better than what others? certainly as selective as Dartmouth. for humanities, better than Cornell. better than the other SLACS? Swat is a great school, I just think the school experience is tough. It's a grind. I think Amherst has several issues. Bowdoin is very strong and it's hot now. Middlbury is good at some things, but their outcomes if you want finance are excellent (better than Dartmouth) not better in outcomes or opportunities than HYP, but nobody is saying that |
Applicants the last several cycles apparently disagree. Williams, Amherst, and Bowdoin are largely alike. Swat has its own niche. Pomona has the luxury of not having to compete with anyone. |
| +1 on Amherst being out of favor with kids now. My kids, who toured Bowdoin, Dartmouth, Midd, Williams - and Pomona actually -- didn't even tour Amherst. I know some kids who matched via Questbridge from their HS, but otherwise not popular |
I agree that Amherst seems to be a bit out of favor. We toured and my kid didn't like it at all. She is at on of the schools discussed in this thread and was admitted at a couple of the others. But I don't think that they have dropped out of the top bucket of 8-10 schools which are the equal to any schools including the Ivies. Columbia is a bit out of favor as well but only the nonsense crew speaks like they have dropped. |
Yeah, 7% acceptance rate (lower than Williams) definitely suggests a school that is out of favor. Oh, and for sure the students can't get into strong doctoral programs. "Recently, two Amherst astronomers, a professor and recent graduate, helped to unveil a cold, chaotic exoplanet using NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Webb Telescope. Daniella C Bardalez Gagliuffi, PhD, assistant professor of astronomy, and William Balmer ’21, a graduate student at The Johns Hopkins University, joined an international team that captured an image of 14 Herculis c, a massive, cold exoplanet with a unique orbit and unexpected atmospheric behavior. https://bit.ly/3LczTXp" |
It isn't the meaningful part. It is the minimum GPA to be able to apply. Successful applicants have much higher GPA. For instance successful Yale applicants have a 3.9+ GPA and successful Cornell applicants have had a 3.8+ GPA. https://experience.cornell.edu/opportunities/goldwater-scholarship/requirements https://yale.communityforce.com/Funds/FundDetails.aspx?766C425A624C4C6E304249493146796170505248392B6A6E464B4B2B49595272335A36706342376C324F7538356B786B3742456D3950714C4941642F70544235#:~:text=Special%20Eligibility%20Requirements:,Yale%20Goldwater%20Scholars%20is%203.9+.&text=In%20selecting%20the%20award%20recipients,not%20a%20criterion%20for%20selection. |
The problem w Amherst imo is it's got more athletes (40%) and more Questbridge (at just over 10% now) than any other in this group. Plus 2.5% are posse, plus international, plus vets. They've done this to themselves. Very barbell. Not rich and poor but jock and poor. |
The other problem with Amherst — albeit a great school — is it takes a a back seat to Williams generally, and takes a back seat to Swat for the intellectual types. At this point, it is really between Williams and Pomona (kind of like Harvard and Stanford) and Amherst is, well, Yale. (OP is dated on this.) |
It is the meaningful part, you are uncomfortable that reality doesn't align with your perception. You are also struggling with basic English words like "average". You would understand the meaning of this word if you attended a SLAC. |
I’m trying to follow where anyone said this. It sounds like you just wanted to post this random accomplishment to boost. |
Knock it off with the Pomona boosting. Pomona isn't better than Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wellesley, Swat, or even it's next door neighbor CMC. The only thing that Pomona has going for it is location. If it wasn't for their location they would be another Grinnell (also a great school). |
Yeah, Pomona does not care what you think — any more than Stanford would. Just pointing out the reality of SLAC admissions these days. Have fun applying ED to Midd! |
My kid is a student there and, yes, the demographics are a little skewed. But 45% are NARPs and she is perfectly happy. Her roommate is Questbridge and they are good friends. Not sure why that would be an issue. She entered with perfect stats and is hard core STEM, has little overlap with the athletes in coursework. But socially she feels it's a nice, chill vibe and kids seem to get along fine. It was her favorite visit by a mile, with Pomona and Carleton a close second. She didn't didn't like the vibe at Williams or Swarthmore, so didn't apply. |
I assume she did not get in to Pomona? |
What part of Amherst was her first choice did you not grasp? She applied ED. |