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Undergraduate Colleges /
Hampshire College |
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Table of Contents |
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Curriculum |
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Hampshire College describes itself as "experimenting" rather than "experimental" in order to emphasize the continually
changing nature of its curriculum. However, from its inception the curriculum has generally had certain non-traditional
features:
- An emphasis on project work as well as, or instead of, courses.
- Detailed written evaluations for completed courses and projects, rather than letter or number grades. Additionally,
portfolio evaluation is used throughout.
- A curriculum centered on student interests, with students taking an active role in designing their own concentrations
and projects.
The curriculum is divided into three "Divisions" rather than four years, and students complete these Divisions in varying
amounts of time.
- Division I, the distribution stage, requires students to complete one course in each of the five Schools of Thought
and three other courses, either on or off campus. (Until Fall 2002, Division I required
student-directed independent projects ; the new system, designed with the goal of quicker and smoother student progress, has
caused some controversy.)
- Division II, the concentration or "major," requires students to learn about a single subject (which may or may not be
a traditional academic field) in detail. Each student is responsible for designing their own Division II in cooperation with a
committee of at least two faculty members. Many students choose a faculty committee whose members represent their own
interdisciplinary interests.
- Division III, the advanced project, requires students to complete an in-depth project in their field of choice (which
is generally related to the Division II field). Division III generally lasts one year and is completed while taking few or no
courses (and certainly none unrelated to the Division III topic). A Division III topic can be a long written academic paper (in
which case it is best considered something between a traditional college's "bachelor's" or "honors" thesis and a Master's or
other graduate thesis), but it can also be a collection of creative work (writing, painting, photography, and film are popular
choices) or a hands-on engineering, invention, or social organizing project.
The Hampshire College faculty are organized not in traditional departments but in broadly defined Schools. The Schools' names
and definitions have varied over the College's history, but there have always been between three and five of them. As of 2003, the Schools are:
- Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (HACU): includes film, some studio arts, literature, media
studies, and most philosophy
- Social Science (SS): includes most sociology and anthropology,
economics, history, politics, and some psychology
- Natural Science (NS): includes most traditional sciences,
mathematics, and biological anthropology
- Cognitive Science (CS): includes linguistics, some
psychology, neuroscience, and computer science
- Interdisciplinary Arts
(IA): includes performing arts, some studio arts, and creative writing
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Interesting Fact |
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40 years ago, women used to score 50 points lower on the Math portion of the SAT than on the Verbal. Today, their Math and Verbal scores are nearly identical on average. |
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Did you know... |
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The MyPlan.com Career College Database provides detailed profiles on more than 4,200 different vocational schools in the U.S. |
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