Hampshire College Top Questions

Do not go to this school! Apparently the professors really hate when you miss class, even if you tell them that you had to go to the hospital. Two of them failed me because of it, and another gave me 24 hours to resubmit a brand new 25 page final paper or I'd fail that class too, resulting in withdrawal. When I contacted the administration to complain about how ridiculous that is, they accused me of "plagiarism" and kicked me out anyway. At Hampshire, what the professors say goes. And if you protest, they make something up as an excuse.

Best Things About Hampshire - The open curriculum, accessible professors, The Lemelson Center for Design, narrative evaluations Worst Things - Food (SAGA is terrible, but you only have to put up with it for a year or two), ugly buildings Amherst and Northampton are both close by, so when campus gets boring, or you need to eat something other than SAGA food, they're just a short bus ride away. Professors and the administration are easily accessible. Most professors are happy to talk after class or during office hours and students are encouraged to regularly check in with their advisors. The president of Hampshire holds regular meetings with the students, including a weekly breakfast and other scheduled events. The Lemelson Center is great for developing real-world skills. With a variety of machine tools, experienced instructors, and innovative classes, students are given a chance to make things, from swords to electric cars. As an industrial design concentrator, I spend a lot of time here, between classes and student groups, which include the Design Conspiracy and the Blacksmiths' Guild. People (especially parents) tend to worry about Hampshire's lack of grades and majors. Instead of grades, students are given narrative evaluations, which seem to work out pretty well. They allow professors to explain exactly what students did in their courses and to explain the quality of the student's work. Instead of majors, Hampshire has concentrations and contracts, drawn up with a panel of advisors. After Division I (first year), students select an advisory committee for their Division II (second and third years), during which they pursue their selected concentration. After Division II, students start their Division III, which is a yearlong project that represents the capstone of their academic work. This all adds up to a strong educational program that gives students a path to do what they care about and a way to measure their progress towards that goal.

The best thing about Hampshire? The Five College Consortium. I don't mean this out of disloyalty. Provided the opportunity to attend any other college in the nation - given a free ride to Harvard - I'd turn the opportunity down to remain at Hampshire. What I mean in answering that the Consortium is the best of Hampshire is that the discursive purpose of Hampshire was the Consortium - we constituted the corporation and we have the most agency to use the resources. We don't have to consider credits in selecting courses; because of this, we need only be accountable to ourselves in perusing 5,300+ options in the course catalog each year. You can genuinely study anything at several institutions. I used to rip off UMass dining halls every Tues/Thurs before my Commonwealth honors seminar - where I was welcomed as a Hampshire kid with a differing perspective. Most people in the U.S. can't win - at Hampshire it's hard to lose. You are your own bureaucracy. Even your committee [team of advisers] is entirely of your choosing; they aren't administrators, they're the professors who inspire you. Amherst and Northampton are a couple of the best college towns in the nation. Students flood these communities every fall and we're welcomed by an already booming economy - this area is "one of the best kept secrets in America" (as a random guy once told me on a plane). I quite one job two weeks ago and got another with an email and a phone call yesterday; while housing and groceries are expensive, this area is an obscene location of wealth. Besides that, this community has all the features forming what oughtn't be your reasons to attend college - a stupid number of parties, youth and debauchery, frats at UMass, bars and breweries, herbs...Jesus Christ herbs...herbs in spirit of Humboldt. The towns also have such a collection of restaurants competing to attract students that I can't begin to offer a description - from the best three buck slice of pizza you'll ever have to a Hibachi dinner that'll make you feel like an exec. I certainly have my complaints to. Hampshire can be polarizing politically, it can be emotionally overwhelming, it can turn you into an alcoholic - this all depends upon who you are, what your stress-levels are, etc. You might also be of that privileged class of kid who needs to attend college because mommy said so, and who might prefer to do this 'stoned' (not spiritually elated, but 'stoned'). If this is the case, don't bother; you'll ruin your parents pension for petty purposes. While this tends to be the sort of kid with money, but without ambition, they still tend to be accepted - whatever, they ultimately fund this school anyways.

Hampshire is one of those places that is either your Nirvana or your own personal hell. There is very little gray area. Why? Hampsters can be very intolerant of political ideas that diverge from their own. There are a lot of ueber-politically correct anarchists who hate white privilege. Then again, if that's your jam, you'll fit in perfectly. I think the most common misconception about Hampshire is that you can do whatever you want. I mean, sure, you can practically take a hit in the quad and blow it in Pub Safety's face with no repercussions. However, Hampshire has way more academic structure than they originally let on, and you have to file for every next step you take as well as forming a committee. Don't expect to come to Hampshire and major in hacky sack, because that BS will not fly.

