Hampshire College Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school?

Brittney

Some people look at Hampshire and say 'that's not a real college' because they don't take tests, because the students can do whatever they want, because that's not the way the real world works. People think we Hampshire students are all a bunch of hippies who would rather get high all day then open a book. A lot of people think this school is fully of a bunch of rich kids who can't push themselves and are basically going to a $50,000 camp every year.

Kelly

pot-smokers rich kids artsy-fartsy anarchists idealists not very motivated

Sasha

Hampshire students are lazy potheads who slack off as much as possible. They are always high, always grungy and dirty and naively interested in radical, left wing politics that will never happen. On the other hand, many students believe that because they go to Hampshire, they are automatically left wing and liberal and open minded. They do not need to work at all, join different groups, become involved in discussions for this, in a sense, they do not need to work to earn this title, they already just have it.

Leigh

pot smoking, creative, slackers, smart, rich kids pretending to be poor hippies

Rose

Hippies and Hipsters

Gene

Well there are a lot of stereotypes. The most common one is that Hampshire kids do a lot of drugs. Stereotyped as hippies. Also many people think Hampshire kids are a little weird.

Anna

- We don't do any real work - We all do drugs, more so than our peers - We're all really liberal/progressive/leftist and therefore are not racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, classist, capitalistic, imperialistic, etc., either as individuals or as an institution - We can't get jobs/into graduate school after college

Terry

birkenstock-wearing, pot-smoking, fanatically vegan trustafarians on one end and coke-snorting hipsters pseudo-intellectuals on the other

Andy

In the 5 College Consortium (so that's UMass Amherst, Amherst College, Smith and Mount Holyoke in addition to Hampshire), there's this idea that we're all represented in the 5 characters in Scooby Doo. Hampshire is Shaggy, and that's probably one of the easiest ways to think of the stereotypical Hampshire student. Laid-back, smokes a lot of weed. Hampshire's also known for being a hippie school- one assumes that Hampshire kids are vegans and wear hemp clothes and are involved in multiple activist organizations, the farther left, the better. The school itself, as a more alternative place (no grades, no majors, and the like) is often stereotyped as pretty easy- without grades or tests, people assume there's no real work to be done, and this would allow the above-mentioned students to spend more time smoking weed and attending protests.

Andrea

dirty hippies or stoners

Alexander

1) A lot of pot smokers/ drug use 2) Not diverse 3) Independent

Sarah

THE stereotype of the Hampshire student is a pot-smoking, Birkenstock wearing, peace-loving White, Upper-Middle class hippie. The stereotype is of a student who concentrates in Frisbie and does nothing except write cliched folk songs and drugs.

Dale

Hippies. Liberal.

Brett

Hampshire College students are often hippies and strange, with odd ideas about education, the social system, science or philosophy. They can be considered harmless due to general inaptitude, or dangerous due to their liberalism. Earch-child, flower-power, and pot.

Grace

That they sit around all day and smoke weed.

Katy

The most-heard stereotypes about Hampshire are that it's a hippie school full of crazy, rich stoners that don't do any work.

Torry

pretentious, lazy, potheads

Andrew

The obvious one; the Scooby canard, is that we represent the Shaggy element of the five college consortium. As such, we're supposed to be wannabe-hippies, stoners and hipsters. We have a reputation for being irresponsible layabouts, and for "thinking outside the box."

Ryan

That we are all homosexuals. That we all smoke cigarettes. That we never leave our rooms. That we are all antisocial in general. That we are all stoners, & pursue intoxication beyond the intellectual and into the hedonistic. That we are poor test-takers. That we do not play well with others. That we are all desparately insecure. That we are unexceptionally intelligent. That we are all rich, & utterly disinterested in money. That we LOVE ANIMALS!

Tate

They are pot smoking hippies. They are talkative and personable. They are wierd/socially awkward. They are self motivated.

Kelly

Students are lazy and don't do anything on time. Tons of drugs, especially cigarettes and pot. Some acid. "Dirty Hippies."

Alena Natalia

The stereotype about Hampshire is that it's full of drug addicts, stoner, hippies, and hipsters.

Alicia

There is an overall image of Hampshire students as unwashed, radical, pot-smoking, hippies who never do any work.

Madison

There are bound to be stereotypes about college students - we need simple concise ways to put people in boxes and try to understand them. Hampshire is no exception. The school was founded during the sixties in a rural area to complement the four existing schools in the area (Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, and UMass). So the stereotype most common about Hampshire kids is that they are pot-smoking, tree hugging, do-nothing liberals who are not smart enough or motivated enough to get in/do the work anywhere else.

Kristin

The top three stereotypes about Hampshire students would have to be that they are hippie pot heads that don't care about their school work.

Shelby

Hampshire students are hippies. Everyone at Hampshire smokes weed and does drugs. Hampshire classes are easy because there are no grades, only evaluations. Hampshire has a strong community feel.

Julia

Hampshire College is quirky and unique, both in the nature of the curriculum and the students that the college attracts - thus, the stereotypes surrounding Hampshire are plentiful. Hampshire stereotypes include: no grades are given, no quizes/tests/exams are given, students don't choose a major, and all students smoke.

