Thoughts on Hampshire College

[Anonymous]

Seems like a very good school for the socially conscious, self-directed student, and it seems to have produced a good number of accomplished graduates. The Five College consortium looks like an added bonus as well.

Be interesting in hearing accounts from those who attended or had children or relatives attend.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was closing.

[Anonymous]

Look into the financial position of the school. I last read it was closing, too. The Five College Consortium is a great asset to the schools in it.

[Anonymous]

They insist they’re not closing but c’mon. It’s a joke school.

[Anonymous]

Waiting for someone to say it’s hard to get a job on “the street” from there.

[Anonymous]

We visited, and I considered it a long time ago for myself. They aren’t closing. It was a weird thing that happened. They made a documentary about it. You can look it up. But that doesn’t mean they’re in great financial shape. They’re taking in students from the New College in Florida. I think some kids could thrive there, but I personally feel like there are other “safer” schools that offer similar things. What are your drawn to about the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They insist they’re not closing but c’mon. It’s a joke school.

it’s not as bad as Simon’s Rock of Bard College.

[Anonymous]

What's wrong with Simon's Rock?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's wrong with Simon's Rock?

Some might say it is one of a style of school for those who are quick to condemn others for not being actively engaged in solving the world’s problems. Yet we haven’t heard of them inviting a few thousand of Massachusetts’ newest residents to come & start their new lives on their 275-acre “wooded, village-like campus.”

[Anonymous]

On another website that has a large section for comments by current students at each school, one Hampshire student wrote that Hampshire athletics consisted of taking a hit of acid while riding on the swing-set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On another website that has a large section for comments by current students at each school, one Hampshire student wrote that Hampshire athletics consisted of taking a hit of acid while riding on the swing-set.

That’s the varsity. What if your kid doesn’t have the skills to compete at that level?

[Anonymous]

Hasn’t it always been small and quirky?

[Anonymous]

I attended, also went to Columbia for grad school.

It’s everything DCUM hates: collaboration not competition, very little name recognition in corporate America, if your child is the right fit they will thrive, nobody goes to IB afterwards. Lots of counterculture and alternative kids. No “prestige”.

Your child must be VERY VERY self-directed to succeed. Actual dumb hippies crash out fast, you need to do real work. Nobody will hold your hand. You do not get a gold star or an A at the end, you must create your own meaning because you get narrative detailed evaluations for all work.

If your idea of rigor is memorize the book for the test and actually learn nothing, it’s not for you. You can’t succeed by grinding and being a good copycat, you must actually deliver original work and it will be judged fairly. It’s grad school style program for undergrad. It prepared me extremely well for professional degree in grad school.

Five College cooperation is easy and very useful, for most of my work I used the MHC and Amherst libraries because they had the materials I needed. Cross registration is a breeze, take whatever you want any time you want.

The school was in financial crisis a few years ago, but has stabilized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I attended, also went to Columbia for grad school.

It’s everything DCUM hates: collaboration not competition, very little name recognition in corporate America, if your child is the right fit they will thrive, nobody goes to IB afterwards. Lots of counterculture and alternative kids. No “prestige”.

Your child must be VERY VERY self-directed to succeed. Actual dumb hippies crash out fast, you need to do real work. Nobody will hold your hand. You do not get a gold star or an A at the end, you must create your own meaning because you get narrative detailed evaluations for all work.

If your idea of rigor is memorize the book for the test and actually learn nothing, it’s not for you. You can’t succeed by grinding and being a good copycat, you must actually deliver original work and it will be judged fairly. It’s grad school style program for undergrad. It prepared me extremely well for professional degree in grad school.

Five College cooperation is easy and very useful, for most of my work I used the MHC and Amherst libraries because they had the materials I needed. Cross registration is a breeze, take whatever you want any time you want.

The school was in financial crisis a few years ago, but has stabilized.

I did not attend, but it was the kind of school I considered. I do think those schools have changed since the 90s. I wasn’t against it for my kid because it’s a “quirky” school, or whatever we’re going to call it. I just think that financially it’s kind of scary—I’ve heard facilities are not in great shape. My kid is applying to Sarah Lawrence as a safety, and I don’t actually feel great about that because I believe Moody’s gives them a D in terms of financial stability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended, also went to Columbia for grad school.

It’s everything DCUM hates: collaboration not competition, very little name recognition in corporate America, if your child is the right fit they will thrive, nobody goes to IB afterwards. Lots of counterculture and alternative kids. No “prestige”.

Your child must be VERY VERY self-directed to succeed. Actual dumb hippies crash out fast, you need to do real work. Nobody will hold your hand. You do not get a gold star or an A at the end, you must create your own meaning because you get narrative detailed evaluations for all work.

If your idea of rigor is memorize the book for the test and actually learn nothing, it’s not for you. You can’t succeed by grinding and being a good copycat, you must actually deliver original work and it will be judged fairly. It’s grad school style program for undergrad. It prepared me extremely well for professional degree in grad school.

Five College cooperation is easy and very useful, for most of my work I used the MHC and Amherst libraries because they had the materials I needed. Cross registration is a breeze, take whatever you want any time you want.

The school was in financial crisis a few years ago, but has stabilized.

I did not attend, but it was the kind of school I considered. I do think those schools have changed since the 90s. I wasn’t against it for my kid because it’s a “quirky” school, or whatever we’re going to call it. I just think that financially it’s kind of scary—I’ve heard facilities are not in great shape. My kid is applying to Sarah Lawrence as a safety, and I don’t actually feel great about that because I believe Moody’s gives them a D in terms of financial stability.

Facilities were never in the best shape, and you better really love brutalist architecture.

Hampshire received an A and a “most improved” on its latest Moody’s financial health report, the new President is really putting 100% effort into saving the place. Alumni and donors have stepped up. The 5 college system protects them in a way the other schools don’t get.

My beef with Sarah Lawrence is they let a parent run a sex cult on campus for years and nobody stepped in, there’s a documentary on Hulu about it.

I think the “alternative” colleges will come back in vogue eventually, but they have the same issues all small LACs with small endowments have.