For Information Contact:
Office of Admission
Mount Holyoke College
50 College Street
South Hadley, MA 01075
413-538-2023
Fax: 413-538-2409
2006-2007 COSTS:
Tuition:
$31,770
Room and Board:
$9.560
Fees, books, misc.:
$800
South Hadley, Massachusetts
Overview
Long distinguished for the quality of its curricular and cocurricular life as well as for the diversity of its student body and the success of its alumnae, Mount Holyoke is an independent college of liberal arts and sciences for women. The student body, numbering 2,100, represents fifty states and more than eighty countries. One out of every 3 students is an international student or an African American, Latina, Asian, or Native American. Ninety-three percent of all graduates are either employed or in graduate/professional school within six months of graduation. Of those who choose to pursue an advanced degree, 20 to 25 percent enroll within five years of graduation.
Mount Holyoke is committed to maintaining small classes and individualized academic advising. The College's student-faculty ratio is 10:1. More than half of Mount Holyoke's classes enroll fewer than 20 students, and one quarter enroll fewer than 10. All students are advised by faculty members. Non-Western cultures are a focus of the College's curricular life. Most students pursue interdisciplinary courses, some taught by teams of faculty members from different fields. Use of computers, proficiency in foreign languages, and development of speaking and writing skills are stressed throughout the curriculum. The College offers first-year students the opportunity to enroll in first-year seminars—small classes designed to introduce first-year students to Mount Holyoke's intellectual community and to help them develop essential skills in writing, speaking, and analytic and critical inquiry.
The College is distinguished in developing women leaders. The Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts is devoted to increasing students' understanding of public policy issues and giving them the tools to create change. The work of the center focuses on enhancing students' ability to frame, articulate, and advocate positions constructively and effectively. A major component is the Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program, which is a nationally recognized model among liberal arts colleges for training students to be powerful communicators. Other Weissman Center initiatives include community-based learning courses (combining course work with project-based field work in the community) and case method courses.
Mount Holyoke also has long been at the forefront of providing a global education. The Center for Global Initiatives was founded in 2004 to unite Mount Holyoke’s wealth of international programs and people, and implement a coherent vision for education for global citizenship. The center initiates, promotes, and coordinates educational activities to advance understanding of global problems and solutions from cross-disciplinary, cross-cultural, and cross-national perspectives. Through its programs, students and faculty members engage critically with an increasingly global world.
Mount Holyoke participates in the Five College Consortium, which also includes Amherst, Hampshire, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Students enrolled at any one of the Five Colleges can take the courses and participate in the cultural and social offerings of the other four. In addition, the five institutions' faculty and classes are coordinated in areas of common interest, such as African studies, Asian/Pacific/American studies, Latin American studies, Middle Eastern studies, and international relations. Dance and astronomy—the two Five College majors—both rank among the largest and most distinguished undergraduate programs nationally in their respective fields.
Location and Community
South Hadley, Massachusetts, is about 20 minutes from Springfield, 1½ hours from Boston, and 3 hours from New York City by car. Convenient bus, plane, and train service to the College is available. Bradley International Airport, 40 minutes away by car, serves Hartford and Springfield; Amtrak train stations are located in Amherst and Springfield. Bookstores, coffee shops, and restaurants are within walking distance of campus, and Northampton and Amherst are minutes away via the free Five College bus.
Academic Life
Within the framework of the liberal arts and sciences, Mount Holyoke offers students considerable freedom of choice in the academic program. The basic plan of study includes a distribution of courses among at least seven disciplines, courses in language, courses in a major and minor field, and at least one course dealing with an aspect of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, or the nonwhite peoples of North America. A normal schedule is four 4-credit courses per semester, each meeting one to four times per week. By graduation, a student has completed 128 credits of academic work in courses that provide exposure to a variety of disciplines, as well as specialization in a major and a minor field. Independent study, honors work, and self-scheduled examinations are among the options available. The Frances Perkins Program is designed for women beyond the traditional undergraduate age who wish to initiate, continue, or enrich their undergraduate education.
The academic calendar consists of two semesters separated by an active January Term program. During January Term, students may take a single intensive course, pursue an independent project, or conduct a Career Exploration Project in a professional setting with alumnae or friends of the College.
