Smith Success Stories

Is There Life After College?

For more than 130 years, Smith women have gone on to interesting lives and outstanding achievements. Early graduates became doctors, lawyers and scientists at a time when some believed women to be incapable of higher learning. Today the answer to “What can I do with a liberal arts degree?” is still “Anything you want!”

Companies value liberal arts graduates for their critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are applicable in any field. Smith helps students like you pursue meaningful careers and leadership positions, not just get a job.

Alumnae cite the skills and abilities honed by a Smith education—how to write, speak, research, analyze, lead, be creative, deal with people, synthesize information and solve problems—as crucial to the success they experience in their lives and careers.

And employers realize the advantages of hiring employees whose education allows them to change with the times. Smith’s flexible curriculum prepares you for today’s careers, while maintaining a liberal-arts core, which prepares you for life.

Lives of Distinction

Careers & Networking

Smith students have access to 48,000 alumnae in more than 120 countries, a network of hundreds of companies recruiting both on and off campus, and funding to make real-world connections through internships.

Twenty years after graduation, 12 percent of Smith alumnae report holding chief executive positions and an additional 5 percent report being in executive-level positions.
Approximately 400 students per year receive Praxis grants of up to $3,500 to support unpaid internships globally.
A total of 6,600 internships, jobs, volunteer opportunities and fellowships are posted annually in E-Access, Smith's online database of professional opportunities.
More than 176 companies recruit on campus each year.
Six career advisers are available to Smith students from the moment they arrive on campus.

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91 percent employed within two years of graduation

Education After Smith

Within two years, 25 percent of Smith alumnae are engaged in graduate studies. Others defer graduate study until after a year or more of employment.

Admit rate to law school, 2012–13: 89 percent
Admit rate to medical school, 2004–13: 87 percent of qualified applicants (applicants who graduated with science GPAs of 3.3 or higher and MCAT scores of 28 or higher)
While admission rates to business and other graduate school fields are not available, 76 percent of alumnae 10 years post-graduation enrolled in some kind of graduate or professional school.

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Applying to Graduate and Professional School

Fellowships

Throughout their college career, Smith students with high academic achievement and strong community involvement are encouraged to apply for international and domestic fellowships. For undergraduates, the college facilitates international opportunities such as the Truman, Killam and Udall fellowships. Seniors and alumnae may apply for post-baccalaureate fellowships such as the Fulbright Fellowship to one of 160 countries with 350 opportunities to choose from, or to study for a master's degree at a European university via several fellowships.

Smith's Fulbright success ratio over the past decade has been the highest in the nation among top-producing institutions.
Seventeen of Smith's applicants were awarded Fulbrights in 2016.
In 2016, 81 Smith students and alumnae won fellowships.