Admit rate has ranged 2%–75% over the last 5 years — notably volatile. Source: IPEDS via Urban Institute.
Acceptance & SAT from Common Data Set / IPEDS; net price, earnings & graduation from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~1–2 years — verify with the school.
Hampshire College is the ultimate laboratory for the self-directed, intellectually restless student. With no traditional majors, grades, or core requirements, this Amherst, MA institution offers a radical experiment in higher education—one where students design their own interdisciplinary 'concentrations,' collaborate closely with faculty, and graduate with a portfolio of work rather than a transcript. The vibe is fiercely creative, politically engaged, and unapologetically quirky, with a 54% graduation rate that hints at both the challenges and rewards of its free-form approach.
Admission requirements
Test-blind — scores not considered
Required
High school transcript
Letters of recommendation
TOEFL (non-native English)
Considered (not required)
Grade point average
Class rank
College-prep program
Demonstrated competencies
Source: IPEDS Admissions survey (2022) via Urban Institute. Covers formal factors only — it does not reflect essays, extracurriculars, or other holistic criteria.
More details
Undergrad enrollment
839
In-state tuition
$58,896
Out-of-state tuition
$58,896
Location
Amherst, MA
Notable Alumni
Ken Burns, Art Spiegelman, Liev Schreiber
Acceptance Rate
75%
On-Campus Housing
91% of students
Student-Faculty Ratio
13:1
6-Year Graduation Rate
54%
Avg Financial Aid Package
$51,250
Outcomes & value
Outcomes & value
Median earnings (10 yr)
$46,938
Value (earnings ÷ net price)
2.0×
Median debt at graduation
$26,893
Graduation rate
54%
First-year retention
78%
Reducing loan balance (3 yr)
73%
Pell (lower-income) share
49%
First-generation share
14%
Endowment / student
$32,469
Financial health
0.6 / 3.0Below the federal standard — financial stress
U.S. Dept. of Education Financial Responsibility Composite Score (FY2022-23). Scale −1.0 to 3.0; ≥1.5 meets the standard. Reported for private nonprofit & for-profit institutions only — public universities are state-backed and not scored, so this is a stability signal, not a ranking.
Top-earning majors
Median earnings by field of study (highest credential), ~2 years after completion.
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities$19,829
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (field-of-study earnings). Figures cover graduates who received federal aid and lag ~2 years; not all programs report data.
Campus & location
Campus safety
On-campus violent crimes (2024)
0
Per 1,000 students
0.00
On-campus criminal offenses classed as violent (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for the most recent reported year. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education Campus Safety and Security (Clery Act). Counts reflect what’s reported to the school, and urban campuses often report more partly due to non-student incidents nearby — read alongside campus size and setting, not as a standalone safety verdict.
Climate
Pleasant days / yr
87
Summer high
82°F
Winter low
22°F
Annual rain
52.5"
Annual snow
36.7"
Natural-hazard risk
Relatively Low
Pleasant days counts days per year with a mean temperature of 55–75°F, a high at or below 90°F, a low at or above 45°F, and little precipitation — a transparent comfort measure, not a weighting we invented. Computed from Open-Meteo ERA5 daily history (2019–2023). Natural-hazard risk is the county’s composite rating from the FEMA National Risk Index.
Deep dive — research, future-scholar output & economic mobility▾
Research output
Institutional h-index
113
Scholarly works
2,364
Institutional research volume and impact from OpenAlex. The h-index reflects large research universities and will be low for teaching-focused liberal-arts colleges — not a measure of undergraduate quality.
Share of this school’s graduates who go on to earn research doctorates (2010–20), by national rank and per-capita yield (NSF institutional-yield ratio). A signal of a research-oriented student culture — not a causal promise, since it partly reflects who enrolls. Only top producers appear. Source: NSF NCSES, Baccalaureate Origins of U.S. Research Doctorate Recipients.
Economic mobility
Mobility rate
0.7%
Bottom → top quintile
13%
Quick answers
What is the acceptance rate at Hampshire College?
Hampshire College's acceptance rate is approximately 75% (Amherst, MA), based on the most recent figures we compiled from public and primary sources.
How much does Hampshire College cost?