The Mount Holyoke student lives and studies in an area where four independent colleges and a large university enroll a total of more than 30,000 students. Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst participate in an extensive Five College cooperative exchange program. Free buses run among the institutions (all within a 12-mile radius) every 20 minutes from morning to late evening, seven days a week, during the school year.
Mount Holyoke's 200 faculty members are dedicated teachers as well as active scholars, research scientists, and creative artists. Half are women, and a fifth are persons of color. All courses are taught by faculty members; professors are also active in advising students about classes, cocurricular opportunities, and careers. Mount Holyoke professors have won numerous national and international awards, including National Science Foundation CAREER awards, MacArthur fellowships, Guggenheims, Fulbrights, the Pulitzer Prize, the Rome Prize, and the National Book Award.
Mount Holyoke is a member of the Twelve College Exchange, and students can spend a year or semester at any of the other participating institutions (Amherst, Bowdoin, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Smith, Trinity, Vassar, Wellesley, Wheaton, and Williams Colleges and Wesleyan University). The exchange also includes the Williams/Mystic Seaport Program in American Maritime Studies and the National Theatre Institute Program. Mount Holyoke also has its own exchange programs with Mills College in Oakland, California, and Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Semester programs include the American University Washington Semester, Semester in Environmental Science at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and Environmental Science and Policy Programs at Biosphere 2 Center. Each year, about one third of the junior class studies abroad for a semester or a year in such countries as Argentina, Australia, Chile, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Republic of Georgia, Russia, Senegal, and the United Kingdom.
The College's Career Development Center assists students in developing both summer and January internships, which involve full-time work for six to twelve weeks over the summer or for three weeks during January Term. Internships have been undertaken in the fields of the arts, business and banking, communications, education, government, health, public policy, sciences, social services, and technology. Reflecting the College's internationalism and building on the College's extensive overseas ties, Mount Holyoke has a strong network of international internship opportunities around the world. Sponsoring organizations typically include the World Bank, UNESCO, and the United Nations.
Majors Offered:
Mount Holyoke offers the Bachelor of Arts degree. Majors include African and African American studies, American studies, ancient studies, anthropology, architectural studies, art (history and studio), Asian studies, astronomy, biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, classics, computer science, critical social thought, dance, economics, engineering, English, environmental studies, European studies, French, geography, geology, German studies, Greek, history, international relations, Italian, Latin, Latin American studies, mathematics, medieval studies, music, neuroscience and behavior, philosophy, physics, politics, psychology, psychology and educational studies, religion, Romance languages and literatures, Russian and Eurasian studies, self-designed studies, sociology, Spanish, statistics, theater arts, and women's studies. Students may also follow prelaw and premedical courses of study. In addition, students can earn both a B.A. from Mount Holyoke and a B.S. in engineering from Caltech, UMass' College of Engineering, or Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering in a five-year period.
Facilities and Resources
In the past five years, the College has invested $75 million in the renovation and expansion of facilities and technology. The music and art buildings have been fully updated and expanded, including the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, one of the nation's leading collegiate art museums with an active teaching collection. The new science center advances the College's international reputation as a leader in scientific education for women. A new, multistory, 40,000-square-foot environmentally sound building, connecting three science buildings, serves as the nexus for this academic center. The building features a four-story atrium that provides a gathering place for all members of the community. The science center houses classrooms, laboratories, and offices for eight departments—astronomy, biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth and environment, mathematics, and physics. It offers adjacent labs and offices, common spaces, and shared equipment for students and faculty members with overlapping research interests.
The 800-acre campus includes two lakes, wooded bridle trails, lawns, and forests. An undeveloped nature preserve covers 330 of these acres and serves as an environmental classroom for students and faculty members. Taking advantage of this “outdoor classroom,” the Center for the Environment is a resource for students interested in using the campus and surrounding community to advance their studies of ecology and environmental studies.
The College's 700,000-volume library incorporates dedicated science and music libraries and computerized access to 6 million volumes through the Five College Consortium. Within the main library, the Information Commons has forty high-end computers and a help desk. The computer and language learning center uses state-of-the-art methods for teaching languages. Technology tools currently in use include wireless networking, video conferencing, and interactive, multimedia-based, curriculum-enhancing Web software. There are ongoing training opportunities for students to learn emerging technologies.
