Academic Program
At Hampshire you’ll take responsibility for your education and design your own academic program in collaboration with your faculty advisors. Guided by our accomplished faculty, you’ll forge your own path, taking roads not already paved for you. In the process you’ll acquire the ability to seek out people to learn with and from, figure out how to access resources and solve problems relevant to your interests, and work flexibly and confidently to meet unexpected challenges and opportunities.
It’s more than a life skill. It’s an outlook on life.
This framework guides you in building your academic concentration or focus of study and completing a yearlong independent project in your final year. You'll develop competence in project-based learning across all four years, moving from closely scaffolded projects in Div I that might involve collaborative learning, to projects in Div II that support your growth in independent work and result in a robust proposal for Div III, to your culminating Div III independent project. The Divisional Seminars are a cornerstone of Hampshire’s Divisional system, and support the growth of students across their academic trajectory, including at key transitions between Divisions.
Year 1
The first year is about learning across a wide range of critical, scientific, and creative approaches through our transdisciplinary curriculum, gaining skills for learning in community with others, and engaging in project-based learning in supported contexts. You'll be mentored by an advisor, and through our advising networks of students, staff, and faculty.
Years 2 & 3
The second and third years are all about deep inquiry into your own interests, deepening your connections in communities of learners, and growth toward independent project-based learning. Your advisors and advising networks can give you advice about classes to take, internships, studying abroad, and other opportunities to pursue what you’re passionate about.
Year 4
The fourth year is your chance to push your learning further, take risks, and tackle the meaningful challenge you’ve envisioned. Do the research no one’s ever done. Build a robot that teaches itself to climb. Write a textbook that revolutionizes how Modern Standard Arabic is taught. Write a novel. Design an interactive art exhibit that brings publicity and customers to businesses in your neighborhood. (Yes, these are real projects by our students.)