<p>Hello! I have recently toured Bard and loved the student body. Are the students at Hampshire similar? </p>
<p>Hmmm - hard to say. My older son was accepted to both and chose Hampshire over Bard although he liked Bard very much. He did feel more “at home” at Hampshire plus having the huge benefit of the Consortium was a factor as well. Also, Hampshire’s financial aid for us was much more generous. Have you toured Hampshire?</p>
<p>Thank you for answering, BTMell! I have toured Hampshire and I really loved it. I just did not get to see the student body so much during my tour. Does your son like Hampshire? Did he look at Sarah Lawrence, too?</p>
<p>Hi - he loves Hampshire and couldn’t imagine himself any other place now. I think the student bodies at both schools probably are similar - that’s the feel we got visiting both. They seem to attract intelligent, quirky, not-out-of-the-box kind of students. He was also accepted at Sarah Lawrence (and also Bennington College). For a time he was sure that SLC was his “dream school” then we visited on accepted students day and he didn’t like it at all. He said it was “too hipster” (my husband and I were ready to enroll at all four places!). SLC was not generous with financial aid at all which mattered to us. In the end, the decision was between Hampshire and Bennington. We really loved Bennington and it was hard to say no to them but he made the right decision. Bennington is really tiny and in a rural (albeit beautiful) town whereas Hampshire is part of the consortium which brings a lot to the table. And Amherst and Northampton are fabulous towns. If you have other questions, let me know. What are you interested in studying?</p>
<p>I am interested in philosophy and literature. Also, I plan to go to graduate school and I know that Hampshire has a lot of collections.</p>