Sort By:
[Date]
[Major]
[Rating]
| Not so bright | anyone can put a comment on here-even people who have never set foot on campus | Innovation: A, Faculty Accessibility: F |  | | |
| | Mar 07 2009 | 1st Year Female --
Class 2012 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=58331&uid=579'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
| Quite Bright |
I am so, so sorry that I came to Hampshire. Most of the students are slackers (with a few bright pockets of really self-motivated folks, most of the professors are so insanely focused on touting their PC agenda that they don't actually teach their field. Ridiculous numbers of the students are paranoidly focused on racism (in the ultra-liberal Pioneer Valley? Hello?), bashing Israel for fun or writing bizarre Div IIIs about kinky sex (guess it doesn't take much work so they choose that topic.) Oh, yeah, and being cool doing drugs (which the administration totally looks the other way about, even though it's a big problem.)
I'm gay, I'm minority and I HATE the close-mindedness on this campus (from faculty, too) that assumes I want to be ghetto-ized in a "Queer Hall" or run around being all paranoid so I can't be friends with white kids unless they bend over backwards apologizing for their "white privelege."
If you can go somewhere else, do so. Huge numbers of Hampshire students transfer out every year. I know why - and I will be one. | Useful Schoolwork: B, Education Quality: F | | | |
| | Mar 05 2009 | 2nd Year Female --
Class 2011 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=58271&uid=579'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
| Quite Bright |
I went to Hampshire with the highest expectations, and with the largest merit scholarship they award. I made many friends, and had a few good professors. However, on balance I was deeply disappointed by a chaotic, intolerant campus dominated by insane political posturing and students who mostly just slide through their work.
As a multi-racial student, who had been active in social justice issues all my life, I was horrified to find a campus that lives in fear because of student "activists" who cannot tolerate anyone else's viewpoint without calling them "racist", "repugnant" and "neo-Nazi" and whose response to any question about their viewpoint is to say "I don't have to educate you!!" (How, one wonders, do they hope to change minds?)
Jewish students who don't want to trash Israel should STAY AWAY - both faculty and students are hostile and harassing towards students with ANYTHING positive to say about Israel (and I note this as a left-wing, two state solution guy). The campus Rabbi is terrified, and so are a lot of Jewish students, many of whom are transferring out.
The administration, while struggling financially, has given in to the demands of radical students to forward their political agenda, which is not necessary in the best interests of the majority of the students. For example, they are hiring more professors for Black Studies courses. While there's nothing wrong with Black Studies courses, the ones presently offered are not filled: At the same time, the buildings and grounds are filthy and poorly kept up, and the Art Department (which many students come to the school for) has been cut and is struggling to survive. Why not use that money where it benefits the most students?
Additionally, one wonders why, if these students really want to accomplish something, they don't go out and work for change in agencies off campus, instead of accusing one of the most progressive, leftist schools in the US of "racism." And why does the administration cave in to such silly rhetoric?
Many, many professors are more interested in promoting whatever political agenda they favor than in teaching. Evaluations (given in place of grades) are sometimes AS MUCH AS THREE YEARS LATE, with no action taken to require the professor to complete that student's transcript.
The campus climate is one of intolerance for ANY view other than the most radical left - and the administration allows radical students to target and harass other students without taking any disciplinary action.
STAY AWAY - go to a school where students want to learn, actually apply themselves to their studies, and where political activism is responsible, sane and tolerant of the other side at least expressing their viewpoints. | Collaboration/Competitive: B-, Education Quality: F | | | |
| | Mar 03 2009 | 2nd Year Male --
Class 2013 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=58197&uid=579'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
| Quite Bright |
I transferred to Hampshire for what I believed at the time to be all the right reasons: the so-called experimental curriculum, its politics, and the ability to do research as an undergraduate. If my Division III (final thesis) helps me to get into a good graduate school, then perhaps someday I will eat some of these words.
Going to Hampshire is probably the worst decision I have ever made, and my years here have been far and away the worst years of my life. I have never felt as deeply let down as I have during my time here. There are a few good professors (about a third of them, I would say), but that leaves two-thirds who are lazy or incompetent. Every semester I have been saddled with classes taught by nitwits who don't even seem to be doing their own reading. Class is frequently boring and surprisingly awkward as a result. Many of the teachers have political views that can drive you insane. Hampshire is probably one of the last strong bastions of political correctness in the nation. They continuously trivialize serious oppression by absurd theorizing.
The biggest problem at Hampshire, however, is the other students. What a bunch of clowns. Most people at the school do little to no work. I may be especially sensitive to this, as I am majoring in a field related to literature. My classes are crammed with hack poets who believe that their muse excuses them from doing any real work or having intellectual interests. I have been appalled in every way at Hampshire, which has some novelty and was initially quite funny, but has worn very thin over time. Even on the Division IIIs, which are supposed to take all of senior year and be some sort of crowning achievement, most students find ways to do work that is not only unimpressive, but juvenile. Last year, somebody has stitched together and displayed some rather hideous creation, something like a psychedelic shag carpet with a big text block in the middle, which used the word "you're" when it should have said "your." Somebody earned a degree for that. I am ashamed that I will one day have a Hampshire degree, because even though my own work will be of fine quality, there will be no means of distinguishing it. One only has to read a few Div IIIs to get a sense for how awful most of them are. People pay $40000 to spend their senior year doing this instead of taking classes. You're paying for your degree, not your education. Most students leave you to wonder why they came to Hampshire in the first place, because they do not seem to have any special interest in the things that make Hampshire unusual. They're largely just slackers, maybe with some deluded view about how "alternative" they are. You will meet some very interesting people as well, I must say, but they certainly don't make it worth it.
All of this is made worse by persistent bureaucratic problems, something which I understand to be pretty universal at college, but which is no less excusable. All of the "experimental" aspects at Hampshire end up being disguised bureaucracy. Having a committee of teachers to advise is worse than useless. Because there are so few really good teachers relative to the entire faculty, many of the good teachers are terribly overworked and will not have time for you. Finding a committee becomes a nightmare, and one which has no happy ending, as there is generally no reason to consult them in the first place until you are writing your Division III.
I would strongly discourage anyone who has other good options from attending Hampshire. Not only is it is a prison, but because of the grading system it is considerably more difficult to transfer from than most colleges. I read reviews of Hampshire on this site before I decided to accept my admissions, and I foolishly disregarded the negative things people have to say about the school -- they're all true. Don't make the same mistake as I did. | Perceived Campus Safety: A, Education Quality: F | | | |
| | Feb 05 2009 | 3rd Year Male --
Class 2010 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=57510&uid=579'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
 |
Articles
