Hampshire College Top Questions

They're bullshit. You learn next to nothing in your classes, and if the professor doesn't like you they can do whatever they want.

Every professor I've ever had at Hampshire has been brilliant, helpful, and flexible. The Five Colleges also have a wealth of amazing, world-renowned professor. That said, classes can get bogged down by flaky, metaphysical discussions on the students' part, and some students get by only doing the bare minimum. There is always that one kid in your class who never does the reading yet still insists on ruining really great discussions by veering off into incomprehensible weirdness. Plenty of intelligent, hard-working students exist, though.

MORE READING A WRITING THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE. Seriously. Think of the most you'd be willing to do in highschool and tripple that. The application to Hampshire has like sceighty-eith essays...that's just the beginning folks.

One of the great things about Hampshire is the individual attention you get from teachers. Everyone has office hours and they are very willing to go the extra mile to help you. Classes are small - usually around 15 students, so you will not get lost in the crowd. My favorite class, On Terror, was wonderful in that the texts we read for each class were wonderfully diverse: an article about postmodern poetry, the movie "Brazil," a scholarly article on the conflict in Israel, a series of articles written for magazines about 9/11. All building a picture of the many meanings of "terror," but an incredibly diverse and multidisciplinary one. A multidisciplinary approach to education represents the best of the Hampshire education. There aren't really tests at Hampshire, so people don't "study" very often unless they have classes off campus, which they do with some frequency. However, Hampshire is very writing intensive, so people are always working on essays or projects, if they're into the sciences or arts. How much work you have to do depends heavily on which courses you take. Even some 100 level courses can spawn hours of reading every week, but some of them are barely any work at all. There are no grades at Hampshire, so people aren't very competitive. There's simply no way to compare when everyone is doing there own self-designed major. Most classes have significant discussion elements if they are not completely discussion based, so class participation is very common. People do continue discussions outside of class, though abstract discussions tend to morph into political ones.

I have had a good relationship with my professors, who all have wanted me to call them by their first name. Many professors have the idea that students have good thoughts to contribute to discussions and that their opinions are truly valuable. This works really well and has given me a lot of confidence to express myself. Still class participation have not always been as good as they could have been. I myself do not talk that much because often I do not understand the material as well as I should. There is a responsibility to ask, so that other students who feel the same understand as well.

NO TESTS!! I took a science class at Hampshire and learned nothing because I wasn't required to memorize anything, but for other classes that are especially writing intensive it is great. The professors that I have had are mostly in it to make you a stronger student-- not just academically, but in the way that you see the world and yourself. After my first year I took most of my classes at Smith because they have more to offer, but still worked very closely at Hamp with my advisor to cater my studies to my needs. It is however pretty typical that people graduate and end up working in the Hampshire mailroom or dining hall, or poor on the streets of Noho or New york.

Classes are small, and discussion based. In order to get a really great evaluation, you have to do all the reading, which there is plenty of, and participate a lot. A lot of times, students will be debating teachers and students, and there is a lot of critical thought involved. However, some students don't take their classes seriously, and that thought and dialogue doesn't happen. Philosophy classes tend to be very strong, as well as the arts program. Another great thing about the college is the consortium, where one can take classes at Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, and UMASS. In my experience, classes tend to be easier at the other colleges in terms of reading and discussion, but you still have to take mid-terms and finals, unlike at Hampshire, where you write 15 page research papers as your final.

Hampshire academics are amazing!!!! small classes, discussion based. no tests. no grades, just evaluations. professors are almost always available to help you outside of class. I have been invited over with my whole class to my professors house.

It's a very challenging program with incredible opportunities if you know how to find them and make them happen. People complain a lot about not being able to take care of business or get good advisors but really you just need a hell of a lot of self-determinism and you can make it work. You need that anyway to get through the program. Div III was the best thing I could have spend tuition on.

classes are small and intense. come prepared to argue. likely enough you will not leave hampshire with any life skills whatsoever, but we have one of the highest graduate school acceptance rates in the country. students are not competitive, because there's no grades, no curve, no percentages, no rankings; everyone is studying something just a little bit different. hampshire students are just as likely to talk passionately about their work while smashed at a party as they are in class or while studying with friends...