The Presidents of Amherst College , Smith College , Mount Holyoke College , and the University of Massachusetts got together in the 1950s and early 1960s and realized that there were things their own schools did not do very well . Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst , Massachusetts . It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education , to be in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley : Amherst College , Smith College , Mount Holyoke College , and the University of Massachusetts Amherst .