Hampshire is very white and upper class. Students of color will find a great group of people of color to support and encourage them here, and there are a lot of white allies, but racism is real and quite pervasive at Hampshire. The location is nice. We're close enough to Boston and NY that people hitch rides to those cities all the time or take the peterpan bus, which comes onto campus to pcik students up. the five college atmosphere is great, it's so wonderful to be able to take advantage of the benefits of five excellent schools, each with it's own personality. People at Hampshire don't come in one style. Sure, there are hippies, there are waaaay more hipsters, some preppy kids, city kids, gamers, students who don't really fit into a category. There are those hampshire students riding the bus without shoes, with big dredlocks, ripped pants and homebrewed Kombucha that every says "that kid goes to hampshire". There are a lot of us, however, that are constantly mistaken for being a UMAss student of a Smith girl, and Amherst kid, or a townie... we are really not at all a school full of one type of person.

The best thing about Hampshire? The students, the atmosphere of enthusiastic scholastic enquiry, the professors. Everyone here is allowed to study what they want to study and so they tend to be interested in what they're doing and thus interesting themselves. If I could, I would give Hampshire a huge wad of money. We need better facilities and more teachers. Most student complaints, about the scarcity of scholarships, the decrepitude of the dorms, and the small size of some departments, are linked to the problem of funding. One of the things I love about Hampshire is the lack of overt school pride. There are no rallies here for the Ultimate Frisbee team and God willing there never will be. That said, there is a very strong sense of Hampshire community and a powerful campus ethos, probably because the school is so small and everyone there makes a deliberate choice to seek a different kind of education.

Hampshire's administration is completely irresponsible and does exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to do; protect its students. It seems to be trying to get away from the smoker stereotype and become more in line with ivy league schools. This is ridiculous because this is not what hampshire is about. This school is supposed to be alternative, and not worried so much about its reputation. As such, the administration does not stand on issues that it needs to such as racism, sexism and violence against women. There are many cases of sexual assault that are not reported, why? because women know they will not be protected by the administration. This is intolerable, absolutely inexcusable and needs to change.

Good size, near Amherst and Northampton which are great college towns. Pretty loose in terms of requirements. Good bus schedule, and you can take classes at 4 other schools. Professors are mostly really cool. Dining sucks but you only have to deal with it for one year. A lot of activism and things on campus regarding race and class. A lot of passionate people. sometimes too passionate.

Hampshire is small, but there are definitely some people you will never meet. Hampshire has no grades, so your education is what you make of it, some people take this and do really amazing things, others just fuck around for four years and smoke a lot of weed. Pretty much every one is left-leaning, it just depends how far left. Recently the administration was attacked for issues of institutional racism, because the campus is almost entirely white, and the curriculum is inherently geared towards white upper class students. However, more of an effort is being made to be actively anti-racist. People spend a lot of time hating on Hampshire, and if you don't like it, you don't like it, but if you make it work for you, it is an amazing experience or self-growth and learning.

Hampshire is a nice community. It is very expensive which sucks. And the school has like no $ to spend because it is a brand new college with no endowments. But, basically you are paying to be who you want to be and do what you want. There is no one telling you what to do, the education is self guided. When i tell people i go to hampshire, they immediatly want to talk about hampshire halloween or easter keg hunt.

cons: tiny community with too much drama and changeover no graduate students to balance out us know-it-all undergrads student body that is mostly super privileged like woah undefeatable bueauracracy and ineffectual administration expensive as hell even with FA shitty housing pros: everyone finds their own pocket of really awesome people amazing funding for student groups the best undergraduate program hands-down for people who actually want to teach themselves things student representation on the board of trustees and administrative groups for each school

it's not for everyone. if you don't like arguing, the general spirit of activism, the smell of marijuana, really smart people who do too many drugs and manage to write insanely good essays anyway, or woodland creatures, and if you do like a whole lot of direction in your academic work, you'll be better off elsewhere. there are a lot of problems, mainly bureaucratic ones. we have no money. but the idea of a self-guided education is kind of addictive.

