Driving in the countryside of New York State, I never thought a school would be hidden in the world of trees and highways. But there I was, in Clinton, visiting Hamilton College.
Most of us probably know it as the school named after the infamous statesman Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of America for whom Broadway created an entire musical. Mr. Hamilton is one of the founders and trustees of the college, but there is no further connection between the liberal arts college and the politician. That said, Hamilton College has an interesting backstory. Samuel Kirkland is actually the chief founder, and he originally made Hamilton an all-boys school. Across a bridge, he founded the Kirkland college in 1968, an all-women college. Perhaps a wave of hippie culture and a degree of institutionalized sexism plagued Kirkland College with marijuana, drinking, and cults that prevented girls from studying, and hence, graduating. The curriculum was also questionable – apparently, no grades were awarded. Thankfully, Hamilton College and its sister college merged in 1978 to become co-ed. To this day the division exists, resulting in good-natured jokes and stereotypes among students. Kirkland is called “the dark side”, because it used to have no electricity nor heating system, and the buildings were modern, concrete, dark, and reminiscent of Californian hippie architecture. Hamilton is “the light side”, residing in bright grassland, tall trees, and European Gothic architecture with traditional, prestigious sensibilities. Interestingly, the social sciences, humanities, arts, and literature classes are located in Kirkland, while STEM, business, pre-medicine, and pre-law programs are located in Hamilton. Freshmen have a 50% chance of being randomly allocated to either. Don’t worry, there are no longer academic disparities between the two. In fact, English is one of Hamilton’s best majors.
Hamilton College has an emphasis on written, verbal, and any form of communication. Alexander Hamilton was an intelligent speaker and fine writer himself, so the college continued his legacy. Hamilton graduates are known for writing in concise yet persuasive styles, using elegant yet understated language, and speaking with logic and passion. Creative Writing is especially strong and popular, a notorious major Hamilton College is known for. Students of all majors take advantage of creative writing courses, describing them as the “ultimate all time favourite for self-exploration, self-improvement, and self-direction” that not only stand tall on its own but also makes other classes stand taller.
Hamilton College also consciously incorporates technology into its curriculum to adapt to the constantly evolving world. It is one of the first schools in the U.S. to accommodate ChatGPT and computer science into classes in all majors. Students are especially encouraged to learn a little bit of computer science, video editing, and image altering even if they don’t plan to become engineers or coding geniuses. Hamilton College simply believes these are useful skills for self-expression and navigating all workspaces in the 21st century.
Yet one of the most unique features of Hamilton College is its open curriculum – not many liberal arts colleges in the U.S. do this! If you’ve been to high school, you probably encountered distribution requirements. For example, you must take a few math classes, a few science classes, a few English classes, and so on. Open curriculum means you can take any class you want, and stop taking those you don’t want. The freedom is both liberating and daunting, so Hamilton College pairs each student with an academic advisor to navigate course selection. The advisor not only overlooks your choices but also learns about you as an individual to recommend new classes and spark unprecedented interest in fields outside of your comfort zone. Your class list will probably end up fulfilling an unofficial distribution requirement, but you have more voice and agency over the decision-making process. Ultimately, freedom plus ample guidance equals a solid liberal arts foundation for any career or further studying.
Hamilton College Fun Facts:
- Hamilton College’s motto is “know thyself”. Keep that in mind if you apply.
- As a legacy institution of Alexander Hamilton, the college is known for its oratory tradition: Each year a number of world leaders from all industries come to give speeches to students.
- The alumni of Hamilton College shines brighter than the school name. Paul Lieberstein, the successful television screen writer and director who played Toby in The Office, is an alum. B.F. Skinner, the founder of psychology alongside Freud who popularized conditional experimentation as the professor of psychology at Harvard university, is also an alum. Interestingly, he graduated with an English major. There are also a lot more in the finance, business, medicine, and law field for networking.
- Study abroad programs are extremely popular. Two thirds of the student do it. Besides studying in Spain, China, Greece, Denmark, and France, domestic study away is also popular in New York City and Washington D.C. If you can’t find one you like, the office of global learning office is happy to help you find your own. One student who struggled to fulfill his computer science major requirements went to Japan in the end to polish his Japanese and got his credits in the end.
- Most students who get into Hamilton college have a GPA near 4.0. Once in Hamilton, though, their GPA might drop to 3.5. History majors have the lowest GPA on campus. Trust me, just like the IB history class, Hamilton’s history class is a grueling, hard choice.
- Some professors are quirky. For example, one professor might dislike the passive verb form so you’ll have to write an entire essay using active verbs. A history professor loved to crawl on the ground to spice up his lecture, for some reason.
- I had a conversation with the international student dean of admissions, and she was the nicest most genuine caring person ever. The students were kind, humorous, and easily impressive.
- There is a feathered pen on the roof of one of the buildings. Photo here:
Images: Helen W
