Mount Holyoke College Admission
Mount Holyoke College Undergraduate Program
Mount Holyoke College Application

The Facts

Mount Holyoke is a small, private, all-female college located in the town of South Hadley, Massachusetts, and is home to over 2,066 undergraduate students and only about 4 graduate and part-time students. The school is perhaps best known for its terrific liberal arts program that focuses on interdisciplinary studies as well as international relations. The school also has recently adopted an optional SAT policy that allows applying students to decide whether or not they want to submit their high school SAT scores. The academics are extremely intense, and students are definitely there to work. Mount Holyoke offers its students over 44 majors in a wide range of areas, and also offers students the option of designing their own majors. Some of the most popular choices include psychology, English, economics, biological sciences, as well as international relations.

Admission to Mount Holyoke is somewhat competitive, particularly for a school of such diminutive size. Last year, over 2,900 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 1,500 of those students were accepted; of those about 520 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1210 to 1370, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 27 to 30. Additionally, over 82% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.65.

Mount Holyoke has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 10:1, and students give their professors high marks on availability and willingness to give assistance. Holyokers receive a large amount of one-on-one attention, and although professors do expect a lot from their students, they are equally as encouraging when the going gets tough.

The Social Scene

The town of South Hadley doesn’t really offer students much in the way of entertainment, although there are several popular coffee shops and bars to choose from. Most of the action occurs right on campus, where there are over 100 student-run clubs and organizations that are constantly sponsoring numerous activities. There are many international clubs, as Mount Holyoke has a huge amount of international students that bring an unparalleled diversity to campus.

There are no sororities at the school, but most students could care less. Mount Holyoke definitely is not known as a party school, and most students are too busy studying or catching up on much needed shut-eye to go too crazy on the weekends. Drinking does happen, but not nearly as much as at other schools. Most students prefer to hang out in small groups and chat over a cup of coffee.

The dating scene is incredible if you are a lesbian, or a guy who managed to slip in under the radar...

What’s Good

“The atmosphere here is almost exclusively academic, which allows you to really focus on what’s important.”

“The school is so incredibly diverse, I mean, besides being all women. We literally have students here from every corner of the globe.”

“The dorms are really nice, and provide a great opportunity to get to know a lot of really cool people.”

What’s Bad

“People seem afraid to just let loose and have fun here. There isn’t really a party scene to speak of.”

“You start to miss having guys around. Girls tend to get a bit catty when they are around each other for long periods of time.”

“The academics can really be too intense. There is a lot of unhealthy competition that goes on here.”

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