Five College Counselor Tour
Come Visit: Attend the Five College Counselor Tour October 18-20, 2026
Each fall, the Five College Consortium brings together high school counselors from around the country to tour the campuses. With student-led tours and presentations from admissions directors, attendees will learn how, by enrolling in one campus, their students can experience the benefits of all five.
Counselor Tour
Counselors will learn how our students choose from thousands of courses at five of the most rigorous and innovative campuses in the country, access 10 million library volumes through our Joint Online Catalog and participate in Five College academic programs that pool the strengths of each institution.
Most meals will be provided by campus dining services, with free lodging at the historic Hotel Northampton. If you are traveling by air, we will pick you up at the airport and return you there after the tour at no charge.
Counselors are responsible for booking their own reservations and covering their transportation costs to the area. If you are in a CBO, travel reimbursement (airfare, train tickets or mileage) of up to $450 may be available upon request. Reimbursements will be processed after the conclusion of the program.
Pre-registration
This year, email invitations containing pre-registration instructions were sent out to counselors from the following states, DC, FL, MD, IL, NC, PA, VA, and the Dallas area. We register 40 counselors after a pre-registration cut-off date; due to the limited capacity available during this tour, we are only accepting counselors from public and private schools and community-based organizations (CBOs). Should you become registered to attend the tour, further details on how to proceed will be emailed to you.
Counselor Tour
School counselors are invited to join us in beautiful western Massachusetts at the peak of foliage season to tour the campuses of the Five College Consortium.
Lodging and Meals
Your lodging will be on us at the historic Hotel Northampton on Sunday and Monday nights. Each counselor will have their own room. All meals will be provided, with the exception of dinner on Monday. On Monday evening, there will be a late-afternoon reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres followed by a free evening in downtown Northampton.
Transportation
Counselors are responsible for booking their own reservations and covering their transportation costs to the area. Counselors should plan to arrive Sunday by 4pm. We will provide free shuttle service from Bradley International Airport (BDL) to the Hotel Northampton between 11am and 4pm. If your flight is scheduled before or after that time you will need to arrange and pay for your own transportation.
The tour is scheduled to end around 3pm on Tuesday, and Five Colleges will provide transportation directly to Bradley International Airport (BDL). Please be sure to schedule your flight departure time after 5:30pm on Tuesday, October 20 to allow shuttle travel time to the airport.
For counselors traveling by train, the closest train station is Northampton, MA (NHT) and is only a few blocks away from the Hotel Northampton.
Schedule
The tour will begin on Sunday evening with a reception and dinner at the Hotel Northampton. On Monday there will be campus tours of Hampshire, Amherst and Smith Colleges. On Tuesday, counselors will tour Mount Holyoke College and UMass Amherst, departing Tuesday afternoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
We will provide free accommodations (a single room) at the Hotel Northampton on Sunday and Monday nights. All meals will be provided, with the exception of dinner on Monday. On Monday evening, there will be a late-afternoon reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres followed by a free evening in downtown Northampton. Counselors are responsible for booking their own reservations and covering their transportation costs to the area. For those flying into Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT, we will provide free transportation to the Hotel Northampton between 11am and 4pm.
If you are in a CBO, travel reimbursement (airfare, train tickets or mileage) of up to $450 may be available upon request. Reimbursements will be processed after the conclusion of the program.
If your request is approved, you will need to fill out a W-9 form and submit your receipts. Reimbursements will be processed after the conclusion of the program.
It is our aim to reach out to the most students possible; having two counselors from the same school attend our tour leaves one less space for someone from another institution to take part. Therefore, we do not register more than one counselor from the same high school to attend the Five College Counselor Tour. If more than one person from the same school/organization does pre-register for the tour, we put the second person on our waitlist. Should space become available, we will be in touch with pre-registered counselors on our waitlist.
Before the end of May 2026 we will contact people to let them know if they have been registered to attend the fall 2026 counselor tour. If our available spaces are full, we will put you on waitlist, and contact you when a space becomes available.
Should you become registered, we will provide you with further details regarding the tour. We will ask you to provide us with your travel plans (as confirmation of your intention to attend the tour) within ten days of your registration confirmation notice. Please do not make travel plans before receiving registration confirmation.
The tour is scheduled to end at UMass Amherst around 3 pm on Tuesday. The Five College Consortium will be providing transportation from UMass Amherst directly to Bradley International Airport (BDL). If you were to estimate an hour to be on the safe side, that would put the arrival time at the airport around 4 pm. Therefore, we do not recommend booking flights with a departure time any earlier than 5:30 pm. You are free to use your discretion, of course, when looking into flights once you've received confirmation from Five Colleges that you have been registered for the 2026 Counselor Tour.
The Hotel Northampton provides on-site parking free of charge to guests who are staying with them as part of the Five College Counselor Tour. Its address is 36 King Street, Northampton, MA 01060. If you will be driving to and from the airport, according to internet mapping tools, it takes approximately 45 minutes to travel from the Hotel Northampton to BDL. If you are driving, please let us know.
Drivers should plan to arrive at the hotel in time for the 5:30pm reception on Sunday.
Contacts
For questions about the Five College Counselor Tour, please email fcadmissions@fivecolleges.edu.