Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. Smith is also a member of the Five College Consortium, along with four other nearby institutions in the Pioneer Valley: Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst; students of each college are allowed to attend classes at any other member institution. On campus are Smith's Museum of Art and Botanic Garden, the latter designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Smith has 41 academic departments and programs and is structured around an open curriculum, lacking course requirements and scheduled final exams. It is known for its progressive, politically active student body, and rigorous academics. Undergraduate admissions is exclusively restricted to women, although Smith announced a trans-inclusive admissions policy in 2015. Smith offers several graduate degrees, all of which accept applicants regardless of gender, and co-administers programs leading to Ph.D.s alongside other Five College Consortium members. The college was the first historically women's college to offer an undergraduate engineering degree. Admissions is considered highly selective. It was the first women's college to join the NCAA, and its sports teams are known as the Pioneers. Smith alumnae include notable authors, journalists, activists, feminists, politicians, philanthropists, actresses, filmmakers, academics, businesswomen, CEOs, two First Ladies of the United States, and recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, Rhodes Scholarship, Academy Award, Emmy Award, MacArthur Grant, Peabody Award, and Tony Award. History Early history The college was chartered in 1871 by a bequest of Sophia Smith and opened its doors in 1875 with 14 students and 6 faculty. When she inherited a fortune from her father at age 65, Smith decided to leave her inheritance to found a women's college was the best way for her to fulfill the moral obligation she expressed in her will: The campus was planned and planted in the 1890s as a botanical garden and arboretum, designed by noted American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. The campus landscape now encompasses and includes more than 1,200 varieties of trees and shrubs. By 1915–16, the student enrollment was 1,724, and the faculty numbered 163. Today, with some 2,600 undergraduates on campus and 250 students studying elsewhere, Smith is the largest privately endowed college for