Smith College is one of the Seven Sisters, the prestigious consortium of East Coast women's colleges once seen as the female counterpart of the predominantly male Ivy League. The school currently has more than 2,500 undergraduates on its Northampton, Mass., campus. Smithies come from 48 states and some 67 countries. While the undergraduate program is exclusively for women, Smith’s graduate programs are open to all genders.
Smith offers more than 1,000 courses in about 83 areas of study, and because it is part of the Five College Consortium, students can also take classes at nearby Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Hampshire and UMass. The proximity of those other schools means that Smith's social life also extends onto their campuses, which are only a short shuttle ride away.
Instead of living in dorms, Smith students reside in one of 41 beautiful houses and have traditions like Friday afternoon tea, a surprise day off of classes in the fall and a celebration of renowned chef Julia Child — beef bourguignon and all. Child is one of the school’s many notable alumni alongside poet Sylvia Plath and journalist and activist Gloria Steinem.
