<p>ALF thanks for the update. I haven’t visited Hamp since the spring, but my sense is that “plenty” of people who are not into drinking to excess, using drugs, or smoking cigarettes is an overstatement. Based on my own visits (infrequent, but more than most prospects) and reports students who socialize at Hamp, excess is the norm. Fortunately, many of the students at Hamp are apparently bright enough to handle both the excess and the rigorous coursework.</p>
<p>Well, there is a difference between “plenty of opportunities”, which is what I wrote, and, “plenty of people”. </p>
<p>I continue to question how much of Hampshire’s drug use reputation is real, in comparison to other SLACs. Once a college acquires a certain reputation, deserved or not, it seems awfully hard to change perceptions. For example, a number of people I know that perceive of Hampshire as a ‘druggy’ school, have admitted that they drew that conclusion from “Saturday Night Live” sketches, called, “Jarret’s Room”. The writers of those sketches clearly have little knowledge of the college, but they in turn reportedly heard that Hampshire would be a good place place to site their characters who are generally losers and druggies. </p>
<p>In any event, we recently returned from dropping our daughter off at Hampshire, and the kids on her sub-free hall look like a great bunch that would be fun to hang out with.</p>
<p>'Well, there is a difference between “plenty of opportunities”, which is what I wrote, and, “plenty of people”. "</p>
<p>My bad; point well-taken. And, changing a school’s rep/perception can be difficult - - but it the rep seem closer to the truth at Hamp than at the other “reefer madness” schools we visited. </p>
<p>My D would never agree to sub-free housing - - and I doubt she’s capable of handling college work and frequent drug/alcohol use. So sadly, Hamp is probably not a good match for her.</p>
<p>Kudos to your D for swimming against the tide.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the theater program?</p>
<p>Lol are hampshire kids really called hampsters(I saw one post calling them so!)??? </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m an international student hoping to enroll in Hampshire for Fall 2010. I was wondering how it was like for an international student; any support structure etc? </p>
<p>Also, I was wondering whether it is advisable to go into Hampshire with a totally new area of study you want to learn. For example, I know fairly well what areas of study I intend to do if I get into Hampshire but I really want to dabble in Film, in which I have no experience at all, 'cause it’ll add another dimension to my plan of interdisciplinary studies. As such, I was wondering if I am allowed to and should I? </p>
<p>Yeah, thanks to whoever answers! 8]</p>
<p>International students make up 3% of all students, and they are from quite a few different countries. I don’t know about specific support structures. </p>
<p>Many students arrive at Hampshire with the intent of exploring various interests. That is one of the purposes of the first year Division I system. The one thing that you might want to check into though, is whether or not there are any openings in Film/Video classes. Hampshire is well-known for this program, and it is my impression that it is really tough to get into those classes.</p>
<p>We just came back from the “Families and Friends” weekend at Hampshire, and are really pleased at how well our daughter is adapting, making friends, learning, and growing. The kids on her substance-free hallway are lots of fun and she can see some of them as possible life-long friends. They just finished decorating the hall with silly Halloween decorations, and all pitched in on the effort. They are all having a great time without resorting to drugs or alcohol. Our daughter has gone to some wild parties, but she has never felt any pressure to consume anything, and has a great social life. So, it is clearly a viable choice for Hampshire students.</p>
<p>And, here are some photos of the campus during Fall color season:
[url=<a href=“http://web.mac.com/alfriedman/iWeb/Site/Hampshire.html]Hampshire[/url”>http://web.mac.com/alfriedman/iWeb/Site/Hampshire.html]Hampshire[/url</a>]</p>
<p>I just finished reading a memoir by a Richard Rushfield, who graduated from Hampshire in '91 ([RICHARD</a> RUSHFIELD Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost](<a href=“http://www.richardrushfield.com/buy/]RICHARD”>http://www.richardrushfield.com/buy/)). While that was a long time ago (our first-year daughter was born then), if the book is at all accurate, it was a pretty wild place and it is easy to see where the drug reputation originated. The interesting thing about the book is that the author seems to decry the end of a ‘golden age’ when students could do whatever they want and were never hassled by members of the college (e.g. college public safety officials started checking the IDs of students who were drinking alcohol - the horrors!). Sounds to me most of the changes were for the good.</p>
