"At Amherst College, during a faculty panel, the advisor asked the Amherst professors to describe their favorite type of student. The panelists looked at each other, grinned, then one of them said ‘Hampshire students’. "
Seems like a risky investment as well as a “tough sell”. Are scholarships available ? Or does Hampshire College expect new students to take a financial risk in addition to the educational risk ?
"When I asked a faculty member at one of America’s most elite colleges what he thought of the students who ended up in his classes he said the were really smart and hard working and always produced excellent work. ‘Professor Doe’ also added that they never pushed back at him in class and revolted when he asked them to spend two hours under a tree coming up with an idea they wanted to write about. ‘We don’t have time for that’, they’d say. ‘Tell us what you want us to do’. In that two hours #HampshireCollege students would have designed a fully sustainable and handicapped accessible tree fort regardless of whether the teacher asked them to…
…So is it worth the gamble to go to Hampshire? If you’re a play-it-safe person, probably not. After all, there’s always ‘Professor Doe’s’ no-risk college. But entrepreneurial types, whether they want to start an organic yogurt company or start a refugee resettlement organization or make documentaries, don’t do safe. Our tour guide told is that Hampshire is what people say college is supposed to be. I think she’s right. People are here to make something magical happen with their minds and hands and in the way they build relationships with teachers and each other."
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Once again, we live in a free market economy. If there was sufficient demand for Hampshire College’s product (academic model), then Hampshire College wouldn’t be dealing with the possibility of going out of business. It really is as simple as that. Supply & demand.