About Me

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Intro

I may have caught your eye when you were passing through elsewhere to some shabby (albeit name-established ivy-league). I know...most people keep driving and take that (super boring) tour at said ivy-league school. But you know I'm still stuck in your head. I tend to do that to people.

I'm not trying, really I swear. I can't help it if I'm way better looking than anything you'll see. When people actually do visit they can't help being drawn in by my beautiful lake, and are bound to stay and take a peek at my Hogwarts-esque campus.

Don't fret. Despite my looks, I have tons of muggle-appropriate classes. As a matter of fact, I have a new Masters Teaching and Education Program, a top-notch English Department, and Science and Architecture Programs of epic proportions to name a few. I'm also pretty musical and athletic if I may say so myself. I've got a beautiful lake and stunning green fields. I'm great at lacrosse, rowing, sailing, soccer, field hockey, and football...pretty much anything you can do in my beautiful surroundings.

Name

Hobart Statesman & William Smith Heron

Hometown

You may have noticed pulling into Geneva, that I do in fact live in the "Lake Trout Capital of The World". Now, I know what you're thinking: "How in the world could there be anything better than freshly caught trout eaten after class along the shores of Seneca Lake?" Well, actually, very few students have ever really done that…but still, doesn't it instill a sense of freedom just knowing that you could?

As if living on the longest, deepest, and undoubtedly most beautiful of New York's Finger Lakes wasn't enough, I also live in the "Finger Lakes Wine Region," which I believe speaks for itself. But hey, don't get the wrong idea. When I'm not feasting on freshly caught fish and sweet-berry wine, I'm probably doing community service, which is why my neighbors and I get along so well.

In fact, my hometown was recently named an "All-American City," for its "inclusive, innovative and ongoing efforts to influence positive, community-wide change". Geneva was the only city in New York to be nominated and named an All American City, not to mention one of only ten cities nationwide to achieve this honor so, yeah, I'm kind of a big deal.

I'm big into the whole helping people and making the world a better place-scene. So if you WANT to see the world crash and burn and have a complete disregard for others' well-being, Geneva, New York is just not the place for you.

Birthdate

1822 (Hobart) & 1908 (William Smith)

Body Type

I'm small but full of life. I love laying out near the water on a sunny day, or on the Quad—which have I mentioned is one of the largest in the U.S. considering its size-student population ratio? So yes, you could call me stunningly beautiful and close-knit, yet spaciously breathtaking in terms of my campus. I love trees.

Actually, in 2012, my campus was honored as a "Tree Campus USA,"  making it "one of only six such campuses in the nation to be chosen for a 2012 Tree Campus USA tree planting event," during which over seventy additional trees were planted here.

As far as my human population goes, I'm nice and cozy with 2,438 undergraduates. Make sure to get friendly because you'll run across most people at least once a week. Oh, and you know what else my small student body means? Small class sizes. Like, eighteen people small. There's no fighting for the professor's attention here.

Current Living Situation

Much like any college or university you will ever attempt to attend on this planet, you will have to spend your first year of school in the on-campus dormitories. But it's a great way to get to know all of your classmates and establish that inner circle of unstoppable friends.

Once you move up in the food chain (so to speak, no one is actually trying to eat you...hopefully), you'll have the opportunity to live in more central campus dorms, one of the five fraternities (which are not as big a scene as you may think), or in one of the numerous "theme houses." 

I have themes ranging from Healthy Living and Eating, and Politics and Social Change, to Outdoor/Adventure, and Community Service. Most of my theme houses are also situated along the lake, which is prime real-estate. Did I mention that these theme houses require no extra cost than living in the other on-campus dorms, yet offer a stellar view of the lake? Well, they do. I highly suggest them.

Once you're an upperclassman, you will have the chance to live it up in the Village at Odells Pond. This is basically a retirement-home style village, just without all the motorized wheel-chairs, bedpans, and life-support units. Each Odells unit is apartment style with room for up to five people. Cook in your kitchen, grill by the pond, work out in the gym ten feet away, and enjoy unit-hopping on weekends for parties.

As an upperclassman, you'll also have the chance to live off-campus as well...but why would you?

Relationship Status

Okay, so if you're not confused about me and my name, you should be—everyone else seems to be. Hobart...and William Smith...Colleges...plural. So technically, I am two schools combined into one super-school "coordinate system." In a brief nutshell, if you're a guy, you're a Hobart Statesman who goes to Hobart. If you're a girl, you go to William Smith and are a Heron. 

The two schools share everything: campus, most dorms, classes, the lake, the gym, the President, and the parties—in no particular order. However, both schools have their own Student Government, mascots, ceremonies, and Deans, which actually makes things twice as effective if you ask me. That's pretty much it.

Basically, I know it's confusing, some who don't understand it may even call it complicated, but Hobart and William Smith's relationship is solid and long-term. Everybody loves everybody.

Religion

Even though one of my schools was founded by Bishop John Henry Hobart, my students are no longer required to go to church every morning (like in the 1800s). William Smith was a famed botanist, philanthropist, and free-thinker of a new age at the time. He opened up William Smith College for women on several conditions. 

Some of these were that the women were to be respected and treated as equals, and that they would not be forced into Catholicism. It's rumored that William Smith himself was also interested in spiritualism and séances, but I'll let you uncover the rest of that for yourself.

Politics

My students are pretty liberal over here on Lake Seneca. They're very involved in their respective student governments, and the campus has long been very accepting of its LGTBQ community.

We also have a republican side (though it is a lot smaller), which is backed largely by New-Englanders who are involved in a Republican Club. So really, whether you're a democrat, republican, or just hate humans and their politics, HWS will have a political niche for you.

You should apply to me if...

you want to be surrounded by an eclectic mix of like-minded freethinkers and get a well-rounded liberal arts education to prepare you for a "life of consequence."

Website

http://www.hws.edu/