Mount Holyoke College Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Stephanie

Every school has every stereotype in some sense. We do have a larger than average "out" LGBT population, but it isn't the majority of the school at all. We are politically active and many are super serious about academics, and I'm guessing the slutty stereotype comes from guys who come to campus on the weekend and tell stories to their friends (whether they're true or not). I'd say we're an intelligent lot :)

Kelsey

To the first, yes, mostly. There are always a few exceptions. At first, I didn't think so, but I was really underestimating the percentage of students that identifies as something other than completely straight.

Marion

Well - Mount Holyoke students are exceptionally smart and committed young women and we do have a significant number of students identifying as LBQ etc., but as with all stereotypes, this one is definitely too narrow. AND Mount Holyoke students are definitely not guy-crazy :)

Ariel

Nope! There are many openly lesbian and bisexual women. It is highly advisable that all applicants and students are acceptable of this. I would say that almost everyone is. There are a select few exceptions, but do not fret! There are always are those select few are a little bit different. MHC takes pride in each other's differences and I love that!

Sasha

Not for the majority of the student body.

Ryan

Yes and no, it is really a mix of people, but people assume that we are just a bunch of smart yet sexually-confused girls. There are more straight women here. Smith is really the school that is "gay". We have a large population of straight girls who are just like co-ed university girls. The real key is to be open-minded and learn to accept and understand others, even if they are different from you. It's a great learning experience.

Blake

Although the girls at Mount Holyoke are very smart they care and can have fun. Not all of us are lesbians but we do accept that way of life.

Andy

To some extent yes, but we are a very diverse campus and no stereotype can fit all the members of our community.

Barbara

Yes and no. Many of the students of Mount Holyoke question their sexuality at some point and nearly just as many experiment. A number of these are termed "LUGs" - lesbian until graduation. These are girls who come in, lose sight of men (easy to do), and decide that for the next four years, a female significant other is just fine. Upon graduation they immediately revert to men. Others continue through life as lesbian or bi, and still others never turn from their original identity as straight.

Maudie

Not at all. While there is an active gay/bisexual community, it is not an overwhelming factor. There are many people who chose the school because it has good academics and it met their needs in some way.

Mickey

To some extent. If, on a tour or at a formal school-sponsored event, someone asks about the sexuality tenancies, an answer like this is often given: "it's not that our school has more homosexual and trans-gender students, it is just more obvious here because we are such an open-minded and accepting group of women." In all honesty, there are probably just as many, if not more, homosexual and trans-gender students as heterosexual As far as intellect goes, I would say that the majority of the students fall into one of these two categories 1) Not naturally smart but hard workers 2) Naturally smart but are slackers I came to the school expecting motivated intelligent people but it seems that many people think that they are smarter than they really are. Furthermore, the really smart people don't seem to care about their work because they know that they test well and will end up getting good grades anyway.

Meredith

Yes.

Terry

There is an ounce of truth in each stereotype, but the large picture shows a slightly different story. When Las Vegas Night comes to campus, every third Moho can be seen running around the green in her underwear, and oftentimes Mohos will escape to Amherst College on the weekends for a one-time fling. Most though, are more conservative and careful when it comes to experiencing new relationships. While Mohos undergo great pressure to succeed in their classes, they have a great knack for balancing workload with a mix of other activities, always keeping busy with a slew of well-rounded projects. They're some of the most studious people you'll ever meet, but you wouldn't know it by the amount of socializing they do. If you talk to anyone in the five-college area about the general warmth of the campus, they'll tell you they've never heard anything nice about Mount Holyoke students. Mohos can seem a bit indifferent and even cold at first, and you might find it hard to latch on to some friends, but once you get past those first few awkward weeks, it's easy to find your niche. Lastly, you can definitely expect a lot of activism on this campus, and many Mohos are so passionate about being open-minded and intellectual that you may get your tongue cut off if you don't choose your words carefully enough.

Dale

Unfortunately, these stereotypes are nearly dead-on. You cannot escape Mt. Holyoke's gay community, and if you're at any kind of cooed function, the straight women cannot control themselves.

