Hampshire College Top Questions

Hampshire College doesn't have lettered or numbered grades. So, really, there no grades at Hampshire. Instead, a students performance is recorded with a Narrative Evaluation. A Narrative Evalution is a document your professor gives you after the course has ended, and it is a through written work describing how the prefessor believes you performed in their class. Narrative Evaluations aren't always good, and they're not always long. To fail a course at Hampshire, is not receive an Evaluation. I chose Hampshire because I believed my work is better reflected in words than a number.

Fraught with idealistic trustifarians without futures.

Part of 5-college consortium with Smith, Mt. Holyoke, UMASS, and Amherst colleges. Narrative evaluations in place of letter grades. Non traditional structure, meaning more control over what you study and how you go about it such as courses, etc. Senior year students only take 2 advanced classes, and spend 80-90percent of their time working on a singular project of their own design.

Your personal program of studies is completely developed by you, the student. You form a commity of professors (2 - 3) that work with you on a one to one basis. You write contracts and agreements that one must follow through on.

Hampshire's not easy, but it's rewarding. You'll meet some amazingly intelligent, caring, and crazy folks here. You'll meet a bungh of jerks, too, but that's anywhere. I like Hampshire because I've found a few good people who've totally impacted my life for the better and because my professors beleive in me and have pushed me to do my best. I've wanted to leave at times, many people do, bu tthose who stay and finish an amazing div three are totally prepared for almost anything that could come next. I'm ready for that part.

Hampshire is an extremely individual school, and that can be great, if you are motivated. You could also drop out if you decide you don't want to work. Hampshire for some, is college for people who don't actually want to be in college, and those people usually end up dropping out.

you can express yourself here!

I loved the program and learned a lot from the few individuals and student groups I could actually stand to be around. The rest of the social scene was annoying at best, at worst I had to leave on a field study in a badly masked aversion to homocide. My final take is that I wouldn't have had it any other way. College is about work and academics and if you're there for serious education you will find like-minded people who will kick your ass at dinner even more than they'll do in class and you'll love it.

The administration is often terrible. Many things are poorly planned or thought out well on campus. Money is always an issue Hampshire never has enough of it, and seems to be going more and more into debt. Again the first year program is terrible (although it is kind of a grab bag, next year it may be tolerable). The academics are not nearly as radical as they once were. People can sneak through the whole system without ever having really worked or learned a thing. That said other people work incredibly hard make a lot of progress and get little recognition for it. Hampshire has a trend of slowly dropping financial aid from year to year. Since classes taught at Hampshire have little credit elsewhere, they essentially trap you by saying you have to pay 10 thousand more dollars this year, or you will have to re do your first two years at another college. It happened to me and I have heard of it happening to many others. Someone I talked to had a name for it Hampshire-cised (like ostracized). Groups are often overly clickey and dramatic. My love/hate relationship with Hampshire is not uncommon amongst the student body.

Hampshire has lots of problems; no endownment, false advertising, bureaucracy up the wazoo, falling apart housing, lack of office space, flaky students, the list could go on forever. However, I truly think that despite it all, Hampshire is a fantastic place to be. The classes are fascinating and I've learned far more than I ever could have imagined, the people are the most interesting and unique people anyone could meet, great surrounding towns, and there is almost always something worth doing at a given moment. Ultimately, Hampshire is the perfect place for someone who is interested in learning for learnings sake and loves meeting highly unique people. It is a gilded ivory tower, absolutely, but its a tower that's got a great view.