The residence halls complement the liberal arts experience, coordinating cultural and social events and providing a home away from home for all students. Almost all students live on campus in the residence halls, each of which accommodates between 65 and 130 students. All four classes are mixed in each hall, and housing is guaranteed for all four years. A variety of dining options are available across campus, including a full-service café and several coffee shops. A kosher/halal dining room serves the dietary needs of observant Jews and observant Muslims and is open to the entire campus community.
Other facilities include five cultural houses, a Japanese teahouse and meditation garden, a health clinic and counseling center, and a center for spiritual life and community service. Students of all religious traditions and spiritual paths are made welcome at Mount Holyoke. Four chaplains—Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and Muslim—and a number of faculty advisers respond to the pastoral and liturgical needs of the College's diverse religious community.
The recent renovation of Blanchard Campus Center has transformed the building's interior into a center for dining, entertainment, and social activity. Highlights include a cyber café, coffee bar, art gallery, game room, performance space, and campus store. The radio station, student programs offices, and meeting rooms are also located here.
An extensive Career Development Center offers students assistance in clarifying their goals and in identifying internships, jobs, graduate schools, and fellowships.
Campus Life
Forming a vital part of Mount Holyoke's offerings are diverse cocurricular opportunities—concerts, conferences, exhibitions, films, and social events. Noted actors, dancers, and musicians perform at Mount Holyoke and within the Five College area. In addition, there are performance opportunities through instrumental ensembles, dance groups, theater productions, and an active choral program. Groups such as the Five College Dance Department, the Five College Orchestra, and the New World Theatre supplement these opportunities. More than 100 clubs and organizations at Mount Holyoke provide creative outlets, leadership experiences, and service opportunities.
Mount Holyoke students, together with the faculty and administrators, have a strong hand in shaping campus life. Students sit on several committees, including the President's Commission on Diversity, the Academic Policy Committee, and the Board of Admissions. The Student Government Association allows students to govern their cocurricular lives and maintain communication with the faculty and administration. Students have an effective honor code of long standing.
Sports / Varsity Athletics
Mount Holyoke is an NCAA Division III school and offers fourteen intercollegiate teams as well as intramural and club sports. A comprehensive sports and dance complex has 130,000 square feet of facilities. The field house includes basketball, tennis, volleyball, squash, and racquetball courts; a 200-meter track; and an eight-lane swimming pool with a separate diving tank. The field house adjoins the gymnasium and dance studios. There are also twelve outdoor tennis courts, a 400-meter all-weather track, and six grass playing fields. An equestrian center provides a fifty-seven-stall barn and large indoor and outdoor riding arenas as well as three cross-country show courses. This center is widely considered one of nation's finest riding facilities. The College's eighteen-hole golf course, designed by Donald Ross, was the site of the 2004 USGA Women's Open.
Expenses
For 2004–05, tuition was $30,770 and room and board were $9060, for a total of $39,830.
Financial Aid / Scholarships
Financial need should not discourage any student from applying to Mount Holyoke. Aid (grants, loans, and campus employment) is based on financial-aid eligibility as determined by the College. Mount Holyoke also offers a limited number of merit aid awards.
Admission Requirements / Application
Mount Holyoke seeks smart, ambitious students who value a liberal arts education and who are fired by a love of learning. Students who do well here tend to demonstrate a high level of maturity and independence. Mount Holyoke welcomes students of all economic, ethnic, geographic, religious, and social backgrounds. A high school program providing a good preparation for Mount Holyoke includes 4 years of English, either 4 years of one foreign language or a combination of 3 years of one language and 2 years of another, and 3 years each of mathematics, history, and laboratory sciences. SAT or ACT scores are optional. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is recommended for students for whom English is not a primary language. Personal interviews are highly recommended for all candidates either on campus or with an alumna admissions representative. Two rounds of early decision are available: the deadline for Round I is November 15, with notification by January 1; the deadline for Round II is January 1, with notification by February 1. The deadline for regular admission is January 15, with notification by April 1. Other admission options, such as early entrance, deferred entrance, and advanced standing, are available.
The admission office is open all year, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. Visitors may come to the admission office to take a campus tour, obtain admission materials, or meet with a staff member.
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