CMC vs Amherst-Econ and Philosophy Major

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amherst is the best but also fights with Williams for top LAC in the US. What are your son's stats and accomplishments?

No it doesn’t. And the same goes for Williams. There are about a dozen LACs which have indistinguishable student profiles and you could create a ranking which put any of them at the top. It’s a bucket of schools and the same goes on the top university side of the house.

This is simply not true, as indicated by differences in selectivity and admitted students stats.

Show stats…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have strong connections to Amherst (e.g. Legacy) it's critical your DS applies ED to Amherst.

Best of luck getting in! With a legacy hook or other connection, I'd prioritize Amherst. It's an outstanding place to study those two subjects.

Nearly everyone is an econ major at CMC, so it's a great place too, but with your connections/hooks to Amherst, I'd prioritize that for best chance to get in.

Listen to this, OP. Amherst with connections will be an “easier” admit than CMC. It is that simple.

But it’s not true at all. Because Amherst doesn’t factor “connections” into admission. They’re also going hyper dei now that their black population has been decimated.

Well they’re going hyper FGLI as a proxy. 25% FGLI, 33% athletes means vanishingly few spots for regular high achieving white and Asian kids. Therefore, OP, the strategic move is to apply early to CMC. Without Ivy level stats, Amherst is probably a waste of an application for the vast majority of applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have strong connections to Amherst (e.g. Legacy) it's critical your DS applies ED to Amherst.

Best of luck getting in! With a legacy hook or other connection, I'd prioritize Amherst. It's an outstanding place to study those two subjects.

Nearly everyone is an econ major at CMC, so it's a great place too, but with your connections/hooks to Amherst, I'd prioritize that for best chance to get in.

Listen to this, OP. Amherst with connections will be an “easier” admit than CMC. It is that simple.

But it’s not true at all. Because Amherst doesn’t factor “connections” into admission. They’re also going hyper dei now that their black population has been decimated.

Well they’re going hyper FGLI as a proxy. 25% FGLI, 33% athletes means vanishingly few spots for regular high achieving white and Asian kids. Therefore, OP, the strategic move is to apply early to CMC. Without Ivy level stats, Amherst is probably a waste of an application for the vast majority of applicants.

A majority of high achieving fgli students are white these days. They were just often unseated by wealthy black and brown boarding school kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have strong connections to Amherst (e.g. Legacy) it's critical your DS applies ED to Amherst.

Best of luck getting in! With a legacy hook or other connection, I'd prioritize Amherst. It's an outstanding place to study those two subjects.

Nearly everyone is an econ major at CMC, so it's a great place too, but with your connections/hooks to Amherst, I'd prioritize that for best chance to get in.

Listen to this, OP. Amherst with connections will be an “easier” admit than CMC. It is that simple.

Except that Amherst eliminated legacy preference. Now it is simply that much harder to get into than CMC.

I'm confused by this as both Amherst and CMC have a 7% admit rate. Why do people think it is harder to get into Amherst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have strong connections to Amherst (e.g. Legacy) it's critical your DS applies ED to Amherst.

Best of luck getting in! With a legacy hook or other connection, I'd prioritize Amherst. It's an outstanding place to study those two subjects.

Nearly everyone is an econ major at CMC, so it's a great place too, but with your connections/hooks to Amherst, I'd prioritize that for best chance to get in.

Listen to this, OP. Amherst with connections will be an “easier” admit than CMC. It is that simple.

But it’s not true at all. Because Amherst doesn’t factor “connections” into admission. They’re also going hyper dei now that their black population has been decimated.

Well they’re going hyper FGLI as a proxy. 25% FGLI, 33% athletes means vanishingly few spots for regular high achieving white and Asian kids. Therefore, OP, the strategic move is to apply early to CMC. Without Ivy level stats, Amherst is probably a waste of an application for the vast majority of applicants.

A majority of high achieving fgli students are white these days. They were just often unseated by wealthy black and brown boarding school kids.

Maybe, but Amherst concentrated recruiting efforts in rural areas with high numbers of Black and brown students (NYT article). My guess is those numbers will bounce back this year as a result. At any rate, the broader point holds. Due to both selectivity and specific institutional priorities, Amherst is a high reach for just about everyone. With no legacy bump, no reason to prioritize it over a strong school that would be a more strategic application.

