Five College Interchange Program

Contact: Sheila Brennan, Coordinator

Office: 614 Goodell

Phone: 545-5352

Web site: www.fivecolleges.edu

Students may elect to take courses off campus at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, or Smith colleges. These institutions join with the University of Massachusetts Amherst to form the Five College consortium, combining their academic activities in selected areas for the purpose of extending and enriching their collective educational resources. Certain specialized programs are operated jointly, such as the Five College Astronomy Department, the Five College Dance Department, the Five College Black Studies Executive Committee, which oversees the curriculum for the Five College Black Studies major; and the Five College East Asian Languages program, which oversees the curricula in the Chinese and Japanese languages. In addition, the Five Colleges appoint certain faculty in very specialized areas (such as Latin American studies, analytical geochemistry, international relations), whose courses rotate among the five campuses, and are open to all.

Any matriculated part-time or full-time University student in good standing in a degree program may register for courses at any of the other four without additional cost beyond normal lab or instructional fees. At the University, an eligible student must be at least a second-semester freshman and be enrolled in at least one regular three-credit academic course at the University.

Approval by the student's major or minor academic adviser is required only if the course is related to the requirements of the student's major or minor. Permission of the instructor at the host institution is required when enrollment is limited, if consent is normally required, and during the University's Five College re-gistration period. Approval by the Academic Dean or Dean's designee at the student's home institution is always required. At the University the Dean's designee is the Five College Adviser associated with Pre-major Advising Services.

Students can apply for interchange coursesó preferably during the preregistration period, or during the registration period specified in the Five College Academic Calendar. When taking courses off campus, students are governed by all the rules and regulations of the host institution. (Arrangements for grades for Hampshire College courses must be made with the instructor.) Grades earned at the other four colleges are recorded on the student's University transcript and factored into the University grade point average. Free bus transportation among the five institutions is available.

Current catalogs for Five College courses, for Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges, information about their academic programs and schedules, and Five College registration applications are available at and processed through the Five College Interchange Office. Office hours are posted.