<p>I'd suggest going to Hampshire</a> College to ask questions of current Hampshire students. This forum seems to be less active lately, but if you look in the left-hand column, under 'Tags', you could click on, 'Prospie Questions' and you will get a whole bunch of threads with lengthy discussions about Hampshires's. Most of those threads are a year or two old, but things shouldn't have changed much in that amount of time.</p>
<p>"Hampshire's two main dorms house the overwhelming majority of first-year students, and are divided into halls that are classified by: substance-free, very quiet/semi quiet, intense studying, gamers, international students, students of color, etc."</p>
<p>So native born white students come in different varieties (sub-free or quiet or gamers), but internationals and students of color are a singularity . . . ?</p>
<p>Just yankin' your chain; thanks for the chat link.</p>
<p>Yeah, Hampshire is an easy target when it comes to being politically correct!</p>
<p>Kids have nicknames for various specialty hallways - for example, the sub-free, very quiet, women-only hall is the, 'Nunnery'.</p>
<p>FYI, there is also a 'Sub-Free' tag in the aforementioned forum.</p>
<p>Any hall for a hippie-is black girl w/ a nose stud?</p>
<p>Left or right nostril?</p>
<p>Same thing I said on another thread regarding this topic:</p>
<p>I have spent a fair amount of time on the Hampshire campus as I have several friends there and attend school not far away. I think there probably is more weed there than some other schools, less alcohol than many others, especially big unis, less coke than wealthier (more former prep school students) LAC's. As others have said, there are drugs everywhere.
Because the Hampshire student body is so invested in respecting individuality there is little to no peer pressure to indulge in anything. Deciding for one's self is considered cool, going along with the group is not</p>
<p>Moving topic to top</p>
<p>An update:</p>
<p>When I last posted here, I was concerned over how my entering daughter would fare in the allegedly permissive drug scene at Hampshire. She is now in the middle of her second year (FYI, NOBODY at Hampshire would ever use the term, ‘Sophomore’) and is having a fabulous experience, unaided by ‘substances’. She had a great first year, living on a substance-free hall, where, in contrast to any preconceived notions about substance-free students, her colorful assortment of hallmates were a blast to hang out with. My daughter also went out to a couple of parties where she managed to sample some of the available wares, so its not like she insulated herself from the rest of the campus.</p>
<p>She now has a job as a Resident Intern (FYI, NOBODY at Hampshire would use the term, ‘R.A.’), and has responsibility for both substance-free and non-substance-free(?) student residents. This has been a great experience for her, although she has had to deal with a couple of kids who drank to the point of passing out. And, she has also had to work with students who insisted on breaking the rules by smoking (more tobacco than marijuana) in their dorm rooms.</p>
<p>I still don’t know if drug use by Hampshire’s students exceeds that at other SLACs or the rest of the neighboring 5 College Consortium, but it sure doesn’t seem like it is a dominant aspect of the college.</p>
<p>In any event, the reputation holds. Hampshire retains Princeton Review’s #8 Ranking in the 'Reefer Madness Category: [Test</a> Prep: GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, ACT, and More](<a href=“Colleges with Reefer Madness | The Princeton Review”>Colleges with Reefer Madness | The Princeton Review)</p>
<p>Of course, Hampshire was ranked highly in several other categories as well:
[Test</a> Prep: GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, SAT, ACT, and More](<a href=“College Search | Find Colleges | The Princeton Review”>College Search | Find Colleges | The Princeton Review)</p>
<h1>2 Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians</h1>
<h1>2 Class Discussions Encouraged</h1>
<h1>4 Dodgeball Targets</h1>
<h1>14 LGBT-Friendly</h1>
<h1>10 Intercollegiate Sports Unpopular or Nonexistent</h1>
<h1>9 Long Lines and Red Tape</h1>
<h1>12 Most Politically Active Students</h1>
<h1>12 Nobody Plays Intramural Sports</h1>
<h1>8 Reefer Madness</h1>
<h1>10 Least Religious Students</h1>
<h1>1 Most Liberal Students</h1>
<p>Of course, it is easy to criticize such lists, but most of those categories sound appropriate for Hampshire. If a few of those categories are off-putting to you, then you may want to look elsewhere.</p>
<p>My daughter and I visited Hampshire several times in the past six months and I never once smelled any pot (granted it wasn’t at night but still…). When my sister was there in the 70s, drugs were rampant – I bet it’s better now. And, you know, it is possible to drink and/or smoke occasionally without going overboard! Having had issues with my son at another university, I will say that drinking/drugging, etc. all depends on what your child decides to do, how independently s/he thinks. I know kids at UVM who don’t party.</p>
<p>I was on campus today and could not detect any smells that would indicate marijuana use. Admittedly, I was not in the dorms during the late evening when one might expect such use to increase. We went to see a play that I really enjoyed (full disclosure: my daughter wrote it!), but I was most taken by the directed discussion that took place afterwards. The students in the audience were thoughtful and perceptive, and willing to share their insights.</p>
<p>Our daughter’s boyfriend went to UMass, but spent a lot of time on the Hampshire campus, so he was in a good position to compare ‘substance’ use/abuse between the two institutions. He felt that UMass students had far more organized parties where alcohol over-use was the norm, while at Hampshire, most drinking was isolated to a few students in a mod lounge. He also thought UMass students smoked more dope than Hampshire students. On the other hand, it seemed to him that some Hampshire students seemed to be more willing to try anything that could be drank/smoked/ingested.</p>
<p>I notice that during the new student orientation this Fall, there is the following session: </p>
<p>Hampshire Drug Culture: Questions, Concerns, Sub-free Spaces, & Strategies for a Happy Halloween</p>
<p>What have you heard about Hampshire drug culture? Whether you are sub-free or sub-friendly, come learn about substance norms, sub-free spaces, and safety around drug use. Ask returning students about their experiences, on campus, off campus, and at Hampshire Halloween. This will be a chill space to get honest answers.</p>