Low Freshman Retention Rate?

BTMell
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 14:29:20 +0000

Hi - my son is a recent Hampshire grad. He thinks a big part of the problem is that kids see “no requirements” and equate that with “easy”, hence much of the reason many don’t return after freshman year. I agree with @Snowdog - you have to be very self-motivated in order to do well at Hampshire. My son loved it and had an excellent experience there. He ended up taking classes at four of the five colleges (he didn’t take a class at Smith) and found that really worked for him. He had wonderful faculty support from within Hampshire and also had a couple of mentors from Amherst College and Mt. Holyoke. You should visit, try to do an overnight with a student and talk to students who are there. It’s a unique school but when it works, it’s pretty much perfect. My son had an excellent experience and can’t imagine being anywhere else.