I have never had the opportunity to visit the US before coming to Smith. So all I knew about Smith was whatever I could learn from the website and from Princeton review. But Smith has proved to be more than it has promised! And only another 2 years seem too short a time left at Smith!
I first got to know about Smith from a teacher, who had eventually motivated me to apply to US colleges despite my concerns about financial limitations. What first caught my attention about Smith was its commitment towards the advancement and empowerment of women. Coming from Bangladesh where, even though the Prime minister and the opposition party leader are both females, women are still treated unequally and face social restrictions it was exactly I was looking for as part of my college experience. The level of opportunities available to a Smith student really attracted me. It all seemed too good to be true in the Smith website! And then when I was offered admission with full financial aid, it was pretty much blind faith in my correspondence with Smith, Smith’s promise and my own hopes that brought me halfway across the
world to Smith.
Talbot House is my home at Smith. I have been living there since my first year and hope to live in Talbot during the rest of my time at Smith. I am lucky that I have had a great roommate as well as a fabulous
house community to support my transition to college and make me feel welcome, loved and cared for. My housemates' tolerance and understanding of religious and cultural limitations and diversity is really praiseworthy.
I am an Economics major and there are so many possibilities from a Smith degree that I am having trouble deciding what I would want to do in the future. Right now, I have a lot of interest in financial economics given the global recession and I am looking for internships over summer. I am also thinking of going abroad my junior year. I would have never even dreamed of doing any of the things I’m doing at Smith
if I was still back home. Smith is making a lot of dreams more feasible; dreams which weren’t within my reach before. One of my many goals in life is that I want other women to have what I have now: availability of choices, so that they have the opportunity to do what they want and so that they are not forced into a life due to lack of alternatives.
I am truly very grateful that I have been given such an opportunity that would impact the rest of my life as well as my family's. I am grateful towards my parents that they have overlooked all the social boundaries set on Bangladeshi women and has supported me financially and emotionally to come a long way from home for education.
