Mount Holyoke College Top Questions

What do you consider the worst thing about your school? Why?

Alyssa

The worst thing about Mount Holyoke College is the location. Mount Holyoke is located in a small town in Massachusetts called South Hadley . There is not very much to do in South Hadley. Across the street from the college is an extremely small shapping center called the Village Commons. There are some great restaurants located in the Village Commons, but it does not give the "college feel" a future student may be looking for. With that being said, the students of Mount Holyoke do their best to cherish what they have.

Sarah

The dining plan is odd in that there is only one dining plan and if you miss a meal you loose that swipe.

Ester

Campus is too rural. It is too hard to go out of campus.

Kelsey

I wouldn't say that Mount Holyoke College has a "worst" thing. I can't even complain about the food. I really have to say again that the worst thing is how far students have to travel to do something other than see a movie or grab food with friends. Sometimes being on an isolated campus is really nice, but other times it is undesirable. Trying to do more off campus activities require one to own a car or endure the hour long bus rides, which are free, but time consuming.

Natalia

The cost. I absolutely love Mount Holyoke and I'm ecstatic that I go the chance to attend it, but the cost is incredbily high. I understand that it is worth it for the top notch education and faculty, but it has caused some financial strains in my home.

Catherine

The worst thing about Mount Holyoke is that there are too many opportunities. There is simply not enough time to do everything that you want to do. This includes going to lectures outside of class, student organizations, social events, internships, research opportunities, etc. Having to pick and choose is a crisis, because Mount Holyoke students, by definition, it seems, are very involved in their interests. Sleeping is usually the casualty of such intense interests.

Barbara

Monument Mountain - not your typical high school. Where the footballers and cheerleaders were laughable and the coolest thing you could do was theater or play the guitar, that's Monument. Snuggled at the foot of a mountain, this name-sake school emanates a congenial, funky, and artistic atmosphere. Unfortunately, much of that stems from student body's number one pastime - pot smoking. Perhaps as much as 80{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students smoke more than once a month. At leat 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} smoke on a weekly basis, and there are several students who live on the "high."

Claira

Its isolation. South Hadley is a very picturesque town, but it is far removed from the other universities and major towns and the bus system can be a hassel when you just want to make a quick trip to the grocery store. Coupled with an intensive homework load, the difficulty of getting off campus to socialize really has impeded my social experience of college.

Katherine

I think that it is a bit too academically focused sometimes and doesn't have enough of a social life. That is a large part of the college experience, and I feel that the social aspect can be quite lacking.

c

lack of men, middle of nowhere

Abigail

Location- it is a great get away, and Boston and NYC are accessible, but it would be nice to be a tad closer to a city. Also, the competitive nature between the students is unbelievable. Otherwise- I love it.

Cu

It's very isolated and the overwhelming general liberal outlook. These are the worst things because it is hard to escape work and the liberal perspective is like an opressive force, silencing the more conservative perspectives.

Hannah

It sometimes feels like you're in a bubble. If you make an attempt to go out, it's not so bad.

Zoe

There's a Mount Holyoke bubble that everyone gets into. It's very isolated from the rest of the world. I don't like that everyone sticks with their own little cliques and that the campus isn't diverse enough. Also, the all girls thing can really be a little much sometimes. Lots of campus gossip. I have a hard time connecting with genuine people on campus sometimes because almost everyone is so quirky and spacy, or ignorant or just plain weird in the bad way.

Kelsey

High tuition, and a certain percentage of students who honestly can't seem to comprehend that no, not everybody can afford a laptop, concert tickets, etc. Basically, classism on campus. We also sometimes have too few technical/career-related classes.

Rebekah

As a student who lives off campus, I see little or no opportunities to connect with other students outside the classroom.

Angela

The logistics involved are sometimes confused with the school's administration. They don't always fix right away what they say they will, and often they'll make mistakes and not notice.

Anna

I honestly cannot think of a worst thing; Mount Holyoke is a very well-rounded school which delivers beautifully in all areas.

Lori

The fact that everyone feels the need to be politically correct about everything. You have to watch every word that comes out of your mouth in case it offends someone, even those who have no right to be offended by it.

Meredith

Girls at the school get cliquey very quickly at the beginning of the year which can be intimidating for incoming students when trying to make friends.

Haeinn

Sometimes I wish it had more resources and connections like big universties do. But I would never trade the intimate atmosphere of the school community with anything.