[Anonymous]

Your kid should visit both and decide based on fit. The vibe and student demographics are quite distinct. My guess is that CMC would be somewhat easier ED, since Amherst is so focused on specific demographics there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have strong connections to Amherst (e.g. Legacy) it's critical your DS applies ED to Amherst.

Best of luck getting in! With a legacy hook or other connection, I'd prioritize Amherst. It's an outstanding place to study those two subjects.

Nearly everyone is an econ major at CMC, so it's a great place too, but with your connections/hooks to Amherst, I'd prioritize that for best chance to get in.

Listen to this, OP. Amherst with connections will be an “easier” admit than CMC. It is that simple.

Except that Amherst eliminated legacy preference. Now it is simply that much harder to get into than CMC.

I'm confused by this as both Amherst and CMC have a 7% admit rate. Why do people think it is harder to get into Amherst?

Because they have New England biases. Same reason some people here think that WAS are better than P, despite P being the most competitive typically and having the same student profile as the others. There's a weird hate boner here for west coast schools that compete well at the national level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should visit both and decide based on fit. The vibe and student demographics are quite distinct. My guess is that CMC would be somewhat easier ED, since Amherst is so focused on specific demographics there.

If CMC does not have the same narrow institutional priorities then, yes, would make more sense for ED. If the kid actually likes it better. If not, one option would be to apply ED1 to Amherst and ED2 to CMC. Amherst doesn’t offer ED2, so the reverse is not possible.

[Anonymous]

Amherst if you are afraid of people of color.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kid should visit both and decide based on fit. The vibe and student demographics are quite distinct. My guess is that CMC would be somewhat easier ED, since Amherst is so focused on specific demographics there.

If CMC does not have the same narrow institutional priorities then, yes, would make more sense for ED. If the kid actually likes it better. If not, one option would be to apply ED1 to Amherst and ED2 to CMC. Amherst doesn’t offer ED2, so the reverse is not possible.

Doesn't really make sense for them to apply ed1 when the kid doesn't even seem that excited to go to Amherst.

[Anonymous]

Skipped the squabbling.
What does kid ultimately want to do with degrees?
If get a job, whatever.
If maybe get a DC think tank internship at Brookings or the like as a precursor to grad school for a PhD in a field of economics, economic history, etc, then Amherst all the way. Kid may be strong enough right out of undergrad but a paid year as research assistant and name on publication and another good letter is valuable. DH has nurtured a number of students that way. Most are faculty members themselves or working at the Fed, CBO etc.

[Anonymous]

Agree kid needs to visit and decide on a preference, then go from there. And think about whether they envision settling on the east or west coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Skipped the squabbling.
What does kid ultimately want to do with degrees?
If get a job, whatever.
If maybe get a DC think tank internship at Brookings or the like as a precursor to grad school for a PhD in a field of economics, economic history, etc, then Amherst all the way. Kid may be strong enough right out of undergrad but a paid year as research assistant and name on publication and another good letter is valuable. DH has nurtured a number of students that way. Most are faculty members themselves or working at the Fed, CBO etc.

If interested in the think tank or grad school life, just go to Pomona-It's a neighbor of CMC and ranks better than Amherst for grad school admissions for economics...or CMC which is also ranked better: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree kid needs to visit and decide on a preference, then go from there. And think about whether they envision settling on the east or west coast.

You can settle on either. This was discussed last week. The number 1 destination of CMC grads is New York City, followed by LA, SF, and DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Skipped the squabbling.
What does kid ultimately want to do with degrees?
If get a job, whatever.
If maybe get a DC think tank internship at Brookings or the like as a precursor to grad school for a PhD in a field of economics, economic history, etc, then Amherst all the way. Kid may be strong enough right out of undergrad but a paid year as research assistant and name on publication and another good letter is valuable. DH has nurtured a number of students that way. Most are faculty members themselves or working at the Fed, CBO etc.

If interested in the think tank or grad school life, just go to Pomona-It's a neighbor of CMC and ranks better than Amherst for grad school admissions for economics...or CMC which is also ranked better: https://www.collegetransitions.com/dataverse/top-feeders-phd-programs

This actually surprised me that CMC has the same number of people going to graduate school in economics as Amherst, while being a much smaller school. Maybe I've been discounting it a bit too much.