We have a familiy member who is interested in Hampshire... (Cambridge: 2014, crimes)

[warren zee]

What type of college experience can he expect?

He is a Fine Arts major with a minor in English. Is there much incineration between students at Hampshire and others in the pioneer valley?

Any information would be helpful.

[goyguy]

Hampshire is renowned for not being a "traditional" college, in the sense of there being set curricula. Instead, students customize their studies and essentially create their own degree. The campus also doesn't contain what one thinks of as dormitories, but has large townhouse-type buildings set up for cooperative living. Not surprisingly, the composition of the student body (plenty of "earthy crunchy" and "artistic" types) reflects this.

I've never heard of intercollegiate incinerations anywhere. Seriously, though, Hampshire is anything but an entity unto itself. It's part of the Five College consortium spanning the Pioneer Valley area. Anybody enrolled there has near-total latitude in terms of what classes they take where. My sisters, graduates of Mt Holyoke, took advantage of this by enrolling in courses at Smith and UMass that weren't offered at MHC. (Amherst College is the fifth school in the group.) Even with the ongoing and sometimes ominous cutbacks at UMass, the fine arts departments are still well regarded. The grandson of friends is a sophomore with a music major and is having an amazing time. Most likely anyone with interests in that area who enrolls at Hampshire will find themselves soon becoming very familiar with the "FAC" (Fine Arts Center.) Therein lies the beauty of the Five College concept.

Despite the rural/suburban feel of the vicinity, the valley jumps with activity throughout the academic year. Many of the businesses in Northampton and Amherst exist to cater to the student trade, while the town of Hadley between them is home to a regional mall and national-chain stores. Frequent bus service connects the campuses and town centers so that having one's own vehicle isn't necessary. Widespread sentiment holds that the valley is a "paradise" for young adults. People in their adolescent years make up a disproportionate percentage of the population and local economies depend on them. Not including students, the respective head count of residents in Amherst (~16,000) and Northampton (~29,000) means that even the larger communities have a small-town feel. Besides loud parties and property crimes, the incidence of bad things happening is low. As a city kid I was soon not enamored of my surroundings in "Noho" and belatedly left after two years. But my siblings loved every minute of their time at MHC. "It all depends on the person."

As a possible alternative, have you looked into Bard College? The original campus in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York has long been renowned for its artistic bent - Steely Dan was conceived and born there. Now Bard is comprised of two additional campuses to the one in Annandale-on-Hudson. The school has acquired Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, which retains its original name and focus. (It's heavily geared toward students as young as 16 who have demonstrated maturity and academic strength. Until very recently the degree programs only lasted for two years - after which alumni typically transferred to 4-year schools with an impressive head start - but now one can finish out all four years there.) Last year the Longy School of Music in Cambridge became the third Bard campus, here again with little changing except for the ownership of the institution. So if we're talking in terms of someone who's looking to grow as a musician Bard could be their ticket as well. If instead your relative is an "artist artist," presumably this wouldn't hold as true and Hampshire might be a better fit.

[CaseyB]

Known as a Hippie College.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by goyguy

I've never heard of intercollegiate incinerations anywhere.

Heh, I saw that too.

Great post, though didn't Bard purchase Simon's Rock decades ago?

There are also some rumblings in the education press about the long-time fiscal viability of Bard more generally (Donor dependent Bard College faces the future | Inside Higher Ed, as one example), but it perhaps speaks to the way in which Bard operates outside of the box, for better or ill, and that they don't confine themselves to the 'college as business' mentality most of the higher ed sector has taken on.

While Bard produced Steely Dan, Hampshire lays claim to Elliott Smith and Ken Burns. Alum bragging rights fight!

[goyguy]

I didn't put a time line on when Simon's Rock was taken over, but "decades ago" would be correct since it's probably been about 20 years.
Outside the various "Ivy Leagues" (the "Southern Ivies" like Vanderbilt, Rice, and Duke; the "Public Ivies" like UVA, Cal-Berkeley, and UMich; New England's "Little Three;" and other elite groupings in addition to the traditional one) the future of hundreds of colleges doesn't look all that rosy. The "hippie" schools in Vermont are either on the verge of collapse or have folded. Most famously, the once uber-radical Antioch College in rural Ohio recently landed on the ropes fiscally and was revived as it took its last breaths. Despite their being diploma mills churning out degrees not worth the paper they're printed on, online "schools" are making a dent in "traditional" universities' enrollments. Two-year institutions have mostly changed to four-year or have gone under - in some cases, like Bradford College in Haverhill, both things happened. Even the word "college" itself, as part of an institution's name, is slowly vanishing. Right down to the least selective places like Bay State and Fisher Colleges, schools are opening satellite campuses in rented office space and are putting more and more classes on the Internet. None of this bodes well for the "free thinker" or someone who's dedicated to creating or interpreting artistic works. And the problem's not confined to Bard or Hampshire.
With that I'll kick back and wait for another post from the person who got this started.