Hampshire (visits and more)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Hampshire College
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<p>I feel badly that the thread with the most current posts are mostly the Hampshire marijuana/visit thread. While with any college, including Hampshire, I wanted to know if there was a drug use culture, I think there is a lot more to talk about when it comes to college. ALF has done a great sevice sharing his expertise and I don't mind chiming in too, but I wanted to start a new thread, with a less negative title. </p>

<p>So our experience so far is that Hampshire is living up to its reputation. It is has interesting students and my D feels is leans more towards the live and let live students rather than PC. Be glad to hear others' experiences.</p>

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<p>Okay, kinderny, happy to ‘move my seat’ over here. As you can see from the discussion tangent about sub-free housing, I took the other forum’s title literally–marijuana AND MORE—as in, there is so much more to Hampshire.</p>

<p>I am hopeful that the live-and-let-live culture is thriving. Would love to hear about Div I students’ transition. Also about whether students were able to get the majority of their preferred courses, first semester.</p>

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<p>D definitely thinks it is a live and let live culture although thinks the social sciences may be a bit more doctrinaire.</p>

<p>My D went to a special h.s. program which required a lot of writing and a lot of self direction. It is very early days yet, but so far she is not feeling lost, overwhelmed or behind. D definitely got most of her preferred courses. First years are asked to identify 8 of the listed tutorials (kind of like homeroom but with content) they would like to take (they get assigned one tutorial and that prof is their adviser for the rest of the year). D got her first choice. First years are asked to list 10 other classes in which they are interested. D got 3 off her list- although one was her 9th choice of 10. So she got all classes she listed as acceptable. She likes all her classes a lot, as well as the profs. That colors her experience so far- and counterbalances the awful (to her) food.</p>

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<p>You asked about substance free in relation to quiet/all female housing. On D’s quiet all female floor- on girl smokes (pot). One girl did not recognize the smell and was shocked. Three students are quiet, international students.
Out of the 11 women on the floor/wing, one female is apparently a pot smoker. No one else to all appearances. No real drinking to be seen at this point either, on this floor. It is known as “the nunnery” and my D is ok with that. (We are not Catholic. ) :D</p>

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<p>It seems to me that Hampshire students have ample opportunities to house with like-minded individuals, between Substance-Free, Allergen-Reduced, Gamer, International, Women’s, Study Intensive (“The Morgue”) and Queer Friendly choices.</p>

<p>When students move to the mods, there are even more choices, with all sorts of Identity-based housing (Latino, mixed-race, students of color, women/men of color), dietary preferences (Meat Eaters, Vegetarian, Vegan, Cooperative Shopping, Cooperative Cooking, Kosher), and ‘lifestyle’ preferences (Clean, Smoking-Intolerant, Sub-Free, Women Only, Men Only, Co-Ed ). </p>

<p>During the housing selection period, referred to as The Lottery, students form groups to ‘bid’ for different mod units, based on a somewhat complicated points system. I don’t know why the call it a ‘lottery’, since it is more like an auction, where the groups with the highest number of points ‘win’ the most desirable locations. Anyway, students can choose to form their own groups based on whatever criteria they desire, leading to all sorts of other specialized housing choices: Bike Cooperative, Jewish, Farming/greenhouse, etc.</p>

<p>Our daughter lived on sub-free semi-quiet Dakin House floors during her first two years, and now lives in a Prescott House mod with friends who are mostly sub-free and vegan/vegetarian. Our son lived on a semi-quiet Dakin floor his first year, then successively in a Greenwich, Prescott and Enfield mod during his last 3 years. In all cases, the groups in those mods tended toward Queer or Queer-friendly inhabitants who were decidedly NOT sub-free (don’t get me started!).</p>

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<p>I think the living situation is trickiest the first year- but after that like ALF says- there are lots of choices and hopefully a student can identify a number of like minded students. My D heard that the second year one is still most likely to live in dorms as one will not have enough points to qualify for a mod. That was disappointing to her as the ONLY thing she has expressed negativity about is living in the dorms without a kitchen as she really dislikes the preparation of the food- the ideas may be fine but the execution sucks. (Ok and the occasional complaint about the noisiness of others on the hall).</p>

