Ah, Hampshire. Warts and all, I loved and miss you my alma mater. I attended Hampshire from…read more1993-1998, and I don't regret a single moment of it (ok, well maybe there were some moments I did regret, but hey it was before ALL the embarrassing stuff was on social media, whew!) especially since Hampshire had been at the top of my college list since the get-go. What they say about Hampshire being a "self-selecting" student applicant pool is ABSOLUTELY true. Hampsters KNOW this is "THE" school for them instinctually. When I was applying to colleges and universities, I didn't know anything initially about Hampshire until I got some information from a colleague of my father's who taught at the same college, and sent away for an information packet (hey, this was the early 90's, so no websites yet) which then further peaked my interest. That being said, the education you can get at Hampshire (and across the other four campuses of the consortium) is top-notch, if you stay focused, motivated and driven. Hampshire gets a "bad rep" academically within more traditional academic circles as it's a young school, with an alternative curriculum and no grades. Let me just say this: a graded system teaches you ABSOLUTELY nothing. At least for me for that's the case. I learn best from performance evaluations, strengths and weaknesses, what I'm excelling at, and where I need to improve. Hampshire professors write INCREDIBLY detailed and concise and in-depth evaluations of your work and progress throughout the Divisional system. Hampshire IS "graduate school for undergraduates" but it took me until I was in my second year to figure that out. And four words of advice: USE THE WRITING CENTER!!! They helped me at EVERY divisional level. Hampshire is also an AMAZING college for artistic and creative students and has (in my opinion) superior facilities for creative student work compared to a lot of other small colleges I looked at. I concentrated in both Theater & Film and found that although the Theater facilities were a bit sub-par, (ONLY because there were SO MANY theater students and not enough performance space, there were only two "black box" style theaters, a Studio for smaller productions and a Mainstage for larger ones), it was challenging. I quickly learned that serving on the Theater Board is the BEST way to make sure you get access to the Theaters (I started as a Theater Board alternate my first semester and during my Div III, I was the Lead Facilitator of the weekly Board meetings) if you plan on doing production work. I directed, acted in and produced my Division II production (a small two-character piece) in the Studio Theater my third year, and then directed and produced my Div III production (a MUCH larger ensemble piece) in the Mainstage Theater my fourth year. I also directed and workshopped scenes from my own written work (a play), that were presented at Word! The Five College Multicultural Theater Festival every Spring. It's hosted by a different campus each year, and in Spring 1998 (the year I graduated) it was at UMass. The Hampshire College Theater Program is run like a small repertory theater company, and out of all the consortium's Theater Departments is the MOST student-run. The larger Pioneer Valley area itself is also a VERY culturally rich place for Theater because I did post-graduate theater work in Northampton & Springfield after I graduated (I moved into Northampton from campus), and it was great to do that instead of just immediately going on to graduate school. Hampshire also has an AMAZING reputation amongst graduate schools, and I got into EVERY single MFA program I applied to. UMass/Amherst even offered me a spot in their MFA program in Theater before I even graduated from Hampshire; because they were aware of my undergraduate work. If you truly utilize the Consortium, it becomes an indispensable academic resource that way. Hampshire's Film/Video/Photography program, by contrast, was chill and relaxed (and WAY less hierarchical and political than the Theater Program was) and afforded a lot of student access to the facilities. In fact, now, compared to back then, I think the Liebling Center has been expanded from the original Film & Photography Building, and the facilities for Film are now even BETTER. My work in the Film program was mainly project-based as an outgrowth from classes, and I acted in some student films and did a short film during my Division III, as well as a couple of multimedia pieces that combined performance with Film/Video during my Div II. I wouldn't have traded my Hampshire educational experience for anything, and I know a lot of other Hampsters, past and present feel the same way. Fantastic school, but you HAVE to make sure it's the "right fit" for YOU. Don't go there without visiting or sight unseen -- otherwise, you will waste time and $$$$ just to transfer out.

My alma mater is one of the other 4 colleges in the area but I did take a class her as part of the…read more5 college consortium. My oldest followed 2 generations and went to that school as well but my middle son marches to the beat of a different drum. So I was not too surprised when he applied to Hampshire College. My son was very carrot and stick orientated so very focused on grades and he was accepted to 9 of the 10 schools he applied for ... RPI being one of his top two choices with Hampshire being the other. I was intrigued how he would deal with a evaluation based classes. He has adjusted pretty well. So far I am thrilled with his experience and he seems to be fitting right in.

