Hello,
My daughter is accepted at Mount Holyoke and very excited. We drove through Northampton the other day again, which is so charming and now both of us are curious if students from Mount Holyoke are able to easily get there and enjoy student life outside of classes? What has been your experience spending time outside of MountHolyoke campus?
Thanks so much in advance!
I should defer to morgantur on this question since I am not currently a Mount Holyoke student. As I dimly recall, the Smith campus in Northampton is about a 20-30 minute drive from Mount Holyoke. However, most students take the 5 College bus which is free. I think a trip from Mount Holyoke to Northampton requires a trip that goes through Amherst and can take about an hour.
Thank you!
Wanted to circle back here to say that after much deliberation and back-and-forthing, my D20 committed to Bryn Mawr tonight. We all loved MHC so much as well and she (and we) would have been truly thrilled to go there. Hard choice! Ultimately it came down to the Bryn Mawr vibe, campus, and curricular offerings feeling like a slightly better fit for her, as well as the access to Philly. Best of luck to all MHC 2024 students – have a wonderful time!
I hope she likes it.
For those who are still undecided, you might want to check out the portraits of members of the Mount Holyoke Class of 2020 on www.mtholyoke.edu. It will allow you to imagine yourself at the end of your college journey as you get ready to launch yourself to your next life and see the experience that these students had at Mount Holyoke.
Hello! I’m also happy to answer any questions about Mount Holyoke College. I’m in the class of 2021 and am an environmental studies major and German minor. Choosing a college was very difficult for me, and I ended up deciding on Mount Holyoke right on May 1st in 2017 out of eight acceptances - I did receive the trustee scholarship which played a big factor financially. I’m very grateful that I made the decision I did, because Mount Holyoke has played a huge role in helping me grow as a person both academically and interpersonally. A bit about my involvement on campus: I competed on the dressage team my first two years of college before taking a break this year (although I still ride at the stables), write for the Mount Holyoke News, lead hikes for the Outing Club, have played in Flute Choir, taken a LOT of courses off campus at UMass and one at Amherst College, and studied abroad both in fall 2019 and over my past two summers - both summer study abroad trips funded by MHC.
Also, just because I saw a bus question earlier, the PVTA is free to travel on and very convenient going to Amherst (the route is MHC - Hampshire - Amherst College/Center - UMass and then back). The bus comes every thirty minutes on the week days and while it can sometimes be difficult to bounce from college to college on the same day, it isn’t too challenging to take classes off-campus. Transportation to NoHo can be a bit more time consuming. However, on weekdays the 39E runs between Smith and MHC which gets you to Northampton in 20-30 minutes. The only problem is it isn’t as frequent (I think it runs hourly but not late into the evening). On the weekends, you have to do a bus transfer at Hampshire to get to NoHo which takes more time. It hasn’t ever really been a problem for me, though, because I personally prefer Amherst because the restaurants are cheaper and really good!
LottaEjder, My Daughter will be a Senior at Mount Holyoke this year. She has been to all the other four schools. She went to Smith twice for Dance Auditions, and took some trips to Northampton. She went to Amherst College for a Debate competition, and was signed up for a class there but the schedule did not work out. She went to Hampshire to watch a Dance performance, and has a few friends from there who take classes at Mount Holyoke. She also took a class at U-Mass, Amherst, and went to a few frat parties. Going to Northampton is a lot easier with a car ( her room mate has one ), but the free busses, PVTA, will get you there.