Hampshire College

printable application instructions (pdf)

First-year students are required to submit:

• The Common Application (including the personal essay)
• Hampshire Supplement (including the analytical essay)
• $60 nonrefundable application fee (waived if submitted online)
• Teacher recommendation (pdf)
• School Report: counselor recommendation (pdf)
• Official high school transcript
• Official transcript(s) from any and all colleges attended (if applicable)
• Additional requirement for homeschooled applicants

Optional Application Materials for All First-Year Applicants

Interviews
Interviews are strongly encouraged. If you are unable to interview on campus, we will make every effort to arrange a local interview with a graduate of the college or an admissions counselor visiting your area.

To schedule an interview, call the admissions office at 877.937.4267 at least two weeks in advance. Interviews must be completed by the admissions deadline.

Test Scores
College Board number: 3447; ACT number: 1842
Although Hampshire does not require submission of standardized tests, SAT or ACT scores can sometimes help us assess your abilities more fully. Please forward exam results directly to the admissions office.

Sample of Creative Work
Although submissions of creative work rarely determine an admissions decision, they can add another dimension to your application and give a fuller picture of your interests and talents.

Please note that we can only review items that are no larger than three sheets of letter-size (8 1/2” x 11”) pieces of paper.

Following are examples of creative work that can be submitted on up to three separate sheets of letter-size paper:

• Creative writing
• Slides of paintings, drawings, sculpture, or craft work (mounted and labeled in a letter-size slide sleeve)
• Photographs
• CD or DVD (no longer than fifteen minutes), or multimedia portfolio (please use a thin CD sleeve)

Because of the volume of mail that we receive, we regret that we cannot return samples of creative work.

Additional Requirement for Homeschooled Applicants
At a minimum, home schooled candidates are required to submit the Common Application's Home School Supplement.

While there are a wide variety of ways in which home-schooled students go about their education, it is the student's responsibility to present her or his home schooling program in a manner that will enable the Admissions Committee to get the strongest sense of the high school program and level of achievement.

We suggest that the student's home school portfolio include the following information:

• A brief description of learning activity or course taken
• The dates and amount of time spent on the activity
• Texts read and work produced related to the learning activity (i.e. papers, projects, etc.)
• A grade or narrative assessment of work and growth in that area

Most activities used as part of your portfolio should have a grade or narrative evaluation of your work and progress.

For activities not evaluated by a teacher or supervisor, we require your self-assessment of the nature of your work and how it contributed to your intellectual growth.

It is strongly suggested, although not required, that applicants who do not have grades or detailed narrative evaluations from the last two years of high school submit results from one or more standardized tests such as SAT, ACT, SAT II, or AP.

Applicants who have taken the GED must submit official test results in addition to the secondary records.