Hampshire College

Transfer Information (pdf)

Hampshire welcomes applications from transfer students and enrolls a sizable number each year.

Below is information regarding how Hampshire utilizes and evaluates transfer credit. If you have questions that are not addressed on this page, please feel free to ask David Wagner, senior associate director of admissions. David is the transfer specialist on the admissions counseling staff.

Qualifications
To be considered for transfer status, students must have completed at least 15 transferable semester credits or 23 transferable quarter credits in a variety of academic (liberal arts and sciences) disciplines prior to enrollment at Hampshire. Courses must be comparable in academic demands and disciplines to courses offered at Hampshire, carry at least a grade of “C,” and not have been recorded as high school credit.

How Hampshire uses transfer credit
Transfer credit may be applied directly toward Division I expectations. Courses may also apply toward Division II, so long as they meet the same criteria to be accepted as transfer credit. Faculty advisors can guide students in planning a curriculum that takes advantage of as much prior college work as possible.

The number of courses and learning activities necessary to complete Division II will be determined by the individual student’s Division II committee. Each transfer student will negotiate a plan of study with his or her advisor. This plan, and the rate of academic progress, will be determined in part on the basis of progress toward Hampshire graduation requirements, as well as the amount of work that has been successfully completed that is applicable to the Division II concentration. Each student’s program is individually designed and rates of progress vary.

The minimum residency requirement for graduation is three semesters, regardless of how many credits are transferable. Students receiving financial aid should consult with the financial aid office regarding the number of semesters of financial aid eligibility.

How transfer credit is evaluated:
We conduct a course-by-course evaluation of college work to determine how each transfer course fits into Division I, which requires that students take one course in each of Hampshire's five schools: Cognitive Science (CS); Interdisciplinary Arts (IA);  Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (HACU); Natural Science (NS); and Social Science (SS).  To illustrate how transfer courses may be applied toward the Division I distribution requirement, the following list of subject areas is provided as a representative sample of the array of courses offered by each school. This list is not comprehensive; many additional subject areas are offered in each school. Please consult Hampshire's catalog and online course listings for detailed information about current course offerings.

Advising
Close student-faculty relationships are a central feature of a Hampshire education. As Hampshire gives students extraordinary freedom in shaping their academic pathways, personal guidance is an integral component of the planning process.

Transfer students who have completed one or two semesters of college work will be assigned to a First-Year Tutorial course taught by their faculty advisor. Advisors assist students with selecting courses and planning their academic programs. Transfer students who have completed three or more semesters of college work will be assigned to a Division II committee to assist them in planning their soncentrations.

In addition to Hampshire's system of faculty advising, the center for academic support and advising (CASA) provides several guidance services including workshops, individual academic counseling, and support for students with learning disabilities.

Visiting students
Each year a number of students from other colleges and universities take a semester's or a year's leave of absence from their home institution in order to take advantage of the resources at Hampshire and in the Five College consortium. Visiting students should have completed two to five semesters of college work and must be prepared to pursue Division II-level work at Hampshire. Students should submit written permission of the home institution to study at Hampshire College, and must apply for the appropriate admission deadline for September or February entrance. Admission is granted for the visiting term or year only; in order to transfer to Hampshire, formal reapplication must be made through the admissions office.

Note: Visiting students are not eligible for financial aid.

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