Rosie

Many MHC students are willing to explore their sexuality. However, I would say that this is due to MHC's openness and the safety of the environment, and that very few students of "easy" or just looking for a one night stand. As for the second, we do care about our work, as we must, because the school is very challenging. However, I don't know any students who don't occasionally let down their hair and forget about work for an evening of fun with the girls.

Christina

Well, there is a much larger percentage of gay women at Mount Holyoke than is found at a typical co-educational institution. Also, there defiantly a large percentage of socially awkward girls who go here because they do not feel comfortable around men. Many of the women are feminists and are very strong willed- but most are not as intelligent as they think they are.

Allie

I believe that every stereotype has a grain of truth but these of course do not at all represent the whole student body. There are tree huggers as well as hummers. There are Lesbians as well as homophobic students. We do not necessarily have an overwhelming homosexual population, it's just that because we are an all womens campus, they can express their sexuallity with more comfort. And we are very into our studies and we are not a party school. But Amherst is right down the street. And we are not all socially akward and afraid of boys at all!

Shelby

Nooo...I go off campus all the time to see boys, and I met my current boyfriend while at school. I'm always going to amazing parties on campus and off with my friends and at other schools, and though there is an open gay population on campus, there are plenty of straight people for us to party with.

Monica

No! I came to Mount Holyoke yes as a rider, but extremely academically oriented. I wanted a school that would have a high level of academics as well as a riding program of the same caliber. I have found that at Mount Holyoke, both the academics are challenging especially in the Sciences, Politics and Languages and the Riding team is one of the top teams in the nation with equally intelligent team members.

Nina

For the most part, no, but there are always those girls that really just perpetuate it.

Charlie

For the most part, but they don't take into account those who crash and burn trying to live up to the stereotypes

Dorothy

No! True there is a significant "Queer" population (to use a general term for many different catagories), but it's not the majority of students by far. As for the "desperate" label, yes, after a month or so lots of us will be a little more forward in our advances towards boys, but I (like most of my fellow MHC women) did not come to college to get married. We're by no means desperate!

Melanie

For the most part, no. While I find students to be competitive, it is usually more with besting their own efforts than someone else's.

Arianna

No. Every campus has their party girls and Mount Holyoke has some, but not an overwhelming amount. Mount Holyoke has a lot of different types of people and not all of them party.

Brett

For the most part they are...its a womans college so there is a pretty prevelant lesbian culture on campus...its alot more in your face than i would have thought it would be..not much for parties on campus either but amherst and umass are fun

Kristen

We do have a large lesbian population but I don't think there is a lot of pressure from our gay community. We do have some girls who act desperate for guys. We are a very intellectual community.

Whitney

You certainly have those individuals who hold up both stereotypes, but thats only a handful out of 2,000 women. Most of us clearly can not be categorized that simply and don't possess characteristics of either stereotypes.

Angela

A lot of them are but you can be a hot nerd here!

Caitlin

no

Emily

Not necessarily.

Kaitlin

No, of course not. With Mt Holyoke, we aren't ALL anything. In terms of personality, style, "type," etc. Mt holyoke is really diverse. No matter what kind of person you are, I guarentee there will be other people like you at mt holyoke. Sorority-types to D&D geeks and anything in between... not that I necessarily believe in categorization... Another VERY wrong stereotype is that we are girls who needed to be away from boys in order to feel comfortable speaking in class, etc. It could not be more the opposite.

Megan

Not really. There are a few people who earn these stereotypes for themselves, but they are not representative of the community at large.

Jess

Not as such. The school is a very welcoming community to people of any sexual orientation, and people interested in dating seem to be very able to meet potential partners, regardless of gender, at the many on and off campus events. There are a large number of gay/queer students, but that is by no means the overwhelming majority.

Dani

The first is definitely not true, the second is, to a degree.

Hannah

These are not true. Though the lesbian population may be higher and more obvious, there are heterosexual and bisexual women here too. Mount Holyoke students do focus on school but are able to have fun and do extracurricular activities as well.

Mireille

Some of them can be. There are a lot of girls who experiment with their sexuality, but I think people do that at almost every college. Here we just happen to only have women as students, so the chances are that your experimenting might get you labelled as a lesbian.

