What's the appeal for Amherst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you're URM Amherst is a match. Not that hard to get into as they really push for diversity.

Ha ha. Love the stupid ass comments that suggest URM students can just waltz into highly selective schools. We attended an info session so I know your statement is stupid AF. Amherst gets plenty of diversity from international students.

One thing that’s special about Amherst is that it’s need blind for international students and meets international students’ full financial need:

https://agentbee.net/financial-aid-for-international-students/

So, it could literally be saving some international students’ lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you're URM Amherst is a match. Not that hard to get into as they really push for diversity.

Ha ha. Love the stupid ass comments that suggest URM students can just waltz into highly selective schools. We attended an info session so I know your statement is stupid AF. Amherst gets plenty of diversity from international students.

One thing that’s special about Amherst is that it’s need blind for international students and meets international students’ full financial need:

https://agentbee.net/financial-aid-for-international-students/

So, it could literally be saving some international students’ lives.

That right there is a huge turn off and one thing we disliked about the school. No US based college should give financial aid to foreign students when so many US kids need the help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you're URM Amherst is a match. Not that hard to get into as they really push for diversity.

Ha ha. Love the stupid ass comments that suggest URM students can just waltz into highly selective schools. We attended an info session so I know your statement is stupid AF. Amherst gets plenty of diversity from international students.

One thing that’s special about Amherst is that it’s need blind for international students and meets international students’ full financial need:

https://agentbee.net/financial-aid-for-international-students/

So, it could literally be saving some international students’ lives.

That right there is a huge turn off and one thing we disliked about the school. No US based college should give financial aid to foreign students when so many US kids need the help.

That is just dumb. Shows you are not a complex thinker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were seriously interested in liberal arts colleges. I found their faculty in CS and STEM to be second rate (look at how many CS faculty they have).
I know research is not its main focus.. then what’s the difference from good private high schools?

You were seriously interested in LACs and you found Amherst lacking?

Bullshit.

ps I count 8 CS faculty. How many should a liberal arts college with less than 1,800 students have?

Out of 8 CS faculty, two of them are on leave. Amherst certainly can teach introductory CS classes, but what else can they teach? CS is quite broad, but Amherst simply doesn’t have enough faculty to teach advanced CS courses. You might be able to learn more from free online CS classes.
Amherst can be great for majors like English, Philosophy, maybe math.. they say you can take courses at uMass, then why do you pay high tuition if you are going to take classes at state school

Why would someone go to a SLAC for CS? Sounds like a poor fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you're URM Amherst is a match. Not that hard to get into as they really push for diversity.

Ha ha. Love the stupid ass comments that suggest URM students can just waltz into highly selective schools. We attended an info session so I know your statement is stupid AF. Amherst gets plenty of diversity from international students.

One thing that’s special about Amherst is that it’s need blind for international students and meets international students’ full financial need:

https://agentbee.net/financial-aid-for-international-students/

So, it could literally be saving some international students’ lives.

That right there is a huge turn off and one thing we disliked about the school. No US based college should give financial aid to foreign students when so many US kids need the help.

Amherst is also need blind and meets full financial need for US students. I grew up dirt poor in the US, and Amherst was the only school to offer me enough aid to make it possible for me to attend a four-year college after high school. First in my family to even go to college, thanks to Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Amherst alum here. Amherst has natural beauty in its setting, though I agree that Mt Holyoke and some of the other area schools have prettier buildings. Frost is tragically ugly, yet the campus setting is beautiful and the towns are great.

Wonderful four years there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amherst alum here. Amherst has natural beauty in its setting, though I agree that Mt Holyoke and some of the other area schools have prettier buildings. Frost is tragically ugly, yet the campus setting is beautiful and the towns are great.

Wonderful four years there.

Frost is tragically ugly, but it’s our tragically ugly. 😊

[Anonymous]

DS is a 2020 alum - yes, his senior year was cut short by COVID, and his in person graduation is in June 2022. Two years late.

He has many good friends from his alma mater - a diverse set of kids whom are creative and interesting. He enjoyed his classes (poli sci major), and enjoyed his sport. He enjoyed the town and the Pioneer Valley ( he had a car), and was sad to forcibly leave in March 2020.

His main beef was with the administration; the Biddy Martin administration was all too quick to “shoot first, ask questions later” on student life issues at the college. He started just after the school announced it was changing its mascot due to Lord Jeffrey Amherst’s treatment of the Indians in the mid-18th century, and it ended with the highly publicized sacking of the men’s lacrosse coach and the gutting of the lacrosse team. As to COVID, the school was/is overly aggressive in locking down campus and shifting to remote learning in ways which were extremely damaging to the students, not to mention very expensive.