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<p>kinderny: here’s hoping your daughter finds older students with similar interests so that she can get into their mod next year! I believe you said she’s a carnivore–there’s got to be a few people with that lifestyle preference ;)</p>

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<p>Oh yeah there are- one we refer to as “dead bird guy”. Don’t ask.</p>

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<p>As OP of the “Marijuana . . . and more” thread, I’m glad there’s a new thread that actually discuss more than mj use (tho if you read my orig post, it contains lots more than mj). D2, who was interested in Hamp, decided to head south (NC) and is delirious happy there; I am now searching for D3, who for $$ reasons will probably attend a SUNY.</p>

<p>Good luck all.</p>

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<p>I think that if a second year student forms a large (8-10) group that goes for one of the less-desirable mods (one of the larger Greenwich or Prescott mods), and the group has a few 3rd- or 4th-year students, then they ought to have enough points to get it. Another option is to put together a group of about a dozen to go for one of the floors in a dorm. You won’t get a kitchen, but at least you will be living with a group of individuals who chose to be together.</p>

<p>Here are more details on the housing lottery: <a href=“https://hampedia.org/wiki/Lottery[/url]”>https://hampedia.org/wiki/Lottery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Okay, now that we’ve covered housing it’s time to talk about food. What’s become of the Five College Meal Pass? It looks like students used to be able to get a pass to eat “for free” on other campuses if they had a reason (e.g. class, activity)–but Hampshire’s new info on food services doesn’t mention the pass, it just talks about “brown bag lunches.” Did they eliminate the program?</p>

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<p>^^ Not to my knowledge, but I think it is stricter. If you are not able to get to a meal on your own campus due to a class on another campus- I think you get to eat on the other campus under your own plan with prior arrangement. I think it is called the 5 college meal exchange. You have to contact Dining Services to arrange.</p>

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<p>My daughter ate lunches at Smith last semester under this plan. It required her to show her class schedule and proof that she was on the unlimited meal plan. I don’t think that the program is eliminated, but it is certainly not publicized. </p>

<p>This semester, she is taking classes at both Smith and MoHo, but has no meal plan (except for the minimum $100 Caf</p>

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<p>That makes sense, thanks ALF. So if D wants to eat “for free” she has to do it next semester. After that she is going to the minimum and will continue cooking for herself.</p>

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<p>I knew ALF would contribute something to the conversation :wink: I don’t know how many other prospective Hampshire parents know about this site, but the Admissions office should definitely make you their parent spokesperson!!</p>

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<p>^^^ I second that.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the kinds words. I did in fact help put together some of the incoming student info on the Hampshire Family Blog (<a href=“http://blog.hampshire.edu/family/[/url]”>http://blog.hampshire.edu/family/&lt;/a&gt;) . I’ve been working (only partially successfully) on spending less time on computers, so I have been limiting my online time to only this site and one other, plus stalking my children on Facebook.</p>

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<p>The Hampshire Family blog was helpful for this mom of an incoming first year. I learned a lot of key information and was able to share with D when she didn’t have the time or interest to find it out herself. Good work!</p>

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<p>I agree – ALF is a tremendous asset to Hampshire!</p>

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<p>Okay, so I’ve asked about housing and food…now I’m going to angst a little bit about the admissions process itself. </p>

<p>DD has friends who’ve applied to schools with rolling admissions and have already received acceptances…as an ED applicant, she won’t hear until December 15th, and of course she’s anxious about it. I don’t mean to be one of those “what are her chances?” people–she’s seen plenty of stats about that, knows her scores, grades, EC, etc., are all well within the range for accepted students, plus she’s shown EXTREME interest–but there’s a nagging doubt about why some students <em>are</em> rejected. There’s a cautious/pessimistic streak in my family; my grandfather always said, “Get it in writing,” and he passed that down to the rest of us. I don’t think she’ll breathe easy about any of this until she actually hears that she’s been accepted.</p>

<p>Does anyone have insight into why some students are rejected? <em>Is</em> it strictly a numbers thing?</p>