Mount Holyoke is located in South Hadley, a quiet town in the Pioneer Valley. It is a charmingly historical town, rich in culture. Museums, concert halls, and art galleries surround the area, and the other schools in the Pioneer Valley Five School Consortium – Amherst, UMass, Smith, and Hampshire – are also nearby. The PVTA, a free bus service for students, shuttles them around the five college area. Mount Holyoke students like to venture to nearby Amherst for their dining options. Antonio’s Pizza Place is a favorite, along with Indian, Chinese, and Thai restaurants. Closer to home, the women of MHC like to frequent the Thirsty Mind, a coffee shop in the Village Commons that is great for studying, meeting with advisors, and enjoying a cup of Joe. The town of Northampton is another option students have for nightlife, shopping, and movie theatres. It too is driving distance from campus. Boston is the closest big city in the area, approximately two hours away.

Built on a series of hills, Mount Holyoke is an 800-acre, quintessentially New England campus. Most buildings date from the early 20th Century and are ivy-covered and Neo-Gothic in influence. There are two lakes, several waterfalls, tennis courts, stables, and wooded riding trails. The center of campus is Skinner Green, a grassy lawn that Mt. Holyoke students cut across to get to class, and enjoy sunning themselves on when the weather is warm. The most desirable dorms are the ones “on the green,” with windows that overlook Skinner Green. The clock tower of Mary Lyon Hall, named after the school’s founder, towers over the campus with its Roman numerals and pointy peak. Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed the 800-acre Central Park in New York City, also landscaped the campus, and the abundance of trees makes for a picturesque backdrop, especially in the fall, when the leaves change color.

Students at Mount Holyoke live on campus for their entire college career. Residence halls are spread out in different areas across the campus. Residence halls around the center of the college, known as the Skinner Green, are the most popular ones because of their convenient location and what students refer to as a “homey” environment. They are referred to as the dorms “on the green” and are close to classes, the library, and the student center. One of the most popular of these dorms is Mead Hall: newly renovated in the summer of 2006, it has carpeted floors, spacious hallways, well-furnished living rooms, and a kitchenette known as ‘the golden pear.’ Its only drawback is that it does not have a dining hall, and only serves continental breakfast. Besides the green, more residence halls are scattered around the upper and lower lake. These are a little further away from classes and thus not as popular. Halls near the upper lake like Torrey, Ham, and McGregor are more popular than the ones near the lower lake because they are closer to Kendall, the sports and dance center. Athletes especially prefer to live in these halls. Ham and McGregor both have dining halls while Torrey provides hot breakfast and grab ‘n go lunch. MHC’s newest residence hall, which is currently being built and will be ready for students to move into beginning the fall of 2008, is creating quite a buzz among students. Students refer to them as the North and South New Dorm. They are eco-friendly halls, and very spacious with sun rooms and suites.

Mount Holyoke is an NCAA Division III school and a member of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference, or NEWMAC. It offers 14 varsity teams and seven club sports teams. In the 2005-2006 season many MHC athletes were recognized for their outstanding achievements. The school boasted two All-Americans, seven All-Regions, three Academic All-Americans, one national riding title, six NEWMAC Players of the Week, 54 NEWMAC All-American honorees, and 18 NEWMAC All-Conference selections. The Riding Team is one of the better-known programs on campus. In 2008 the Dressage Team earned the intercollegiate Dressage Association’s national championship award. Other varsity programs include basketball, crew, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, squash, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.