President Martin leaves this summer. Let’s hope her successor focuses more on educating the students and providing beneficial college and post-college experiences for all students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were seriously interested in liberal arts colleges. I found their faculty in CS and STEM to be second rate (look at how many CS faculty they have).
I know research is not its main focus.. then what’s the difference from good private high schools?

You were seriously interested in LACs and you found Amherst lacking?

Bullshit.

ps I count 8 CS faculty. How many should a liberal arts college with less than 1,800 students have?

Out of 8 CS faculty, two of them are on leave. Amherst certainly can teach introductory CS classes, but what else can they teach? CS is quite broad, but Amherst simply doesn’t have enough faculty to teach advanced CS courses. You might be able to learn more from free online CS classes.
Amherst can be great for majors like English, Philosophy, maybe math.. they say you can take courses at uMass, then why do you pay high tuition if you are going to take classes at state school

Why would someone go to a SLAC for CS? Sounds like a poor fit.

What about undergrad computer science requires a large university? Please be specific and note I have been hiring computer science graduates for 30 years and I an genuinely curious why you think that.

I again ask you be specific. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you're URM Amherst is a match. Not that hard to get into as they really push for diversity.

Ha ha. Love the stupid ass comments that suggest URM students can just waltz into highly selective schools. We attended an info session so I know your statement is stupid AF. Amherst gets plenty of diversity from international students.

One thing that’s special about Amherst is that it’s need blind for international students and meets international students’ full financial need:

https://agentbee.net/financial-aid-for-international-students/

So, it could literally be saving some international students’ lives.

That right there is a huge turn off and one thing we disliked about the school. No US based college should give financial aid to foreign students when so many US kids need the help.

Well then, Sport, I guess you need to scratch Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Williams, CalTech, Swarthmore, Stanford, Davidson, Colgate, Vassar, University of Richmond and Duke off your list. Guess you didn’t read the article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a 2020 alum - yes, his senior year was cut short by COVID, and his in person graduation is in June 2022. Two years late.

He has many good friends from his alma mater - a diverse set of kids whom are creative and interesting. He enjoyed his classes (poli sci major), and enjoyed his sport. He enjoyed the town and the Pioneer Valley ( he had a car), and was sad to forcibly leave in March 2020.

His main beef was with the administration; the Biddy Martin administration was all too quick to “shoot first, ask questions later” on student life issues at the college. He started just after the school announced it was changing its mascot due to Lord Jeffrey Amherst’s treatment of the Indians in the mid-18th century, and it ended with the highly publicized sacking of the men’s lacrosse coach and the gutting of the lacrosse team. As to COVID, the school was/is overly aggressive in locking down campus and shifting to remote learning in ways which were extremely damaging to the students, not to mention very expensive.

President Martin leaves this summer. Let’s hope her successor focuses more on educating the students and providing beneficial college and post-college experiences for all students.

When I was there 20 years ago, everyone thought Lord Jeff was a silly mascot (and at some point before I arrived the volleyball team went so far as to rebrand themselves the Firedogs). Other than some people who took a stand for anti-PC political reasons, I don’t know anyone who was sad to see Lord Jeff go.

[Anonymous]

Open-minded Amherst students can take classes at UMass. That’s the point of the consortium. That said, it really depends what the student wants. A liberal arts school offers plenty of other great things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were seriously interested in liberal arts colleges. I found their faculty in CS and STEM to be second rate (look at how many CS faculty they have).
I know research is not its main focus.. then what’s the difference from good private high schools?

You were seriously interested in LACs and you found Amherst lacking?

Bullshit.

ps I count 8 CS faculty. How many should a liberal arts college with less than 1,800 students have?

Out of 8 CS faculty, two of them are on leave. Amherst certainly can teach introductory CS classes, but what else can they teach? CS is quite broad, but Amherst simply doesn’t have enough faculty to teach advanced CS courses. You might be able to learn more from free online CS classes.
Amherst can be great for majors like English, Philosophy, maybe math.. they say you can take courses at uMass, then why do you pay high tuition if you are going to take classes at state school

Why would someone go to a SLAC for CS? Sounds like a poor fit.

What about undergrad computer science requires a large university? Please be specific and note I have been hiring computer science graduates for 30 years and I an genuinely curious why you think that.

I again ask you be specific. Thanks.

Still hoping for an answer to this one.

My guess is there won't be one coming, because your original statement was not thoughtful or informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst alum here. Amherst has natural beauty in its setting, though I agree that Mt Holyoke and some of the other area schools have prettier buildings. Frost is tragically ugly, yet the campus setting is beautiful and the towns are great.

Wonderful four years there.

Frost is tragically ugly, but it’s our tragically ugly. 😊

Did you see the renderings of the old library building? Looked like a castle. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

But the new science building is very cool. What's the culture around sports? Also, PP, can you share info about the lax team and what led to the action against it?