<p>Hampshire doesn’t give grades but narrative reviews that allow a professor to truly evaluate the student outside the one-size-fits-all mode. Students create their own majors, allowing them to combine many interests into a complex field of study. The emphasis seems more on pure learning.</p>
<p>We’re in NY (i.e. pretty close to Massachusetts as far as snail mail is concerned!) and haven’t received any word yet. I just called Hampshire’s admissions office and spoke to a very friendly woman. She said that letters were sent out to everyone, regardless of admissions outcome, at the end of last week. They’ve been getting a bunch of calls from people who live in NY. For whatever reason, NYers aren’t getting their letters. We’re upstate and were hardly affected by the recent storm, so I’m curious as to where our letter could be hung up.</p>
<p>Anyway, they won’t give out the information to parents, but if we don’t get the letter by tomorrow (the official notification date), she said my son could call himself and they’ll give him the decision over the telephone.</p>
<p>@kinderny - my son is a second year as well and everytime we visit, I leave wishing I could go back to college and that it be Hampshire! It’s a magical place.</p>
<p>Daughter was accepted with Bell Ringer scholarship of $16,000/yr!
Of course, she really wants to be in NYC, and will likely go to Fordham, which is the most expensive, and is giving the least aid (though not by much) – anyway, why should that surprise me!?!</p>
<p>Good luck to all – Hampshire truly is special!</p>
<p>Congrats to your daughter, My3Daughters! S got his acceptance folder today too, along with a scholarship as well. What we like the most, and he really, REALLY likes, is that at the bottom of his letter they put “P.S. Don’t forget to bring your guitar.” That was fun to read! I think he’s going to sign up for an overnight visit.</p>
<p>Accepted today in NY with Presidential Scholarship. I know they haven’t included the FAFSA, but right now, it’s more expensive than another school I applied to. It’s one of my first choices and I hope to appeal for more aid. I still have several schools to hear from and aid packages to receive.</p>
<p>Congratulations! We’ve found the financial aid office to be very good to work with so definitely do talk about your award once the FAFSA is figured in.</p>
<p>bluestone, in addition to echoing “Students create their own majors, allowing them to combine many interests into a complex field of study”, it also alllows a fair bit of experimentation and flexibility in “how” to meet requirements. For example, my D met the first year Community, Power (and something else) requirement by designing an independent study related to a particular sport in rural areas. She collected oral histories of participants and their perceptions of the particpants’ role in the community and the changing perceptions of non-participants in the community. She was able to obtain? create? primary source data and then write a paper on it. </p>
<p>But I will say, this school is not for someone that is not focused (too easy to get lost and fail to meet learning objectives in classes that do not have tests and require multiple revisions of submitted papers to get credit). Also, if a student has a propensity towards recreational intoxicants, the community is rather accepting. My D feels that more students experiment here than would at a more traditional school, which is not a particularly good thing. Some students that would be successful at a school where experimentation is less open may go astray here. To be fair, there is also a significant cohort of sub free folks too, so it is not like there is social pressure to partake.</p>
<p>My D finally got her acceptance letter yesterday, with the Non Satis Scire scholarship, and is absolutely over the moon. Still has a bunch more schools to hear from, but she loves Hampshire. Kinderny and Alf, or others with kids there, what do you recommend to get the best sense of the school and community - one of the accepted students days, an overnight, or something else? D has visited the school a couple of times, and has a friend who goes there, but hasn’t yet sat in on classes or met faculty in her areas of interest (or, of course, met the other prospective first-years).</p>
<p>Hi Daisychain - I have a second year son. He I think found most useful the overnight where he was able to attend a class, eat the food, and hang with Hampshire students in the dorm. It really gave him a flavor being there. Congratulations to your daughter! My son is in love with Hampshire.</p>
