A Two-Time Transfer’s Testimony: An Interview With a Hampshire College Transfer

Sophia Willard ‘29

Photo by MJ Ayers ‘28

Before last spring, a Hampshire College student’s worst nightmare was letting a University of Massachusetts (UMASS) Minuteman get the better of them. For Ethan Gordon, at the time a Junior at the late establishment, this was certainly the case: “Of course we were constantly joking about when Hampshire was going to close, but the second a UMASS student said something I’d clap back.” One email sent out April 14th changed that forever, and declared to the school that Gordon and his friends bonded over defending closed. It condemned the students to something else, too: the decision to give up or transfer. Like many others, Gordon chose to push forward. 

Gordon’s destination was Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) alongside six others from Hampshire’s wake, according to Sarah Lawrence Director of Transfer Admissions Liam George. The transfer process is never an easy one, but rather isolating. Most students who transfer do so willingly, however, having felt something lacking in their school. In the case of Hampshire students, their school closed, and they were catapulted unwillingly, making their situation especially fraught. 

For Gordon, the move from Hampshire came with a heavy heart. “I thought I’d at least get to graduate before it closed. I remember feeling a pit in my stomach, like, ‘I don't know what to do now.’” His interests surround art and animals, focuses that drew him towards SLC’s open curriculum, as it does for the majority of their transfer students. Sophomore Luella Dang expressed similar sentiments regarding her experience. Dang, who hails from Little Rock, Arkansas, attended Lewis and Clark College her freshman year before quickly realizing it was not the right fit for her. “I see college as a game that I decided to play, and it's all about who you know and the connections you make—I didn’t think Lewis and Clark was enough for me.” Dang committed to SLC shortly after beginning her transfer process, and described it as “a unique experience that cannot be explained to anyone else,” a take that every Hampshire transfer would wholeheartedly agree with. For Gordon in particular, it was a transition that derailed his future with the click of a button. Regardless, he is determined to patch together his plans at SLC. 

Gordon, as was tradition at Hampshire, had extensively prepared for his DIV project, a culminative study unique to each Senior. His dreams of photographing campus pets were extinguished before he could even begin working on them. A compromise was offered to rising Seniors like Gordon: “I was given the option to finish my DIV three project—a year-long project—in one semester with no money!” However, he opted to find fulfillment elsewhere. Although his transferral to SLC was far from easy, Gordon remained determined nonetheless. 

The two-time transfer is now a two-time junior, as the course units he earned at Hampshire did not survive the journey to Bronxville. “After applying, I learned the credits didn't fully transfer. It’s okay, though—I figure I get to learn more and the classes here are wonderful” he said cheerfully. It seems that nothing can stand in Gordon’s way as he pursues his interests developed at Hampshire and his first university’s unique academics: “It was an actual major at Canisius, believe it or not, and at Hampshire, I incorporated a lot of art into my studies. Eventually, I’d like to have my foot in a few different pools of museum studies!” The Junior attributes his optimistic attitude towards his veteran status in terms of transferring, as the Baltimorian attended Canisius University in Buffalo for his freshman year before allowing Hampshire’s open curriculum to draw him up the East Coast. 

Perhaps his experiences also prepared him for his school’s closure; the Junior explained that although he sensed Hampshire’s fleeting nature, he was disappointed in the verdict’s delivery “It was very upsetting, but it was not surprising! I was more like: it’s stated in an email, so it can’t be real, right?” Fellow Hampshire transfer MJ Ayers ‘28 shared similar thoughts about the two’s old school; ironically, she made the switch between colleges a year before Hampshire’s closure: “They encouraged me to stay, but I wanted to transfer from the first semester; there were glimmers of its golden days, but I don’t think I was there during it.” With similar optimism as Gordon, however, Ayers shared the following: “It wasn’t all a bunch of ‘Debbie Downers’ at Hampshire; everybody had a lot of hope in the school. To be there for even a week is to have been there.” 

Although Gordon’s foresight has not released an official prognosis on SLC, the Junior is certain that this time he is here to stay and smitten with the school already: “It looks like a flourishing community! I was trying to find the best fit for me, and I think that it’s SLC!”