Hampshire College

Hampshire, in Amherst, Mass., is among the most innovative colleges in the country, challenging students to design their own programs of study and recruit a faculty committee to advise them using narrative evaluations rather than grades. Like a graduate school model for undergraduates, the success of the College can be measured by the mainstreaming of many of its innovations in education and the achievements of its alums: Academy Award and Emmy Award winners, best-selling authors, scientists, historians, Peabody winners, MacArthur Foundation awardees, Fulbright scholars, and more. The College is ranked 40th in the US for percentage of alumni who earn doctorate degrees according to the National Science Foundation. More than a quarter of its grads have started their own venture or organization, landing the college on Forbes’s 2015 list of top-ten most-entrepreneurial colleges. Hampshire is part of the Five Colleges consortium, through which our students share classes, activities, and resources with the students of Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and UMass Amherst.