At Hampshire College, the average net price (after aid) is about $24,034 per year. Actual cost varies with financial aid and residency.
How many undergraduates attend Hampshire College?
Hampshire College enrolls approximately 839 undergraduate students.
Where is Hampshire College located?
Hampshire College is located in Amherst, MA.
Admissions
Hampshire's admissions process reflects its unconventional ethos: test-blind (no SAT/ACT considered) and moderately selective, with a 75% acceptance rate for first-years and 74% for transfers (2023-24). Of the 2,214 first-year applicants that cycle, about 70% were admitted, with an average high school GPA of 3.5. The middle 50% of admitted students who submitted test scores had SATs between 1160–1350 or ACTs of 24–29, though these are largely moot under the test-blind policy. Notably, the college emphasizes 'Holistic admissionsA review that weighs the whole applicant — grades, essays, activities, and context — rather than relying on test scores and GPA alone.,' prioritizing intellectual curiosity and self-direction over standardized metrics.
Forget majors—Hampshire students design their own 'concentrations' across three divisional stages: exploration (Division I), specialization (Division II), and a capstone project (Division III). The most popular areas include Art/Art Studies (12% of students), Creative Writing (11%), and Psychology (5%), though the curriculum bends toward interdisciplinary mashups (e.g., 'Environmental Justice + Documentary Filmmaking'). Faculty work as advisors, not lecturers, with a . The Five College Consortium (with Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and UMass Amherst) allows cross-registration, but Hampshire's true distinction is its —no grades, just detailed feedback.
Earnings = median of students working ~10 years after entry; debt = median of graduates. Value divides 10-yr earnings by one year’s net price — read it as earnings per dollar of annual cost, not a full lifetime ROI; it favors lower-cost schools. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~2 years and reflect all students, not your intended major.
From bottom quintile
6%
Mobility rate = the share of students who both start in the bottom household-income quintile and reach the top quintile; bottom → top is that chance conditional on starting at the bottom. Source: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Cards (Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner & Yagan). Reflects 1980–82 birth cohorts, so it’s directional, not current.
The 800-acre campus—home to working farms, the Yiddish Book Center, and the Eric Carle Museum—feels like an activist-artist commune. 91% of students live on campus, many in mod-style housing with themes like 'Sustainability' or 'Queer Community.' Traditions include Primal Scream (pre-finals stress relief) and Drag Ball. The vibe is countercultural: think vegan co-ops, student-run 'Campus Collaborative' governance, and protests (Hampshire was the first US college to divest from apartheid South Africa). Instagram reels showcase 'unconventional, definitely quirky' spaces, from pottery studios to sheep pastures.
Hampshire's 54% six-year graduation rate (per IPEDS) is strikingly low for a selective private college—a trade-off of its unstructured model. Alumni skew toward creative fields: filmmaker Ken Burns, journalist Liev Schreiber, and 'Maus' author Art Spiegelman all attended. The college doesn’t trumpet salary data, but its pedagogy prioritizes portfolio-building over job-placement stats. Notably, the 'Division III' capstone often becomes a professional springboard (e.g., a documentary film, scientific research, or activist campaign).
At $61,484 sticker price (2023-24), Hampshire is expensive but generous: 100% of first-years receive aid, with an average need-based grant of $51,250. The Net priceWhat a family actually pays after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the sticker price — usually far less than the published cost. averages $28,165, though Pell Grant recipients often pay under $24,087. The college meets 100% of demonstrated need, primarily through grants (not loans). A net price calculator helps estimate costs, but the real value proposition is Hampshire's low-residency model: many students spend semesters off-campus interning or researching.
Hampshire is higher education’s most daring experiment—a place where students might spend a morning coding AI for a climate project, an afternoon herding sheep at the farm, and a evening debating Foucault in a dorm lounge. Its flaws (low graduation rates, intense self-direction demands) are inseparable from its genius: no other college trusts undergrads so completely to design their own education. For the right student—autodidactic, politically bold, allergic to syllabi—it’s transformative. As one Reddit reviewer put it: 'I love the farm; I love the teaching styles... I love so many things.'
Hampshire College logo · sourceCampus Map | Hampshire College · sourceCampus Map | Hampshire College · sourceHampshire College - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges · source
