<p>I'm interested in Hampshire, it seems like it could potentially be a perfect fit (I haven't visited yet.) I'm interested in eventually getting a Ph.D in Clinical Psych. With their independent study program and lack of grades, would it be possible to get into grad school?</p>
<p>I don’t have first-hand experience, but Hampshire claims to be Near the top of liberal arts colleges in the proportion of graduates who are accepted to grad schools: [Success</a> after Hampshire](<a href=“http://www.hampshire.edu/admissions/14885.htm]Success”>Success After Hampshire | Hampshire College)</p>
<p>Fwiw, a relative of mine graduated from New College, which also does not give grades, and was accepted at quite a few top 10 law schools. But what if you ask an admissions rep at Hampshire about it?</p>
<p>Edited to add: I see ALF posted a much more useful response. :)</p>
<p>I seem to recall from an info session that Hampshire is able to turn their unique comment system into grades if need be. Remember, also, that grad schools will be very familiar with Hampshire’s methods.</p>
<p>My son graduated from Hampshire 2 years ago, and his transcript has no grades (except for the courses he took from the other colleges in the 5 College Consortium). Having said that, I think that it is awfully easy to read each narrative evaluation and assign a letter grade to it (A=outstanding, B=good, C=OK, D=some problems, F=no evaluation).</p>
<p>My husband graduated from Hampshire, published his work, and went on to the very top grad school in clinical psychology. He’s extraordinarily directed and creative–which works well at hampshire.</p>
<p>My son is applying to grad school right now, and some universities are just fine with his transcript, which is about 75% written evaluations and 25% grades from some of the other 5 Colleges. Others are asking for more supporting documentation. A couple of universities are GRE-optional, but require GRE scores for students without grades on their transcripts. His GRE scores are excellent, a further testament to his Hampshire education. Either that, or the genes he got from me ;)</p>
<p>Hampshire President Johnathan Lash just wrote a great blog post questioning the assumption that grades imply greater rigor:</p>
<p>“There is a strange irony in the notion that grades assure rigor – how rigorous can grades truly be when at some elite institutions an A has become the most commonly awarded grade?”</p>
<p><a href=“Do Grades Really Reflect Rigor? | HuffPost Latest News”>http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6116310</a></p>
<p>I work for an Ivy league school and several professors here are Hampshire grads. I’ve read various surveys that have put Hampshire in the top 50 for schools that send their students on to graduate school - I’ll see if I can find it. And I LOVE President Lash. He and my son began together at Hampshire in the fall of 2011. I think he’s doing amazing things there.</p>
<p>Interesting. I would think that naritive evaluations would actually aid your grad school chances. Provided that you succeeded you as an undergrad. “No grades” does not equal “no accountability”. </p>
Update: Our son got into two grad schools, Seattle University and Antioch University (Seattle), for their Masters in Teaching (MAT) programs. I don’t know if that is helpful to others, as I imagine that many may be concerned with getting into different disciplines and/or more competitive institutions.
Congrats. D & I really like that Capitol Hill neighborhood. What a nice change after living on “the farm”.
Interestingly, there is a substantial Hampshire alumni contingent on Capitol Hill and the Central District. Our son likes that part of Seattle too, even though he grew up in a more rural location (Snohomish).
Update II: Our son has given us some interesting information regarding his beginning graduate studies. He is pursuing a Masters in Teaching at Antioch University (Seattle). He decided to go there because it seemed to him to be quite, “Hampshire-ish”, with small classes, group discussions, more hands-on student teaching opportunities, and written evaluations. That has indeed turned out to be the case. However, he is not as impressed with his classmates. The Antioch professors warned their students that each week they would be expected to read about 100 pages a week, write about 5 pages of reviews and analyses, and come to class each session prepared to discuss the readings. To our son, that sounds like a typical Hampshire week, and therefore no big deal, but to virtually all his classmates, these requirements are viewed as verging on an impossible workload. He reports that few students are fully prepared to discuss the readings, and that the professors are struggling to extract commentary, opinions and analyses during class.
So, our son is feeling much better-prepared to handle his grad studies than any of his classmates, some of whom graduated from highly-ranked universities.
@ALF I’m looking into Hampshire and I see that your son got into 2 universities for grad school. I wondering if there were many schools that he did not get into due to lack of traditional grading? Hampshire sounds like an interesting school for my dd, but I have a few concerns. Thanks
Our son only applied to those two institutions, because he intended to commute to grad school from his home in Seattle. He looked at University of Washington, and decided that it would not be worth applying there because they had a more stringent prerequisite policy; and he did not have all the courses they wanted to see. He would have had to take close to a year’s worth of coursework before he could apply. I don’t think that is because he went to Hampshire; I think that it is more because he did not take the appropriate courses that he should have if he intended to get a Masters in Teaching. He only decided on that plan after he graduated.
When we visited Hampshire for the second time and met with two professors in one of my son’s areas of interest, we were shown some ‘division III’ projects that had been completed by their students - they were similar to graduate school theses. I find it hard to imagine that lack of letter grades would present any obstacles to those students. (And they can take classes at the other colleges in the consortium, for which they receive a letter.) I am sure there is/was division III work that is less impressive. That said, after 6 weeks my son is finding the college rigorous. He is taking four courses and working virtually all the time. He says his hallmates are doing the same. I actually hope the workload rachets down a little bit in subsequent semesters, when he can take three courses at some points instead of four.