What’s the deal with Amherst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ha! I just spent three days there at family weekend with my freshman daughter who is happier than she’s ever been in her life. Pretty much your entire post is untrue, particularly every group sticking to themselves and students being snobby and condescending. Not sure what your beef is with such a great community but if your child didn’t like visiting Amherst then it’s great that there are so many other options.

Please. The only reason the groups aren’t sticking together is because they can’t- 3% of the sophomore class is black. That’s embarrassing! It’s obvious Amherst is racially discriminatory in the opposite way now, and it’s pathetic that you’re rejoicing over this.

Your obnoxious comment really shows the weird condescending tone OP is talking about.

I see absolutely nothing obnoxious in that post- just expressing satisfaction with the school daughter is attending. Would you prefer the poster simply agrees with everything the OP says?? YOU, on the other hand, seem to have an axe to grind here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of this post seems like a rich person’s problem such as aesthetics being so high on the decision making tree. As an immigrant, I can tell you that’s not our concern

Well as an immigrant you probably care only about rank, right?

Never make negative assumptions about things/people outside your bubble or range of experience. When you’re trying to feed and house your family, learn a new culture, and in many cases, help extended family, certain things can seem like “First World problems”. For some, having their kids attend any college is huge. It’s takes a generation or two before families can worry about “fit” or campus aesthetics and even many non-immigrant families don’t have that luxury.

Ok but at first, rank is highest priority, no?

Fwiw I married into a first gen family. So this is my personal experience

America isn't like other countries where you have to go to the most tippy top college to get opportunities. Rank is one of the considerations, but many people look for a school that they'll enjoy for 4 years-that includes a nice campus, opportunities that they would take advantage of, and other things. We also have so many colleges that are similar tier or good at certain majors that it doesn't really matter.

Pp yeah but IME first gen families focus on rank first and foremost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It has one of the best premed programs, with very high med school admission rates.

Law school too. Feed right into Yale and Harvard. Also really good placement into various PhD programs.

I went there and have hired several grads—they are always great. Really smart, hard working, genuinely nice. And several of my classmates went back to be professors.

It’s a great town and I loved the campus. My kid won’t ever get in but I’m encouraging them to look at umass Amherst because I love the area so much.

Some kids do take classes in the 5 colleges but many don’t because Amherst plainly has the best classes of the 5. But I often got specialty hard to find books from the other libraries and did take one very specialized seminar at mt H.

I don't see how that can be true when it has a small percent of courses compared to Umass and has no graduate coursework. Sounds like a copout.

My UMass kid is taking a class at Smith right now.

[Anonymous]

I’ve heard that students at other consortium colleges enjoy the dining hall food at UMass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IYKYK is right. Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury are for families who don't really need to work (or work very much), value intellectual pursuit as a concept, will then go on to sit on boards or otherwise do good works, while living in their (multiple) beautiful homes while raising the next generation who will repeat the script.

It's a nice place to be for those early years and you will be able to reminisce with your crowd over cocktails on lazy days overlooking the ocean.

What? These schools have rigorous academics, and students are known to work hard. The new Amherst class is 21% FGLI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IYKYK is right. Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury are for families who don't really need to work (or work very much), value intellectual pursuit as a concept, will then go on to sit on boards or otherwise do good works, while living in their (multiple) beautiful homes while raising the next generation who will repeat the script.

It's a nice place to be for those early years and you will be able to reminisce with your crowd over cocktails on lazy days overlooking the ocean.

Are you trying to imply that these three colleges, which each place some of the highest per capita into each of top investment banks, MBB consulting, med schools, and T14 law schools each year, are just finishing schools? What planet are you living on?

[Anonymous]

I have not read all the posts but chiming in as a parent of an Amherst student. I could not be happier with the school. I think there are a lot of schools where my DD could have thrived but feel that we got so lucky with Amherst. She has had lots of small classes, amazing friends, professors and opportunities. A small school may not be right for all students but if you are considering a small school Amherst has it all. My child has not taken a class at one of the other colleges but has benefitted from the larger cohort of colleges around Amherst. I read first post and don’t really understand why someone feels a need to knock school. Rarely on this board but just felt a need to chime in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IYKYK is right. Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury are for families who don't really need to work (or work very much), value intellectual pursuit as a concept, will then go on to sit on boards or otherwise do good works, while living in their (multiple) beautiful homes while raising the next generation who will repeat the script.

It's a nice place to be for those early years and you will be able to reminisce with your crowd over cocktails on lazy days overlooking the ocean.

Are you trying to imply that these three colleges, which each place some of the highest per capita into each of top investment banks, MBB consulting, med schools, and T14 law schools each year, are just finishing schools? What planet are you living on?

Sounds like finishing school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll add some specifics if it helps. The access to professors is unreal even to someone like me who went to a smallish (3500) college. The math professor who teaches many of the lower level math classes holds office hours for more than 20(!) hours per week to make sure those who need extra help end up succeeding.

In addition to the great medical and law school placements, Amherst students have much higher than average acceptances into REUs. This is largely because they are able to get research experience on campus as early as spring semester freshman year which boosts their resumes.

Sounds like a bunch of hand holding and low rigor-especially with the no curriculum element. This school is sounding more and more like a joke as people write about it. 20 hours of assistance for a low level math class is embarrassing and concerning more than it is a resource. Students should learn to work through difficult problems and struggle. I wouldn't have liked this, and I went to Swarthmore-a peer.

You don't need 20 hours of assistance a week to learn linear algebra, unless you are not ready nor prepared for the course. Not everyone should be in math.

[Anonymous]

Amherst is for real academics: not those obsessed with bragging about the most pretty glassy buildings. Real education happens here, and we don't need a bunch of pampered fools telling us what is and is not an intellectual community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amherst is for real academics: not those obsessed with bragging about the most pretty glassy buildings. Real education happens here, and we don't need a bunch of pampered fools telling us what is and is not an intellectual community.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst is for real academics: not those obsessed with bragging about the most pretty glassy buildings. Real education happens here, and we don't need a bunch of pampered fools telling us what is and is not an intellectual community.

+1

-1 foolishness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. Pictures really say it all.

This really clarifies the critiques. It seems Amherst is too busy giving out financial aid and POC scholarships and needs to dedicate more time to resources and building quality academic departments. How disappointing for a once great institution.

This is exactly what a great institution should be doing. Money for financial aid rather fancy buildings? Fantastic.

Meh, most top schools do both. Sounds like a cop out.

Really? Name other LACs that are need blind for both domestic and international students and don’t have legacy admissions

[Anonymous]

Can we please have more discussions of Amherst? Certainly it deserves more attention than it’s getting in the 17 active discussions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll add some specifics if it helps. The access to professors is unreal even to someone like me who went to a smallish (3500) college. The math professor who teaches many of the lower level math classes holds office hours for more than 20(!) hours per week to make sure those who need extra help end up succeeding.

In addition to the great medical and law school placements, Amherst students have much higher than average acceptances into REUs. This is largely because they are able to get research experience on campus as early as spring semester freshman year which boosts their resumes.

Sounds like a bunch of hand holding and low rigor-especially with the no curriculum element. This school is sounding more and more like a joke as people write about it. 20 hours of assistance for a low level math class is embarrassing and concerning more than it is a resource. Students should learn to work through difficult problems and struggle. I wouldn't have liked this, and I went to Swarthmore-a peer.

You don't need 20 hours of assistance a week to learn linear algebra, unless you are not ready nor prepared for the course. Not everyone should be in math.

Sounds like a school that wants its students to learn rather than arbitrarily shutting them out of an entire subject. I know what I'd prefer for my child