Smith College Top Questions

When you visit the colleges, talk to as many students as possible about their experiences. When a student is telling you about the school, evaluate how similar this student is to you before you take everything he/she says to heart. Keep your options open (i.e., consider schools that are not focused on a single area of study unless you are 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} SURE it is what you want (and who can really know that at the beginning of undergrad?).

Although knowing what you would like to do with the rest of your life is not realistic or important at this point, know what you do not want to do and would like to avoid at all costs. For example, if you would like to keep as far away from conservative or money hungry industries as possible, try to stay away from schools with a highly conservative population who mostly go on to business school or into finances. Look at what students do over the summer at your school, that is to say, does the school inspire students to do more with their knowledge and opportunity? If you do not know what you would like to do, but know that you are willing and able to go through with some sort of graduate school, a liberal arts education is undoubtedly for you. Also get involved. This is how you make friends and this is how you grow as a person. Playing a sport is always an excellent idea. You will learn how to make time for your studies in light of practices and games. A sports team translates into automatic friends and scheduled daily exercise! Good luck!

Trust your gut. If you get a good feeling about the school when you visit, you're probably on the right track. If you don't feel at home there, trust that too. College is four years of your life, so don't talk yourself into going someplace because they give you lots of money or you think it would make you look smarter or so you can brag to your friends or anything else. Once you get to college, just enjoy it! Enjoy your friendships, your classes, as well as extracurriculars. Throw yourself into them, because this is a unique time in your life. But don't commit yourself to too many activities. Pick carefully what you want to focus on, because four years will go by faster than you know it, and there's no way you can do everything you want to.

Keep an open mind (all parties involved).

If you do not receive enough financial aid like I do, work over the summer and save. Find a work study job, maybe with a professor to make it worthwhile. Don't be stressed about money because it will come after you graduate.