Quinn

Nope, yes we do have lesbians, so do Wellesley, smith, Barnard, and the other all girls school. Hell, even co-ed schools have lesbians. The difference is our lesbians are awesome. Personally, I'm straight and have alot of friends who are straight also and alot who aren't. The bottom line is all these girls are really smart, come from different countries with totally different backgrounds. Also we are not some conservative school; you can't get as liberal as moho is. The whole boys issue is also disconcerning. I'm a junior and I bet my boyfriend in college, and no he doesn't go to amherst. Boys do come to campus, our largest party Vegas night brings tons of boys to campus. Usually girls here don't tend to worry about men, if we want them we know how to get them. Its the opportunities this school provides that gets brings us here.

Alex

No. Just like in the real world most of the people here are straight. The difference is, though, that the group of LGBT students is very vocal, well represented, and accepted in the community. And it is a good place to experiment if you are questioning your sexuality. I don't think the students here can be placed into any one type. We are extremely diverse, not only in terms of things like race and religion, but also in personality. You can find every type of person here. One thing I have noticed though is that the students here tend to be extremely friendly, helpful, and bright. We have a very strong sense of community. One of the reasons I decided to come here is that when I was visiting the campus students kept coming up to me, introducing themselves, and asking if I needed help with directions or anything. I didn't find that anywhere else.

Ruth

Well some of us, but some of us aren't, and we get stuck with these names.

Jessica

No. Not everyone is a lesbian, but it is a very open community. I am not a huge feminist, but I do not like the negative connotations associated with the term either. Most women at Mount Holyoke believe in equal rights, just because they are willing to fight for them does not make them crazy.

Amanda

See above.

Hannah

While they absolutely exists, there are so many more types of women here. All of the arts are never really look at, but the art scene here is really incredible.

Claire

To some extent, this stereotype is true. But Mohos also know how to have fun!

Julia

As is generally the case with stereotypes, they are based in truth. But as is also usually the case, they are not entirely accurate. While you can often find parties on campus, and you can certainly find your fair share of butch lesbians, we are a lot more complex than any stereotypes make us to be.

KJ

no

Devin

there are a few whack job feminists, but most of us arent here waiting to be swept off our feet and kept in the lap of luxury. we're here so we can do that for ourselves

Sarah

some people are lesbians/feminist/liberals but we have a very diverse student body which creates a community for all kinds of people

Quinn

somewhat

Chris

Not at all. Most students on campus probably identify as heterosexual however identifying as anything else is completely accepted on campus therefore loving (in a sexual or non-sexual way) women is often made fun of by ourselves. We are not all rich and snobby. In fact Mt. Holyoke actually has a wonderful reputation for giving many need-based scholarships out to students of color and diverse specialties (i.e. which clubs you were in in high school or did you do anything special outside of school). Women here take pride in their academic abilities because we know how hard it can be in the "real world" to show off those abilities. That does not however, make us snobby. We love everyone who visits our campus, whether visiting from a high school or another college. Though some men feel they have gotten strange looks while on campus, it's mostly because people are curious how they came to be here. (Are they someone's boyfriend, are they taking a class, going to a party). It's reasonable to assume that if you're a man you'll get looks simply because this college is not co-ed therefore male students are a bit rare on campus. Most don't mean any harm, though, it's just usually innocent curiosity. We do NOT drink and party all the time. In fact this is a pretty "dry" campus compared to many other liberal arts and universities. Most of the time it's pretty quiet in the dorms and we have rules on campus to prevent students from just drinking ANYWHERE on campus. If there are big party events there's almost always a "sober" event option either happening at a specific location or in the dorm living room areas. Most of the time the smaller parties happen in specific dorm rooms and we still have to abide by the dorm hall's agreed upon time for quiet hours. Also we have specific floors in some dorms that are "24-hour" quiet hours. Although many women feel deprived of men sometimes when they first arrive on campus, this deprivation soon fades away when women realize how much of their time is used working, doing homework, and spending time with friends. While there's always a few women on campus that go out to hook up with the five college boys on the weekends, that's mostly a small group of people (usually first years). Most women I know enjoy their single life and know how to limit the meeting of men to just dances and it's unlikely they take them back to their room for a random hook-up.

meg

Umm there is a really high percentage of gay students, and the lack of men does make some people a little desperate. And we are definitely pretty smart.