First off, I am madly in love with Hampshire, so be aware that I'm pretty biased. No other school would allow me to do what I'm doing (my course of study resembles a lot of my friends' grad school plans, and I'm only two years into my undergrad), and I am incredibly grateful for that. That's not to say the school doesn't have its problems- it is frequently highly bureaucratic, and many levels of that bureaucracy border on the tyrannic. I've been lucky in avoiding most of that (having a Dean as my first-year advisor definitely assisted too), but a lot of my friends have been burned by that difficult bureaucracy. If you're willing to dig through the red tape, though, you can get just about anything you want from Hampshire, especially if you have a faculty member on your side (and most Hampshire profs are genuinely excited about student work, and really eager to help you). Hampshire's got just shy of 1500 students, and, in my opinion, that is a perfect size. It's a lot smaller than my high school was, so that worried me a bit at first, but I've come to really appreciate being able to at least recognize a large proportion of the campus on sight. Classes are really small (I've had multiple classes with only 5 or 6 people, and they've been the best- my biggest Hampshire class had just over 30 people), which means you get a lot of chance to engage in discussion, which most professors encourage. The small size is also pretty great socially, especially in those first few weeks of college when everyone is so eager to get to know everyone else- you don't have to worry that you'll never see the person you had that great conversation on the bus with again, because they will definitely pass you at the dining hall or post office later. If you get stifled by Hampshire (and some people do), you still have the rest of the 5 colleges- together, over 30000 other college students to hang out with. I've found that Smith and Hampshire are particularly inclined to hang out together, but I've got friends at all 4 other colleges, and there's usually at least one 5 college student in all of my Hampshire classes. Because there are so many colleges around, "college town" seems almost too weak a word to describe the Valley community. Amherst and Northampton are the two towns that are the center of off-campus life, and they both definitely have their own non-college vibe (Northampton more so), but 30000 college students are bound to make an impact on the area. There are a ton of great concerts and restaurants and bars to be enjoyed, plus amazing indie shopping and lots of pretty cool cultural events. Amherst and Northampton are pretty unique places- there are barely any chains to be found (there is a mall with all your national chain-store/fast food needs that's pretty accessible by bus, though) and lots of great local flavor. The best part, in my opinion, is the fact that there's a really good bus service running throughout the whole area that is 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} free to 5 college students. Once you learn how the buses work, you can get almost anywhere you want to be (and Hampshire's a very rural campus) with a minimum of trouble. Hampshire has a very politically aware student body, and the only real difference is in how far left the students are- a conservative on this campus would probably be considered a left-moderate anywhere else. This doesn't mean that Hampshire students agree with each other, and there are definitely frequent controversies on campus over touchy issues. This past year, there was a lot of heated discussion over Israel/Palestine issues- Hampshire has a very vocal pro-Palestine (and anti-Israel) group, and a rather large Jewish population, and the debate got very tense for a month or so, focusing especially on issues of Hampshire investment in Israel. That debate got lost in a much larger action, however, when a group organized a week of protests to make Hampshire become actively anti-racist. Race and racism are problems that Hampshire has to deal with every few years as a new crop of students comes through and needs new education- unfortunately, because Hampshire is a small and expensive school, the student body is predominantly white, and usually upper-middle-class, and various student groups are constantly working to address the problems associated with that privilege. Hampshire probably doesn't do enough to address bringing race and diversity into the classroom, and, with its small endowment, isn't able to attract many faculty of color, or award very much financial aid to students of lower class backgrounds. Hampshire has been working to increase diversity on campus, and has programs in place to try to bring students of many backgrounds together and make them all feel comfortable, but there is a lot of work to be done, and Hampshire students and administrators have been engaged in a very intense dialog about the way that should proceed.

It's how the world should be. As long as people are comfortable with themselves they aren't judged for things the outside world might ridicule them for. People are open and passionate. You do have a lot of freedom academically but there are more restrictions than they let on.