<p>I have been reading this thread with interest because my son has applied to Hampshire for fall 2010. Hampshire was a “close 2nd choice” after Emerson (he wants to study Film) and now that he has been rejected by Emerson, he is now set on Hampshire and counting the days til their EA notification. Anyway, I just wanted to chime in and say that we have visited Hampshire 3 different times and never smelled pot at any of our visits, FWIW. I do know their reputation but I am glad they have sub-free living options, as I am sure that is where my son will want to be. I need to post my own specific concerns about Hampshire and hope that some of you knowledgeable parents and/or students will answer my questions!</p>
<p>Absolutely! Our 1st-yr daughter is back home right now and happily reminiscing and facebooking (a valid verb?) with her Hampshire buddies. Our 4th-yr son is still there, working hard on his Div III project.</p>
<p>A few posts back, I noted that Richard Rushfield wrote a book about his experiences at Hampshire during the late 1980s. He recently returned to Hampshire and gave a talk, then took questions. The Q & A sessions were recorded and put on YouTube as a series of videos, or you can see them all from Rushfield’s blog site, [RICHARD</a> RUSHFIELD](<a href=“http://www.richardrushfield.com/]RICHARD”>http://www.richardrushfield.com/) .</p>
<p>I thought that it was interesting to watch, as a significant number of students were pretty critical of Rushfield and the book, and expressed concern over how the book does not reflect their experience at Hampshire (although to be fair, a few identified with some of his stories). Rushfield was clearly on the defensive for much of the session and was compelled to explain why he only wrote about his first two ‘slacker’ years and barely mentioned his last three ‘serious’ years: “Student Turns Paper in On Time, does not make a good story”.</p>
<p>great thread. BUMP so others can see. :]</p>
<p>I got accepted as an EA student and went on the EA overnight that Hampshire offered. The students that i hung out with did talk briefly about drugs but they mainly talked about how everybody thinks that it’s a huge drug place when it really isn’t.</p>
<p>^ ha, that’s reassuring.</p>
<p>So true. For some reason, we can’t seem to shake the ‘pot-smoking-hippie’ label and embrace the ‘delightfully-odd-uber-nerd-academic’ thing we Hampshire students ACTUALLY have going.
The reputation almost kept me from coming here, but something about it seemed to clash with what I saw in my tour. I decided to take the plunge and go here, and I am so ridiculously happy I did. Granted, there are Div 1s who are convinced this place is a giant 24-7 party, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not any different from any other place with 18 year olds in a strange place without parental guidance for the first time in their lives. 
That attitude basically ends with the start of Div 2, when we all mature a little bit and realize that, yes, our work does have to be finished.
Basically, don’t let the ‘drug’ thing scare you away from Hampshire. Please. You’ll be missing out on so much.</p>
<p>Why would anyone send their S/D there? Told my friend about CollegeConfidential, and when she saw the HEMPshire postings that was enough for her and her kid agreed.</p>
<p>We have both a son and daughter there right now. First of all, we didn’t ‘send’ them, they chose to go there after searching for the school that fit them best. Hampshire is one of only a very small group of liberal arts colleges that stress independent multidisciplinary learning. I find this amazing, as researchers have demonstrated over and over again that the best learning takes place when students are actively engaged in developing their own curriculum plan. This approach is not for everyone, but self-motivated students tend to thrive in such an environment. It is unfortunate that Hampshire has a hippie/druggie image/reputation, because it prevents some students and parents from even considering this college. If you read through this topic, as well as the “800 Pound Gorilla” topic that was posted last year, you will see that Hampshire students or parents are calling into question the justification of the drug culture reputation. To be sure, students are using drugs on campus, but I wonder if Hampshire is markedly different from other liberal arts colleges in this respect. I don’t have enough information to make a definitive statement, but I suspect that drug use at Hampshire is not markedly higher.</p>
<p>I am curious where these ‘Hempshire’ posts are on CC. I ran a search, and the only two posts I found was #56 above, and a reference to schools in ‘New Hempshire’ that looks like a typo.</p>
<p>I went to our son’s Commencement at Hampshire a couple of weeks ago, and if you had seen the graduating students, you would have seen a bunch of mostly clean-cut well-dressed individuals that hardly lived up to their hippie/druggie reputation. Granted, only about 3 students wore traditional cap and gown regalia, but the remainder wore suits, sport coats, ties, dresses, etc. I would say only about 5% had an ‘alternative’ appearance. Obviously, they dressed up for the occasion, but it felt that I was looking at a typical group of young adults.</p>
<p>Our daughter will be a Housing Intern this year (a/k/a ‘Resident Assistant’ - Hampshire seems to make a point of never using the same terms used by all other colleges) on a substance-free dorm hallway. She will also have responsibility for some non-substance-free hallways, so it will be interesting to see how much ‘substance’ she encounters.</p>