<p>Yeah, I would suggest doing an overnight stay that is not during the scheduled Accepted Students weekend. Your daughter will get a better idea of what the residences are really like, as well as the food, and a few classes. Make sure that she spends some time in at least one of the ‘mod’ apartments, which is where most 2nd-to-4th year students live. Those students tend to cook their own meals, as opposed to utilizing the food service (all students have to buy at least a minimum food services $100 debit card each semester). I note this because some students seem to have decided to go elsewhere, based on their opinion (or reputation) of the quality of the food. After one year, you can never step foot in the cafeteria again.</p>
<p>She also might want to try the bus system to see what it is like to go off campus.</p>
<p>Above all, she should attend a class or two that involves disciplines that are of particular interest to her.</p>
<p>I’m trying, but not completely succeeding, to avoid bitterness over the merit-based aid I’m seeing here. My kids did not do nearly as well in this department, and we are going to be paying off their tuition for a few more years. On the bright side, we just sent in our last tuition check!</p>
<p>Oh yes, the food at Hampy isn’t the great but on the plus side, they are bidding out food services so hopefully there will have a change next year. I know my son is looking forward to it. Congrats, Alf, on sending your last tuition check. I have a second year and a younger son who will be a freshman in college next year so we have miles to go before we sleep. Sadly, Hampshire isn’t for him but he really likes UMass, particularly if he’s offered a spot in the honors college. It would be heavenly to have both boys in the same place.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, I will encourage her to do an overnight rather than one of the accepted student days. She’s very intrepid and will find her way into the mods even if she’s not overnighting in one (I’m concerned she’d starve if she actually had to cook for herself, though). Alf, I have mixed feelings about the whole merit aid thing, have a hard time embracing it politically but am happy for my D, and with such high sticker prices I’m grateful for whatever help we can get.</p>
<p>FYI, the U.S. Dept of Education College Affordability and Transparency Center’s [College</a> Scorecard | The White House](<a href=“http://m.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education/college-score-card]College”>http://m.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/higher-education/college-score-card) for Hampshire indicates an average annual net price (after grants and scholarships) of $29,770 - a reduction of 9.2% from the previous year. All these data are over a year old, but there it is.</p>
<p>Graduation rate is 61.5% and 0% of students have defaulted on federal loans after 3 years.</p>
<p>Nothing there about cafeteria food quality, though.</p>
<p>I would agree that the overnight gives the best flavor,both good and bad. One of D’s roommates hosted an overnight in their mod(on campus apartment). The poor guest didn’t get fed until after 8 pm, and the roommate was a terrible cook. Always wondered if it put the poor visitor off the school.
Accepted student days have deceptively good food (compared to the dining hall) which can be disappointing after enrollment. 
But they are good for those that really want to get a flavor for how the school works re the Div I-III and concentrations.</p>
<p>I got accepted (DE) with scholarship. Excited! Now just to wait for decisions in march…</p>
<p>Happy to announce that D has chosen Hampshire! She spent time in Northampton, stayed overnight in a mod, met students, sat in on classes, and absolutely loved it all. She didn’t want to come home.</p>
<p>Congrats, daisychain! S will not be attending Hampshire as it ended up being just about tied for the most expensive option for us (Hampshire WAS actually most expensive, but Bennington was super close!), but we still have such warm and fuzzy feelings for the school. I hope your daughter has a wonderful experience there!</p>
<p>Thanks, fosterte! We are excited! Hampshire was not the least expensive option for D, but among the schools that were her most serious contenders it came around the same cost or less. Has your S made his final choice?</p>
<p>Yes, he has decided upon University of Vermont in the Honors College. Our final four ended up coming down to Macaulay Honors College at Hunter, UVM Honors College, Bard, and Skidmore. Would have been interesting to see how things turned out if Hampshire had made it to that group. He got a good merit scholarship at Hampshire, but the end cost still couldn’t compare to the others. We loved their personal nature throughout the whole process though. And we really loved the current students. They just seem like such a genuinely “good” group of kids. Your daughter is lucky to be joining them!</p>