Same Questions, Different Campuses: Five Colleges in Conversation

The 30,000 undergraduate students in the Connecticut River Valley are intimately familiar with the Five College Consortium. While the arrangement allows students at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to attend cross-registered classes, participate in other colleges’ clubs, and stop by neighboring campuses, many students still wonder what it’s like to attend one of the other institutions. To illuminate student life across the five colleges, we visited each campus and asked students the same four questions — considering everything from students’ favorite traditions to their thoughts on the dating scene — to understand what both sets us apart and ties us all together.

Question #1: What is your favorite campus tradition?

For many Smith and Mount Holyoke students, Mountain Day reigned supreme as their favorite campus tradition. 

“[The President] sends out an email at 7:00 a.m. and then the bells ring 100 times. That’s the signifier [that] it’s mountain day, you don’t have classes,” Maxine Fraser, a senior at Mount Holyoke, said. “Then everybody gets in a shuttle, [and] we go to the mountains. We climb up the mountain, there’s ice cream up there. Everyone’s taking photos together. We sing the alma mater, and then come back down, and you can just enjoy the day.”

“And if you’re a senior, it’s tradition to flash the mountain,” Cal Shearer, a senior at Mount Holyoke added.

While Mountain Day at Smith similarly begins with ringing bells that signify no class, its tradition looks a little different. “There’s cider donuts on the lawn and free apple cider and T-shirts, and then a lot of people go apple picking with their houses, or take a walk down to the lake,” Violet Collins-Carrion, a sophomore at Smith, said. “I usually like to go downtown and get a fun beverage. It’s just a day to not do homework and hang out with your friends.” 

Students at Smith also expressed love for Celebrations on the Quad, an annual event where each residential house gathers on the Smith College Quadrangle and performs a dance to honor queer pride. “It started out as a vigil for queer joy and justice, but it's kind of turned into more of a party/celebration over the years,” Anna Lupien, a sophomore at Smith, said. “But it still mixes together that celebratory, vigil aspect.”

A few miles down Route 9, celebrating pride in one’s identity also serves as the focus of a favorite UMass tradition: Blackout Week. 

“In April, a lot of the [Registered Student Organizations] from Black communities host a lot of parties and events, and just enjoy being on campus and being Black,” Kevin Mwangi, a junior at UMass, said. According to Edmund Cwum-Barimah, also a UMass junior, one of Blackout’s main events is a roller skating night called Skate-A-Thon. “I’m not the best at [roller skating], and I think that’s one of the best parts. You know, maybe you get a little embarrassed, but it's nice to put yourself out there for that,” Cwum-Barimah said.

Alongside UMass students who cited traditions like Blarney, the annual St. Patrick’s Day party, and “Halloweekend” as their favorites, others spoke about the campus’ concerts. “We do fall and spring concerts, which I think are really cool. They do one in the fall that’s free for all the freshmen,” Liz Joseph, a UMass junior, said. “My freshman year, Ross Lynch and his band came, which was awesome.”

Music and dancing also feature in a favorite Mount Holyoke tradition: Pangy Day. “It’s our spring festival that we do, it’s like our May Day. We make a maypole and there’s dancing,” Tatiana Marínez, a first-year at Mount Holyoke, said. Kiana Bushee, also a Mount Holyoke first-year, added that the dancing is accompanied by crafts and an all-day picnic. “A lot of the alum[ni] come back, and there’s flower crown making,” Bushee said. 

 However, for Hampshire student Anders Helsby, who was originally supposed to graduate in the spring of 2027 but will now be graduating this December following the college’s closure, some of the college’s best traditions are relics of the college’s earlier decades. “There are a lot of stories about older traditions that were, I think, maybe a little cooler, like the whole Trip or Treat situation in the ’90s, where you would take acid and then sit on bean bags on Halloween,” Helsby said.

For many Amherst students, present campus traditions also somewhat struggle to measure up. 

“I think one of Amherst’s flaws is that it doesn’t have very many traditions,” Darius Mehta ’27 said. “Like we have the canes when you graduate, but the real one, I would say, is Dorm Storm. You go back to your freshman year dorm and you know give them gifts and say hi.” 

Alongside Dorm Storm, Maya Harish ’29 expressed love for the annual lip sync [battle] for housing, and Shumona Bhattacharjya ’28 found her favorite in Fall Fest. “The food is amazing, and people’s families usually come up. It just makes for a really nice and leisurely weekend, and it’s really fun to hang out and relax,” Bhattacharjya said. 

