Mount Holyoke College Top Questions

I love how beautiful the campus is. In the spring time, I just want to be outside all the time. I have my bike here, which is great to have. There is a trail, going around one of the lakes, which I enjoy walking around. I also appreciate the diversity of people on campus. I know people from all different countries. When I went college visiting, I did not see the same diversity as I do here. I also like the small-size school. I feel like people know your name, and you are not "anonymous" like you probably would feel in a larger university.

Well the "biggest" thing about Mt Holyoke is that we're woman's college. But whatever associations people have with that are usually wrong. I didn't particularly want to go to a woman's college, I just liked MHC and it happened to be a woman's college. After three years am I glad it is? YES. Compared to other schools I've been to, the level of respect and awareness for their surroundings and community is so much higher. People don't destroy stuff because we know the housekeepers and we don't want to disrespect them. I feel like many college students have this completely self absorbed mind-set. I feel like mhc can see past its own little world. We value our educations. This isn't just four years living off your parent's money because you don't know what else to do.

The best thing about Mt. Holyoke is the sense of community. No matter where you go on campus you find either people you know or people who are more than happy to get to know you. For me, the school is the perfect size - I meet new people all the time, but I also see familiar faces everywhere I go. People from the East tend to react very well when they hear that I attend Mt. Holyoke - they know it's a very good school. People in the West usually haven't heard of it, or only in the context of the movie "Dirty Dancing" and the line "Baby's going to Mt. Holyoke in the fall." I spend a lot of my time in my room, my friend's rooms, or studying/watching movies in the academic buildings with friends. The college is pretty much the only part of South Hadley that most students see - when people want to go to a town to go shopping or to eat out they take the free bus to Northampton or Amherst. There is a lot of school pride - I meet alums who live in the area who still walk their dogs on campus, almost every car has an MHC bumper sticker and about every other person you see on campus is probably wearing some clothing item associated with the school, a dorm or a sports team. One experience I'll always remember is being in one of the academic buildings watching movies with friends and we looked outside to see that the first snow of the season was falling and people were streaking across the campus green and building snow sculptures all over campus.

The professors here are the most caring people you will ever meet. You would never get this at a bigger school. However, people here tend to be very cliquey and stuck-up. If you don't fit into the typical Mount Holyoke type, you may be ostracized. Most time is spent at the campus center, or the library, or your dorm room. There is absolutely no college town, which is perhaps the worst thing about going here. I didn't think it wold be a problem before coming here, but it definitely is. People complain the most, and rightfully so, about the lack of a decent social life on this campus.

Mount Holyoke is a community of strong women who want to make a difference in the world. It is a college that is only well known in New England. Admission is highly selective and it is a pleasure and outstanding opportunity to be accepted here.

People don't seem to realize what a great school this is. It was the first women's college in the country, and hopefully will always remain single-sex. In terms of statistics it doesn't seem like it is hard to get into, but not as many women apply to women's colleges as it may seem. It is very cool because our campus is very politically active and socially aware, but sometimes this can cause controversies. There are the people who are trying to kick Coke off our campus, and those who just like the taste of Coke. People are generally respectful so it doesn't create a lot of hostility or anything, but I do think sometimes being "politically correct" is taken to an extreme here. You just have to take it all in stride and make your own decisions. It is a great place to live, eat, and study - you have access to so many resources.

