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.

I attended Hampshire from Fall 94-98. Bridging the years where Hampshire went from the grads who…read moretook 10 years to get a diploma (LOTS of "student sabbaticals" which weren't allowed after some school changes) and the "new kids" who fell under stricter guidelines. Pre-2000, a lot of Hampshire students were left with a "sink or swim" style of education. The faculty were amazing (Marion was excellent with Tai Chi and other classes and the outdoor programs were excellent, David Kerr and others were supportive and definitely helped me stay on track. Being one of a small number of financial aid students, the feeling at the beginning of each year was incredibly stressful (if you couldn't prove you had the funds, sometimes making the difference up in cash before matriculation, you couldn't start the school year). Financial stresses aside, it was one of the best times of my life. Hampshire College gave me insights into the way I work and strengthened my belief in self worth and my ability to achieve whatever I set myself up to do. Hampshire is a direct reason why I was able to take more risks after college, pay off a tremendous amount of debt in just a few years (yeah business consulting!) and achieve a lot of the successes I have now. I learned the undergrad education wasn't so much about what I studied, but how I set goals, researched, learned, and achieved whatever I set out to do. Those lessons have given me more than any piece of lambskin was worth. Yes - there were Hipsters at Hamp before Hipsters were a "thing" and there will continue to be the trust-fund babies who opt to float through four years of f-ing around and not really doing anything but spend money and get high. There are more, way more, motivated students who are pushing themselves to be more than what most colleges and universities expect. I'd argue there are more alumni from Hampshire (graduates or drop outs) who've succeeded because they were real examples of what a Hampshire student is - motivated, dedicated, self-assertive, risk-taking, and willing to fail several times to achieve success at whatever they're doing than there are from other more "normal" schools. I loved Hampshire and while it still definitely needs to improve its alumni relations, it's a constant work in progress and it's great to see awesome kids coming and going from there still...

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.

In my opinion, parents should be very careful about considering The Common School for their…read morechildren and should seek out former families to speak to rather than just taking the word of school leadership or selected references. I believe there are serious issues related to student safety and that the school and board leadership retaliate against parents who raise concerns. https://thingsincommon.substack.com/

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.

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.

The university urgently needs to improve its nighttime security. Right now, coverage is extremely…read morelimited, and during certain hours there is no security presence at all. This creates an unsafe environment for students, especially those who have late classes, work evening shifts, or live on campus. A major university should prioritize student safety, and consistent, visible security at night is a basic expectation. Strengthening security staffing and patrols after dark would make a meaningful difference.

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.