring. Sometimes I think I’ll be more productive if I get away from campus for a bit and it helps.

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Smith?
It depends on how I’m feeling. A lot of the times I like staying in and watching a movie or just talking with them or sometimes we’ll go out to dinner. Every once in a while, we’ll go to parties either at Smith or off-campus. Sometimes student organizations host parties or just students host them in their rooms. If I go off-campus, I’ll go to downtown Amherst to walk around, get dinner, or go to a bar now that I’m 21. When I wasn’t 21, I would go to a house party at UMass every once in a while.
If you were to go out to a party, what night of the week would that be?
Usually Friday or Saturday. I try to not do it more than one night in a row to make sure that I have a good balance of activities that I’m doing throughout the weekend because I get bored if I do the same thing over and over again.
How happy are you with the weekend activities at Smith? Is there anything you would change if you could?
Directly at Smith, it depends on the kind of person you are because if you’re a party animal, this isn’t the place for you. It could be if you don’t mind traveling off-campus. But, there are also a lot of things to do here if you aren’t a party animal. Smith is really good about planning activities for the weekends as well, which I also really like about the school. Smith has movies every weekend in one of the auditoriums. The Student Events Committee is really good about planning different social events. Sometimes they’ll hire groups to play here or have speakers to come and talk about a range of subjects. If you’re into just being on campus, you’re always guaranteed to have something going on, which I really like because it is easy to get bored here and it can get difficult to make fun for yourself.
If at all, how has identifying as LGBT influenced your social life or weekend options?
I don’t think how it does all too much because most people are very accepting of my sexual orientation, so in no way has it affected my social life here. Smith is known for being a very Queer-friendly place.
What have been your favorite times at Smith?
Aside from senior year and almost being out, my favorite times have been the Mountain Day where the president cancels classes for a day the day of. She rings the bells really loudly in the morning and you can hear them everywhere. On Mountain Day, people typically go apple picking and I’ve always had a blast doing that.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
I’m one of those people who it took time for me to find my group of closest friends. Initially, I was uneasy about it but I’m now glad that I let it take its course because I have three really good friends now that I see nearly every day.
Do you have friends at the other schools in the Five College Consortium?
I do, but no one particularly close.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
It’s not as much of a partying social scene. A lot of people stay on-campus and do a non-party activity off-campus. We do have our own distinctive groups and the party animals do exist and you can find them if you want to be around them. We also have the people who would rather stay in on the weekends and do more creative things. For the dorm I live in, a lot of the social activities are very artsy and I would say that’s similar for a lot of the other houses too. People like to do paint nights or bake. It’s culturally known as “stress baking” because it’s supposed to alleviate the stress from academics a little bit.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
People of different sexual orientations mix a great deal here within classes and various social settings. I would argue it’s the same for people of different races too. [33% of the undergraduate population are Students of Color, 18% are Underrepresented Minorities, and 14% are International.]
Do you think people are generally happy with their choice of Smith by senior year? Do you think people leave loving Smith?
I think the majority of people who graduate from Smith leave loving their time here. I’m not going to sugarcoat the fact that it’s not 100% perfect because there will be things about this school that we don’t like, which is inevitable. I’ve loved my time here.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
I personally haven’t dipped into the alumni network as much as I should have. I plan on doing that and hope it’s helpful. I’ve heard of it being helpful for a lot of other people.
To what extent have you used the career office? How helpful is it?
I have used the career office and I’ve used them for checking resumes and honing my interview skills. They hold career fairs every year, one for STEM fields and one for everyone else. Those career fairs are really helpful in trying to get an internship or a job post-grad. It also gives you the chance to talk with different employers and honing your skills in marketing yourself, which is really important. In that capacity, those things have helped me a great deal.
Have you learned any computer programs or languages that will be helpful professionally?
I’ve used Microsoft OneNote, Excel, and PowerPoint. This semester I’ve learned how to use more programming software, such as R and Stata. I used R in my animal physiology lab because we needed to test the statistical significance of our results. I learned a lot from this class and this software is really beneficial in market research and different social science research settings.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how easy are they to work with?
I got a full-tuition scholarship which doesn’t cover room and board. I asked financial aid for help with covering that and I got an unsubsidized federal loan, which is not what you want because it starts accruing interest right when you walk in the door. My parents ended up paying that out of pocket, which I’m very grateful for. Financial services can be tricky to deal with because you’re dealing with large amounts of money. I would suggest keeping persistent, trying to negotiate as much as possible, and advocating for yourself because in some cases they will not be as accommodating.