The best thing about Mt Holyoke is the faculty, resources and the CAMPUS. Its gorgeous. and I have never met professors bending backwards to help their students. Can't turn a paper in on time? need an extension to be inspired...done. The professors here really make the school what it is. Needless to say, because you get an extension does not mean the school is easy. You get alot of work, I take around 20-22 credits each semester because I love reading, writing and genuinely want to do the work. Thats not just me, thats most of the students here. So why choose Mount Holyoke over an Ivy league or a school ranked 'unfairly' higher, because the school is built so you succeed, you really can't fail unless you try REALLY hard haha. I think the population of the school is just right, could be larger but mostly just right. The sad part is that people don't really know about Mount Holyoke, we have alumni everywhere, Pricilla Painton (Editor and Chief at Simon and Schuster), Susan lori parks (Pulitzer Prize winner), Jeanemarie O'brien (One of the most intelligent corporate lawyers I have worked with; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz). We also had Anthony Lake as professor here for 10 years before he left to serve as secretary of state under Bill Clinton, and if Obama wins he'll do it all over again. Every few years, like this one, he comes back and teaches a class or two. So when people ask me wheres 'Mt. Holyoke,' I just take it as their ignorance. The biggest controversy on campus recently was the sudden death of a fellow student. it really affected the campus, as students that didn't even know her held a candle in her memory. I do think their is a lot of school pride, students who don't have school pride usually transfer, and if your one of 'those' don't come...and the most frequent complaints is the town of south hadley, unfortunately reffered to as 'sa'hadley' as the saddest town ever. But even that just makes students get off campus to do things...like me, who is filling out this survey in a coffee shop in northampton...oh and yes I would choose mt. holyoke over smith--the admins there are just mean.

The only thing I would change about Mount Holyoke is its location. Don't get me wrong, the pioneer valley is quite nice. I just wish I was closer to home. And South Hadley is a bit of a bore. I'm glad we're not in a big city, but it would be nice if there was a little more going on in South Hadley. Luckily, Northhampton and Amherst are just a short bus ride away, and the students here go there frequently. I go to Amherst almost every weekend. Northhampton has some really neat shops. I think Mount Holyoke is just right in terms of size. Personally, I only applied to schools with under 3,000 students because I really wanted the environment of a small school. I am so happy I did. Sometimes I visit UMass, and I can't imagine being at a school that size. I love that I see familiar faces everywhere I go. I love that my professors can actually get to know me and I'm not just one of the hundred students in their class. Another thing I love about Mount Holyoke is the way we handle controversies. Recently there was some tension between students over the recent protests in Tibet. It never got ugly. There was a forum held on campus so that everyone could express their opinion and discuss the issue. People here are very intelligent and opinionated. We will always express our opinions, but we don't do it at the expense of people with differing opinions. Instead we invite them to express their opinions too so that we can enter a healthy debate. I wouldn't describe us as having a lot of school pride so much as having a lot of school love. We refer to ourselves as "mohos" and over Christmas and January break a lot of people were saying on their facebooks that they couldn't wait to get back to "mohome." We have a lot of great traditions here. Every Sunday-Thursday night at 9:30 we have M&Cs. That stands for milk and cookies. We don't actually have cookies every night though. Sometimes it's something healthier like graham crackers, but we also get brownies frequently. My favorite tradition is elfing. Every year the sophomores are assigned a first year. That sophomore will then leave little gifts outside the first years room every night for a week. Then, at the end of the week the elves reveal themselves, and the first years get to meet their sophomore gift-givers.

Mount Holyoke definitely has a lot of school pride, on and off campus. But other then alums and a few people, no one has heard of the school. It is really annoying to me. South Hadley isn't really a "college town". The Village Common is the closest we get to that. It is really hard not having a town around the school, especially growning up in a "college town" (Ann Arbor). I really love the MHC "bubble" we live in. I like feeling safe, secure, and free to say whatever the hell I like. However, sometimes I wish there was less of a "bubble", so we could have more of the 'real world' in play.

It's so beautiful! The library is gorgeous! The size is just right for me. People always think I am a lesbian when I tell them I go to Mount Holyoke, but they are just silly. I spend most of my time at the gym and hanging out in my dorm. It is not a college town, but Amherst and Northampton are nearby and you can take a free bus to get there. It is not too hard. The administration has always been very helpful. There is controversy between the haves and the have nots but I think that can happen at most small liberal arts colleges. There is a lot of school pride, especially when it comes to competing with Smith. I will always remember my team! They're amazing!! And my amazing professors like Kavita Khory and Chris Rivers.