Question #2: What is the dating scene like on your campus?

For some students, Western Massachusetts feels hopeless when it comes to dating. 

“I remember talking to one of my friends in freshman year about that, and he was like, ‘Anders, no matter what you do, don’t date at Hampshire. It’s not worth it,’” Helsby said, referring to romantic prospects at his college. Although Helsby admitted that he does not think this ominous advice is necessarily warranted, many other students across the consortium expressed discontent with their college’s dating scene. 

“I think the dating scene is non-existent. I think everyone's just there for a free-for-all. There's no forever here,” Maduakor said, speaking about romantic life at UMass. “So whenever you find someone, just keep your heart on your shoulder. Don’t let [your] guard down. Just, you know, vibe. Have a good time. That’s all I’m gonna say.” 

Mwangi affirmed that casual relationships are more common at UMass than serious ones. “It’s basically like if you’re messing with someone, you just gotta assume the worst. You got to take all emotions out of it,” Mwangi said. “Also, because the Black community is pretty small, if you date within it you’re kind of done. People know you’re marked, and then it’s pretty bad.”

Students at Mount Holyoke also felt that the dating scene on campus could sometimes be dangerously close-knit. “You’re definitely gonna see people or meet people who know people you’ve dated. You can’t escape your past,” commented Fraser.

“They’re both besties with my ex,” Shearer said, referring to two of her friends standing beside her during her interview. Shearer then pointed to another friend with her and said, “And we went on a date last year.”

Students at both Mount Holyoke and Smith expressed that their dating scene was predominantly queer. “I’m straight, so I kind of set myself up for failure being here, but it’s okay,” Bushee said of her experience at Mount Holyoke. 

“I think people have fun on campus,” Madeline Hinde-Schuster, a junior at Smith, said. “There are definitely a lot of Smithie girlfriends around.”

For some Amherst students, the experience of seeing “girlfriends” on campus is less common. “It’s just hard because I feel like most guys don’t want anything serious here,” Ally Spino ’29 said. “I don’t really like [the culture], but I guess it works for some people.” 

However, others have found great success with love in the Connecticut River Valley.

“I lived right down the hall from my girlfriend, we met freshman year, and we’ve been together ever since,” Mehta said of his dating experience at Amherst. “It’s been easy [to date on a small campus]. We’ve always lived in the same building. It’s been really nice.” 

If you are feeling romantically discouraged on your campus, many students reminded us that you can take advantage of the five colleges not only for library books, but also for love.

Question #3: What are you looking forward to this year?

Many students were excited for opportunities to immerse themselves in their college communities — both within and beyond the borders of their campus. 

This sentiment rang particularly true at Smith. “I’m trying to [become] more involved in campus life,” Collins-Carrion commented. “[I am] joining WOZQ, the radio station here [at Smith]. Next week I’m going to start with my show, Thursday, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tune in, it’s gonna be fun!” 

Lupien spoke appreciatively of chances to engage with Massachusetts communities beyond Northampton. “I’m starting a new project in the landscape studies lab that I work in,” she said. “[I will be] getting involved with tree plantings in Williamsburg. It’ll be nice to work with the local community.”

Older students at Smith spoke to the excitement that accompanies the annual return of traditions. Hinde-Schuster brought up one yet-to-be-mentioned tradition that she was looking forward to. “I’m excited for Julia Child Day. It is when the dining staff do all of the Julia Child menus,” she said, referencing a day Smith devotes to celebrating the culinary passions of Julia Child, an alumna of Smith who graduated in 1934 and authored over a dozen cookbooks. 

At Mount Holyoke, upperclassmen were also looking forward to age-old school traditions. Shearer, entering into her final year at Mount Holyoke, spoke eagerly about Senior Week. “It’s the week before graduation,” she described. “We all have no classes, and we can do whatever we want. The alum[ni] come back and have parties too, which is really fun. [You can] party with the class of 1992.”

A group of Mount Holyoke students expressed a more unique campus excitement: horses. “Equestrian[ism] is very big here,” Ariana Weeks, a first-year at Mount Holyoke, commented. In fact, Mount Holyoke supports three collegiate equestrian teams. “We have a Varsity Hunter Seat [team], which is [a style of] English riding, and then we have a Club Western and Club Dressage team,” Weeks explained. Mount Holyoke even offers “horse housing,” as Bushee described it. She elaborated, sharing, “There’s [a cost for] boarding that gets added on to your tuition if you keep a horse here.”

