Hampshire College

	Our Entering Class
	At 443 new students, it is the eighth largest class in Hampshire history. 377 are entering as first-year students, from 350 different high schools.

Applicants
Applications received for Fall, 2009: 2,812
Total matriculants, September 2009: 447

First-year students: 394 (88%)
Transfer: 48 (11%)
Visiting: 5 (1%)
Number of high schools represented: 327
Average HS GPA of first-year students: 3.49
Middle 50% of SAT scores: 600/710 Critical Reading; 530/660 Mathematics

Distribution if Entering Class by Type of Application
Early Decision: 55 (14%)
Early Action: 82 (21%)
Regular Admission: 257 (65%)

Tuition, Financial Aid, and Scholarships
Tuition, 2008-2009: $39,112
Tuition/Room/Board, 2008-2009: $49,545
Percentage of students receiving any financial aid: 70 percent
Average financial aid grant: $25,200
Average financial aid package: $32,000
Range of financial aid packages: $8,600-$45,000
Annual financial aid budget: $21 million

Before coming to Hampshire:

• One in seven founded at least one new organization.
• Nearly two-thirds made a significant commitment to community service.
• Nearly half held a formal leadership role in a school or community organization.
• Many had a serious commitment to music, writing, theater, or the visual arts.
• Hampshire is hardly a “jock school,” yet 40 percent participated in athletics.

Their energy, talent, and versatility are amazing. Here are a few of the jaw-dropping things that some accomplished before coming to Hampshire:

• One bought two old diesel Mercedes sedans and combined them both into one working vehicle powered by used vegetable oil from restaurants. The student drove the car to school daily for the past two years. That same individual has been a competitive mountain and road bike racer as well as a member of the hometown energy committee and an environmental activist.

• One swam the English Channel as part of an eight-person relay team, raising $80,000 to be sure that more children learn to swim.

• Just go to the website of the United States Holocaust Museum to hear the work of another, who interviewed a Holocaust survivor about her experience in the Olympics in Berlin in 1936. She also contributed to the database of biographies of children from the Lodz Ghetto.

• After studying guitar and piano for several years, one did an independent study to learn how to write music for and direct a 12-person orchestra. In addition, that student builds fixed-gear bicycles, paints, reads two books per month, and started a foreign film club and took 5 AP courses last year.

• One is a sous chef, vocalist, actor, guitarist, competitive tennis player, newspaper editor, president of a community music and arts network, and a three-year participant in a university-sponsored science research program. This student not only got to attend the American Psychological Association conference, but also demonstrated against its involvement with U.S. military prisoner detention centers.

• One traveled to China knowing no one, performing music at various embassies, recording jingles for commercials, and arranging concerts. While there, the student saved enough money to enroll in an intensive Chinese language program.