Hampden-Sydney College

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Students Say - Academics
Highlights at tiny, all-male Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia include "insane" study abroad-programs, a "very approachable" administration, and "an alumni network that will take care of you." HSC is mostly known for its hardcore liberal arts focus, though. The demanding core curriculum includes foreign language, literature, science, math, fine arts, and a boatload of Western civilization. Students also must "take two semesters of rhetoric, which consists of an intensive study and application of the principles of good writing." "Academically, this school is an orgy of ideas waiting for the next enthusiastic participant." Professors are "absolutely great," and personal attention is "unrivaled." Courses are "very tough," though. "We don't grade-inflate around here," warns a junior. A strict, student-enforced honor code "is taken extremely seriously" as well. "At Sydney, I can leave my laptop unattended in the library for hours, maybe even days, and nobody will touch it," maintains a history major. "I think that's pretty cool." Students say that HSC is "a place where honor lives and boys enter so that they may leave as gentlemen." The word "brotherhood" is omnipresent. There is much talk of "moral integrity." If all that sounds kind of hokey, then, obviously, HSC isn't for you. "It takes a certain kind of man to come to Hampden-Sydney College, and if you want to be here, then you will love it. If you don't want to be here, you will hate it."

Students Say - Campus Life
The school is its own little city, and Hampden-Sydney students spend most of their time on campus. "The dorm rooms are huge," and "laundry is free," but the food is "not very good." Clubs and organizations include "a prestigious debating society." "A majority of the student body is involved in some type of sport." Football weekends are "a great time to be on campus." (Students dress "in formal coat and tie.") "Most students work and study hard from Monday to Thursday." "With no females at school, it is easier to focus during the week," claims one student. "During the week, every night is a guys' night," explains a sophomore. "When we aren't studying, we are playing video games or cards, watching a sporting event, and basically just hanging out." Weekends are usually spent "partying incredibly hard" with "females from Sweet Briar, Longwood, Randolph College, and Hollins." "Frat boys run the social scene," but "the fraternities are very open and almost everyone is welcome at parties." Off campus, Farmville lives up to its name. The rural surrounding area offers "breathtaking scenery" and some of the best hunting and outdoor activity anywhere, though. "Shooting guns," i.e., hunting, is generally popular. "No one looks at you twice for walking through your dorm to the parking lot with your deer rifle over your shoulder."

Students Say - Student Body
Ethnic diversity is negligible. This is a "very homogeneous" school. The small homosexual population is "tolerated" at best. "Gay students probably won't feel too comfortable," suggests a junior. "The typical Hampden-Sydney student comes from the south, enjoys outdoor activities such as hunting and fishing, and is likely conservative and preppy." He "wears polos and khakis." He "can tie a bowtie" and probably has "a ragged, old baseball cap snugly fit over lip-length curly brown hair." "Our reputation for being made up of white middle- to upper-class conservatives who dress preppy most of the time and in camouflage during the winter is unavoidable," concedes one student. Politically, a kind of conservative snobbery reigns supreme. "Overall, they seem invested in the notion of preserving the ideas of the old South," relates a junior. "They're also geographic elitists and somewhat skeptical of outsiders." "Hampden-Sydney has been educating men since before the United States was founded," rejoins a proud sophomore, "and 35 congressmen, 12 senators, 12 governors, one U.S. president, and countless other prominent Americans later, we feel we're doing a fine job."

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