Mount Holyoke College

College & Education

North America, United States, Hampshire County

Mount Holyoke College is a prestigious liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is a member of the Seven Sisters. It was the first of the Seven Sisters and served as a model for some of the others. Mount Holyoke is part of the Pioneer Valley's Five College Consortium, along with Amherst College, Smith College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The school was originally founded in 1837 by Mary Lyon as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. It received its collegiate charter in 1888 as Mount Holyoke Seminary and College and became Mount Holyoke College in 1893. Mount Holyoke's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established in 1905. Mount Holyoke was designed and landscaped between 1896 and 1922 by the landscape architecture firm of Olmsted and Sons. It is also home to a Donald Ross-designed 18-hole golf course, The Orchards, which served as host to the U.S. Women's Open Championship in 2004. In 2009, Forbes rated it 47th in America's Best Colleges. U.S. News and World Report lists Mount Holyoke as the 26th best liberal arts college in the United States in its 2011 rankings. Mount Holyoke was also ranked #1 in the nation for Best Classroom Experience in the Princeton Review 2010–2011 rankings.