Over at UMass, upcoming cultural celebrations were highly anticipated by students. In November, the UMass African Student Association hosts Afroball, a formal African-style gala. “Afroball is fire,” Mwangi said. “People get threads shipped in from Africa. The emcee is really good. The food is really good, and it just feels like being back home.”

Meanwhile, at Amherst, the annual fall rave is generating a wave of excitement across the student body. Spino, a member of the Association of Amherst Students and involved in planning the rave, added, “[The rave] is really fun, but I enjoy the day after, because everybody always speaks highly of it. I feel like it’s an event that people really like, and that’s nice [to hear].” 

Nearly every Amherst student also mentioned enjoying the chance to experience the seasons on campus, with a particular emphasis on fall. There was both a widespread love for both the beauty and the campus events — from Fall Fest to October break — that accompany the changing of the leaves. “I think [Amherst is] really beautiful in the fall,” Shruti Sangamkar ’29 said. “I love being surrounded by nature and the whimsicalness [of it all].” 

Students’ love for the seasons, however, did not stop at fall. “One of my favorite memories from freshman year is the first heavy snow of the season,” Bhattacharjya said. “It was December, [and] everyone came out into the First-Year Quad. People were having snowball fights, playing Christmas carols, and sledding down Memorial Hill for several hours — it was great.”

Question #4: Which of the other five colleges would you attend if you couldn’t attend yours?

Mount Holyoke and Smith are the two schools that perhaps share the most similarities of all the five colleges. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that many Mount Holyoke students said they would like to attend Smith. “I feel like [Smith’s] campus is really pretty, and I would [still] want to be at a historically women’s college,” Shearer said. “There’s also so much more to do [in] Northampton.”

Multiple Mount Holyoke students, however, did not speak as fondly of their sister school. Weeks, when asked about the main differences between Smith and Mount Holyoke, claimed, “One’s pretentious, and one’s not.” Bushee agreed, remarking she found Smith to have an “edginess” and feel “not as welcoming” as Mount Holyoke. Yet the students clarified that their comments were not made in a spirit of hostility. “We’re [both] coming from Seven Sister schools,” Bushee explained. “Yeah, we’ll diss Smith, but we got their back.”

When it came to Smith students, there were a variety of answers — including Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire. “[I would go to] Hampshire, before it closed, because people were really weird there, but in a good way. It was just like [let’s all be] weird together.” Collins-Carrion noted.

Over at Hampshire, Helsby, who is currently studying photography, expressed reservations about attending any of the other colleges in the consortium. “If it’s related to photography, I don’t think I’d go to one of the five colleges,” he remarked. “I thought about going to [Amherst], but I would have to go for another two years, and I don’t have the money for that.”

Of the seven people we interviewed at UMass, six said they would choose to attend Amherst. Joseph recalled a memorable moment from her first time on the college’s campus with her theater professor, an Amherst alumna. “[My professor] and I walked down [to Amherst] one time. I did not realize how close it was. I thought it was really, really beautiful. We also saw Jeffrey Wright [’87] while we were there, [and] that was really cool. So every time I think about Amherst College, I think about that.”

At Amherst, the reverse was true; the most common answer heard was UMass. Sangamkar, who’s on the E-Board of UMass Amherst Indian Classical Arts Society club, commented, “I think that there’s a lot more diversity at UMass. I [also] think UMass has more school spirit. It’s just a very different vibe.” 

Bhattacharjya from Amherst, in explaining her choice, focused instead on a quality that Amherst and UMass share. “Even though I really love small schools, I don’t think I could see myself at a [historically] women’s college,” she said. “I think that it is really important to have interactions with everyone.”

Ultimately, however, most students returned to their love for their alma mater. “I feel very much at home [where I am],” Sangamkar said, reflecting a sentiment echoed by students across all five colleges.

While life at each of the five colleges is certainly distinct, all the students we spoke with share a love for forming connections and celebrating community. And many expressed a desire to strengthen our cross-campus connections. “I feel like everyone I've spoken to from some of the [other] colleges is super nice, and I want to shout out Amherst College,” Fraser from Mount Holyoke remarked. “You all should come over here more often!”