Hampshire is not a place to attend if you want a great deal of people to know what school you go to. Very often you will hear "you go to school in New Hampshire?" However I think that the number of people who have not heard of Hampshire is dwindling due in part to the great success of its alumni. I have a very love-hate relationship with this institution. It has almost infinite potential, and yet so often it makes almost unforgivable mistakes. It has a struggling first year program that distracts many students from what they really want to do, delays any independent work and often causes a great deal of disenchantment with education at large. However this is also something that the administration says that they are working hard to change. Despite sometimes being weak the academic advantages often outweigh the disadvantages. One such instance is the opportunities that I have had to work with two or three other students and a professor for an extended period of time on research projects. As far as I can tell such an experience is almost unheard of for a second year undergraduate outside of Hampshire. The professors though range from absolutely excellent to poor at best, as some of them seem themselves to have lost faith in the program of teaching at Hampshire, and with the administration taking the school in directions that they believe (possibly very rightly so) are incorrect. The area is beautiful my favorite that I have seen so far, especially in the fall. Two great college towns are a short free bus ride away, as well as four other college campuses. Also it is in a great location for road trips as well, Vermont is very close, Montreal a little further, Boston only a couple of hours and New York City about 3 or four. It is a great area to go camping or hiking rock climbing and biking. All of this though can be very distracting from academics. The social life is great although often very clickey and somewhat incestuous. I once read a quote from a previous student that it was the worst place to go if you wanted to be able to avoid embarrassing ex's and that is incredibly true. There are however a lot of great people on campus, and their is always a very open air about it, I have never seen someone openly rejected. It is a great place to dress however you want, and not be harshly judged. Cologne make-up fancy jewelry and hair are comfortingly rare at Hampshire. The biggest complaints on campus are in order of frequency heard: 1) The cost of attending 2) The quality of everything versus the cost of attending 3) The buildings are in terrible shape I don't think that I know enough to have a knowledgeable comment on the first two but the buildings are often in terrible shape. For only having I think 11 buildings on campus there is around a 30 million dollar backlog in maintenance. I find that amazing. There is no student union on campus, and the area that is the closest, leaks water frequently. The dorm buildings are ok, but the "Mods" (student apartments on campus) are often disgusting, usually with mold, and insects, as well as other general issues. And for a large part these issues are not the fault of the occasionally uncleanly student that inhabits them.

The first thing you need to know about Hampshire is that the reality of the school doesn't add up to what is advertised. Look at any of the material and you'll find oratories on student driven work, endless opportunity, and a legacy of independent thinking. The reality, is that its incredibly hard to do independent work because of the unfourtunate lack of professors and the insane amount of beauracracy and opportunities are available, but funds simply do not allow for the endless amount advertised. Hampshire was founded to be at the cutting edge of alternative education, but unfourtunately these days its closer to slightly left of the normal liberal arts education. That being said, Hampshire does have one fantastic quality that I feel makes up for all the false advertising, I truly feel that I have been challenged by the academics to a level I never thought possible and I feel that the level of critical thinking that I have been forced to attain has allowed me to view the world from a truly unique perspective. I feel that my cognitive abilities have truly improved by leaps and bounds since coming to Hampshire. If you're serious about Hampshire, come here for the professors and readings, not for the falsely advertised package.

It gets really annoying explaining Hampshire to people, especially because the academic experience is so personal and people have a tendency to not care to listen to long descriptions unless it is indicative of the money you could potentially make in the future. It's in a good college area, the administration has things to work out. Racism is an issue, as it is everywhere. I don't feel like writing in this box anymore.

Hampshire Big Picture: a place where there is no money, and where the renovations are few and far between, and where the professors are paid shit. However, the other students are amazing, unique, and strangely talented. The professors care about teaching the students, one on one, and about being mentors and forging understanding. If you want to learn, with a capital L, then come here. If you want good grades and a good education from a good school and then go on to have a good job and a good life then don't come here at all. We offer none of that. But if you're interesting and intend to stay that way, come here.

I love that I can do what I want, without having to go through general education. When I tell people that I go to Hampshire, they usually don't know what it is or they write it off as a hippie school. It is nothing of the sort. I work really hard there, and get the profits from it as a result. The area around it is really nice, there are 4 college in 10 miles and everything is connected, so even though its a small town, there is plenty to do. One thing I would change is the fact that if you are not sure of yourself when you begin school there, you get very lost. The kids are a little too convinced that their way is the only way. Being liberal does not always mean open minded. Everything is unusual about Hampshire. We are constantly looking at each other and laughing about the fact that we found a utopia, and whereas all of our friends from high school are working to pass English 101, we are taking trips to Peru to study shamanism.

The best thing about Hampshire is definitely the eclectic, tight-knit community. The small student population (around 1500) in conjunction with the fact that upperclassman live in the mods (on-campus apartment-style housing) rather than off campus, leads to a very close community of students that aids in both meeting people, making friends, and getting help. There are so many interesting people with great stories to hear, and there's always something going on, ranging from circus practice to social justice conferences. If that wasn't enough, the campus is absolutely gorgeous- all the empty space makes for great places to picnic, read outside, or play a game of frisbee- whether it's the Yiddish Book Center garden or the library lawn, it is very easy to find a beautiful place to hang out. The best way to summarize Hampshire in a nutshell would be to say that it is a thriving environment that is so full of life, care, and fun. Overall, I think it's safe to say that both students and faculty alike love being a part of the school.