Colin

Hampshire students are often thought to be... ...drugged ...artistic ...politically active ...dirty ...socially concerned ...loud

Elizabeth

Everyone is a hippie. Since we don't have tests, class isn't "real". Speaking of, you don't have to go to class. Everyone smokes a lot of pot. Hampshire Halloween is the shit.

Amy

Rich hippies/wanna-be hippies, potheads, people who didn't fit in in high school, PC students who over-analyze everything

Ashur

Hampshire students are most frequently stereotyped at hippie stoner kids who can't get organized enough to attend a regular college.

Cary

They're all pot-heads, they don't do any work. Hippies. Hampshire is a joke school. Where rich parents send their f*** up kids to go f*** around for four years (or longer).

Devin

pot smoking hippies, and having no grades equals slacking

Mel

Smoke a lot of weed, hippies

Greg

That Hampshire students are slackers and potheads.

Bobby

Hampshire is full of pot-smoking hippies who don't do any work because Hampshire doesn't have grades or tests.

Miranda

Hampshire students are stereotyped as rich white kids, who mainly identify as hipsters or hippies. Hampshire students also have a reputation of being all potheads.

Katy

The stereotypical Hampshire student would be best described as a pothead, a crazy hippies, or a rich stoner who's parents are paying for them.

Ruthie

Hampshire is said to be a hippie school, with lots of laid back people roaming around... drugs everywhere.

Noah

-Self absorbed hipster film students -Stoned hippies who talk about changing the world, but really are just stoned and need a shower.

Madison

Druggies, Hippies, Hyper-liberal Activists, All Art and Gender studies, etc

Samantha

Extremely liberal hippies who love nature, social change and challenging the status quo. Hampshire pretends to be radical but really just changes the mask worn over the exact same crap experienced by students at other "less radical" schools. Hampshire students are not very diverse. Everyone is an activist in a uniquely mass produced and common way. The truth is that Hampshire students are, or at least seem to be, almost entirely rich white suburban kids that are interested in "social change" but only so far as they can continue to buy their lattes and free trade skirts and vegan leather birkenstocks. Hampshire is an awesome place but not in the way they pretend to be. Hampshire is awesome because it first makes you hate your classes, then your teachers, then your friends, then yourself, then the school and then finally you come full circle and appreciate everything. Anyone who says Hampshire isn't cliquish has not taken part in the sick social experiment that is living in the on campus apartments known as "mods". Your first year you will meet a bunch of people and hang out in groups of ten and twenty people consistently. It is awesome and you feel loved. Then all your friends drop out because Hampshire can't retain it's original student body because it is such a weird and ridiculous place. Hampshire is also known for drugs and, truth is, drugs are well known to Hampshire. I would guess that nearly every student has smoked pot at least once and that 70{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students smoke at LEAST once or twice a week. Campus is a mecca for whatever tickles a person's fancy. Not everyone does drugs and most people don't go to class high but almost everyone knows how to have a good time.

Sophia

Many people consider Hampshire a slacker or stoner school. I can see why this stereotype would arise about a college like this. There are no majors, no grades, no rules and it was established in 1970. Really, the truth is, that the fact that we lack majors and grades forces a student to make goals and standards for themselves. Most of the students that Hampshire accepts are overly ambitious students that do everything rather than just make the grade. So, I would argue, that Hampshire students often times end up doing more work in their undergraduate degree than many other students. But, it is also true that you can chose to make those standards and goals lax and not really do too much. But those are often the student that drop out. There are a lot of drugs at Hampshire. I have yet to see a keg on campus. But it is rare that I go a day without seeing some green.

Gene

That we are all dirty, hippies who smoke pot, drugs, etc. Also that Hampshire Halloween is huge and such a big deal. Also perhaps, that this is a pretty easy school.

Rachel

There are a lot of stereotypes about Hampshire students, with both positive and negative connotations. There are the sort of stereotypes that the Admissions office tries to play up about Hampshire and the students: that Hampshire students are self motivated, passionate about their work, and fiercely independent. There are also the more negative stereotypes, perpetuated by people who know little else about the school other than they saw on the Saturday Night Live sketch "Jared's Room". These stereotypes usually talk about how Hampshire is a huge hippie school full of lazy drug-doing students who major in Frisbee and don't have to actually do any work.

Vinny

Hampshire is just a bunch of rich liberal kids doing whatever they want. It's not a real school. They don't take test or have grades. It's a slackers school perfect for potheads.

Molly

We're all a bunch of pot smoking, liberal, open to anyone who wants to meander onto this campus, pretentious, hippies.

Matt

Generally? Fun-loving hippies that love to smoke weed. Liberal students, liberal professors. Lazy students, lazy professors.

Cameron

a. pretentious, wealthy assholes who do a lot of cocaine and/or b. self-involved hippies who eat organic greens and tempeh every day and/or c. intellectuals, intellectuals, intellectuals who CANNOT stop talking about their taste in books, music, etc.

Anas

Stereotypes about college students are not indicative of what the college or its students are like. The type of stereotype that develop about the college are usually informed by personal experiences which, when shared with other in the college or outside of it, perpetuate these stereotypes.