My daughter attended the preschool and kindergarten here. We are very fond of the Common School!…read moreThe community is diverse, both economically and culturally, and the atmosphere is one of love and respect, both between the children and adults. We found it to be an incredible, positive place, and we were sorry to leave it. One thing that really stood out to me is how loving and inclusive the older students are towards the younger children. It is a part of the culture of the school, and it is a truly special aspect of the school. I was also very impressed with the socialization curriculum in the preschool, which very skillfully supported the children in increasing their emotional intelligence and learning to express themselves well. They even went so far as having the kids writing skits (dictating to adults), editing the skits, and performing them for each other. My daughter came home ready to produce and direct plays for the neighborhood! There is a lot I could say about the Common School. We had a great experience here and think of it fondly!

My two sons have attended the Common School for five years, and our family could not feel more…read moresupported during this time. Most importantly, our children feel cared for, safe and socially and academically stimulated. The Common School is a ongoing project that evolves along with the its community expectations and, committed to a just society, through equity practices.

My 16 year old son and I came on a hot day in August 2022 for the 10:00am information session and…read more11:15am campus tour. This is a top-notch small liberal arts college (about 1,800 students come from 49 states and other countries) with a gorgeous campus. The hilltop view of the Connecticut River in the distance is worth the visit! The campus has a nice mix of architectural styles with a world-class natural history museum. Afterwards, getting lunch in the town of Amherst was convenient - the proximity of restaurants in town within walking distance is a plus for Amherst students. Amherst still requires KN95 mask wearing for indoor building access and requires you to show your COVID-19 vaccination card. If you don't like this policy, that may be a sign that Amherst College is not for you. In any case, it's well worth a stop here if you're looking at small liberal arts colleges. One star is removed for not having a short restroom break during the tour. Also, the information session auditorium was difficult to find and about a 10 minute walk from the admissions office.

What a beautiful campus!!! This is rated among the top three liberal arts college on the national…read morelevel! This College was a lot better than I expected.I went to an information session and campus tour to learn about the college for my daughter. What I learned was that they have an open curriculum and they focus on undergraduate studies and accept a student body of 1800. Their financial aid is based not on a merit system it's based on finances. The campus has newly built science center and they have the most incredible Beniski Natural Sciencecience museum!!! I didn't have a chance to go ahead and look throughout the entire museum but this is definitely on my list to come backbut they had a huge skeleton of a mammoth and that already made me fall in love with this museum. They had a great student center which house a lot of movie nights and other cool things on campus. There ihave one dedicated food Hall of the Valentine because the person who cooks there is named Valentine... I think. And they have an amazing athletic center which a humongous track and field which is the state of the yard. They have new dorms for upperclassmen and the underclassmen resides in the center square.I definitely think it's worth visiting they also have arts museum to which I didn't have a chance to look at but again I'm on my list to visit. Also this is a very inclusive College.

My beloved Alma mater. I love this place but I do not love the chancellor. If Javier Reyes could…read moreresign instead of calling in police to drag students protesting for human rights and an end to genocide that would be great. Food isn't half bad either.

It's an university campus. Parking fee was reasonable , 1 hr was $1.50. I paid at the machine in…read morethe parking structure by the food court. Food court is sponsor by Marriot culinary program so the food looks good. Lots of the lines had 30 or more people waiting so didn't have time. School clothing store had affordable sweaters, about $36 for a UMass Champion brand hooded sweater. Nice campus.

My child took the swimming lessons a few time. She really enjoys it. The instructors are great and…read morecaring and really great with kids. Regarding the swimming facilities, they are generally great. Some downsides are: (1) middle school pool temperature is slightly lower than normal at least for the time we went (2) there is no private shower room at men's locker room. This is pretty awkward when my husband takes my daughter to swim lessons.

We love the small group sizes, it's less intimidating for our child and they get more one on one…read morewith the instructors. There are year round lessons so our child can keep practicing the skills they've acquired during the class and learn new ones. We've signed for more lessons and have recommended the class to friends and neighbors.