<p>So, I'm a California high school senior. During the admissions process, I was pretty dead-set on a liberal arts school. I applied to 7 lib arts schools, but I also applied to some UCs at my parents' wishes. I got denied at Berkeley and Irvine, accepted at Riverside, and waitlisted at Davis. Anyway, after flying back east, I decided on Hampshire over some much more highly ranked liberal arts schools due to its graduate success (Success</a> after Hampshire: Outcomes), and thought that was that until Davis accepted me off their waitlist last Friday. Of course, Davis is a pretty prestigious university, and it's hard to turn them down, especially with the financial aid they're offering. I like all the offerings of a liberal arts school (small classes, interdisciplinary studies, more intellectual environment) and wasn't huge on the Davis campus upon visiting, but I want to know which one will be more of a guarantor of future success. I'm an undeclared social sciences major at Davis considering poli sci or econ, by the way. Hampshire doesn't have typical majors.</p>
<p>Does Hampshire have the type of course offerings you are interested in (political science, economics, etc.)?</p>
<p>Hampshire does have a cross registration agreement with the University of Massachusetts - Amherst (about five miles away) and three other small liberal arts colleges, so that can be a way of accessing a larger course catalog than it has “natively”.</p>
<p>No college will be a guarantor of future success. As far as PhD programs go, they do consider the strength of your undergraduate school in your major, but it is often not obvious which (if any) of the schools is looked at favorably by PhD programs for any particular major.</p>
<p>Graduate success is dependent on the student, so it’s silly of you to have chosen hampshire for that reason. I’m curious as to what these other schools were. </p>
<p>Davis will give you great opportunities and good connections in the valley/CA. Hampshire will give you some east coast connections, but its not really well known.</p>
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<p>As an employer, that is a huge negative.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you have two diametrically opposed options: a major research Uni vs a free-form LAC not noted for rigor.</p>
<p>Access to Amherst is the biggest draw for Hampshire and if you are female; access to classes at Smith. I would take as many classes at those two places as possible. Outside of that I say Davis.</p>
<p>Hampshire sounds risky. 22% don’t return for sophomore year. 63% graduate within SIX years. Further, this isn’t likely due to a demanding curriculum but rather personal dissatisfaction. Take Hampshire only if you understand what it takes to be happy and to succeed there.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hampshire.edu/presidentsoffice/files/CDS_1112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hampshire.edu/presidentsoffice/files/CDS_1112.pdf</a></p>
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<p>If you’re at one of the other Five Colleges you don’t need to be female to take classes at Smith.</p>
<p>If you think in terms of schools being guarantors of future success, I think Hampshire is not right for you. That simply is not the mindset there, including among those who go on to get PhDs.</p>