An ‘Extraordinary’ Class: First-Year Students Bring Promise of Success

When she first started thinking about applying to Smith, Ayushi Aryal of Kathmandu, Nepal, was 8 years old.

She had watched her older sister Shivani ’11 apply and then be accepted to the college.

“As I grew older and visited [Shivani] at Smith, I started falling in love with Smith,” Ayushi said.

“I started doing research about the curriculum, and by the time I was an eighth-grader, I was 100 percent sure I wanted to attend,” she added. “Smith had become my dream school.”

Another incoming first-year student, Aditi Aryal, is Ayushi’s twin sister.  (Fun fact: They are among four sets of twins in the entering class).

As a child, Aditi says she witnessed alarming examples of gender discrimination in Nepal, while at the same time she was fortunate to have a family who supported her own growth and independence.

Looking ahead, Aditi hopes to someday set an example for other Nepali girls—to illustrate to them how to be independent and think critically. That’s why Smith has always been at the top of her list.

This is an extraordinary class in every way.

“When I learned about all the opportunities and the amazing curriculum that is offered to women, I knew Smith was for me,” Aditi said.

The two sisters are among the expected 610 new first-year students who make up Smith’s class of 2019. The accepted students were selected from a record applicant pool of 5,006—the largest number in the college’s history—and come from 37 states and 44 countries.

Additionally, there are 25 Ada Comstock Scholars and 40 transfer students who will arrive on campus for Orientation, which is scheduled from Wednesday, Sept. 2, through Monday, Sept. 7.

The Ada Comstock Scholars Program, which is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year, offers women of nontraditional college age a chance to complete an undergraduate degree. Since it was founded, more than 2,000 women have graduated from Smith as Ada Comstock Scholars.

Also part of the class of 2019 is Smith’s first STEM Posse, 11 promising graduates of New York City public high schools who will study science, technology, engineering and math at Smith.

Dean of Admission Debra Shaver said the record number of applications this year is a testament to the strength of the college’s reputation across the globe.

“The increase in applications allowed us more flexibility, and yet it was even more difficult to choose from among so many highly talented students,” Shaver added. “This is an extraordinary class in every way.”

In addition to the academic strength of the incoming class, Shaver said the college is also proud of the new students’ diversity.

Forty percent of entering students from the United States are students of color—tying a previous record for Smith, Shaver said. Sixteen percent of the members of the class of 2019 are international students, while 19 percent are the first in their families to attend college.

For another view of entering students, the college surveyed 570 members of the Smith Class of 2019 Facebook page to determine their musical likes and interests.

The lineup on the resulting Smith 2019 playlist is eclectic—just like the entering class. Beyonce is in the mix as are Coldplay and (don’t judge) One Direction. New artists, including Young the Giant, Gasey Musgraves and Generationals, are also well represented. And there are some classics, too: David Bowie’s “Heroes” made the cut, as did Simon & Garfunkel’s “America.”

Although poised at the starting point of their undergraduate careers, the members of the class of 2019 bring with them an impressive list of accomplishments.

Here are just a few examples of some of these exceptional young women:

• Alizeh Karamat, who grew up in Pakistan and Turkey, is a solo sitar musician who has performed at the National Academy of Performing Arts in Karachi, Pakistan.
• Nikki Metzerger of Rochester, N.Y., is a poet recently honored as her state’s regional winner of Poetry Out Loud, a national recitation contest. She was selected to read at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
• Cliodhna Dinan of Falls Church, Va., ranks among the top 20 women cyclists under 18 in U.S. cyclocross competitions. Dinan, who bikes year round, was the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Intermediate Women’s Criterium Champion.
• Hailey Escobar of Shrewsbury, Mass., has earned national recognition in automotive collision repair and in 2014 was named a SkillsUSA silver medalist for automotive refinish technology.

Maryellen Stohlman-Vanderveen is a member of the class of 2019.