What’s the deal with Amherst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've toured and spent time (several days) at each of the NESCACs except for Conn College along with Swat and Vassar and felt that Amherst had the best combo of college, campus and towns. Might add that the consortium is just there if you want to use it but is a very minor to non-factor in deciding to apply there

Strangely the admissions rep spent half the info session talking about the consortium as a primary selling point of the school. To the point where a parent in the audience asked, if that was the case, why not save a lot of money and just attend UMass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've toured and spent time (several days) at each of the NESCACs except for Conn College along with Swat and Vassar and felt that Amherst had the best combo of college, campus and towns. Might add that the consortium is just there if you want to use it but is a very minor to non-factor in deciding to apply there

Strangely the admissions rep spent half the info session talking about the consortium as a primary selling point of the school. To the point where a parent in the audience asked, if that was the case, why not save a lot of money and just attend UMass.

This was not the case at our info session. In fact, it wasn't even mentioned until one parent asked.

[Anonymous]

Whether a campus is nice or not is mainly a personal opinion. But the fact remains that Amherst has very good student outcomes, student retention and happiness, and is top ranked for academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Tiny, mediocre campus in a lackluster town.

Opinion.

Anonymous wrote: No academic highlights (like Williams tutorial, Swarthmore Honors, etc).

Open curriculum? Consortium?

Anonymous wrote:
Racial and socioeconomic diversity on paper, but every group sticks with themselves.

I'm always surprised when I see this repeated here. DC's friend group looks like it was made for a brochure.

Anonymous wrote:
Snobby, condescending students who think they're big shots. This struck us because the students we met at Yale and Brown were so much more friendly and humble.

Opinion.

Anonymous wrote:
They tout small classes but only 62% are under 20 students- every other top ranked SLAC and nearly every top 20 university is ahead of them.

Nice cherrypicking. They're ahead of Williams and Swarthmore on under 30. Either way, the "advantages" the other schools have are rounding errors.

Anonymous wrote:
They themselves said few utilize the 5 College consortium, so that's a moot benefit.

The benefit also takes the form of being in a real college town with sports games, bars, and an actual full selection of amenities.

The consortium is not a real benefit and few students use it. I don't know why people on DCUM still are lying about this when it's common knowledge at this point. If you want a consortium that bad, go to the Claremont schools or whatever they are.
What percent of LAC classes even have 30 students?

I don't think this is true about the consortium. My kid is at another one of the colleges in this 5 college consortium and it's definitely a benefit. She has gone to many social events at other colleges. Her friend is taking a class at another school. They do use it. Plus there's just an overall benefit to being in an area that serves a lot of college students in terms of the infrastructure that serves them.

So 1 student at another school takes class off campus (btw no one is saying other colleges don’t sue the consortium- Hampshire basically only exists to take classes at the other schools), and students go off campus to other ones for some things. These aren’t exactly dazzling reasons to go to a college- I went to many MIT and BU events while at Harvard, but I wouldn’t list MIT parties as a core reason to go to Harvard

Being in a real college town with a full suite of amenities, restaurants open late into the night, proper bars, and 40,000 other students does give Amherst an advantage over Williams or Middlebury.

Have you been to Amherst? There were only a few restaurants and bars on the main drag, I was shocked given that UMass is so big and nearby. Apparently Mich of the social life is going to UMass parties. Not ideal.

DC goes to Amherst; we are quite familiar with the town.

Please enlighten where this “college infrastructure” is then because it certainly isn’t in the little shopping area next to the school. We could barely find somewhere for dinner outside of that horrible historic Inn.

Protocol. Lao Hu Tong. Formosa. LiLi's. Miss Saigon. Bueno Y Sano. Amherst Oyster Bar. Royal Chicken and Kebab. Pita Pockets. The list goes on and on. If you go to Hadley (easily accessible by a free bus), there's pretty much every store you'll need: Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Home Depot, Michael's, Big Y, T Mobile, AT&T, a Chase Bank branch…the amenities are all there.

DP here. I went to Dartmouth and Hanover is similar in size, but farther from other little towns. I remember Amherst being close to Northampton, which also has a bunch of great restaurants, shops and coffee shops. The point is that if you have a bunch of colleges nearby, there's more places to check out, which makes Amherst more interesting than, e.g. Williamstown. I heard that the kids at Williamstown drive to Northampton.

That’s definitely not true, at least not because they need to. People go to North Adams or Pittsfield. It’s easier to go to Albany than it is to Northampton

Northampton is far nicer of a place than North Adams or Pittsfield.

But if you’re going an hour out, just go to Albany-which has multiple times the things as Northampton. No one really mentioned niceness originally, so I’m not sure why we care.

I am one of the Amherst detractors. The Williams Inn was heaven. Even the sandwich and coffee places were nicer.

Students don’t go to the Williams inn.

There were plenty there eating with parents when we were there. But yes, kids likely tend to eat on campus at all schools.

I’ve been on maybe 30 college visits between my two kids over the past three to four years. Amherst is the only one I really disliked. Obviously, thousands of kids attending the consortium schools feel differently and are happy to have that location be the place where they spend their college years. However, op is not alone in wondering why.

You liked Wesleyan more than Amherst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Tiny, mediocre campus in a lackluster town.

Opinion.

Anonymous wrote: No academic highlights (like Williams tutorial, Swarthmore Honors, etc).

Open curriculum? Consortium?

Anonymous wrote:
Racial and socioeconomic diversity on paper, but every group sticks with themselves.

I'm always surprised when I see this repeated here. DC's friend group looks like it was made for a brochure.

Anonymous wrote:
Snobby, condescending students who think they're big shots. This struck us because the students we met at Yale and Brown were so much more friendly and humble.

Opinion.

Anonymous wrote:
They tout small classes but only 62% are under 20 students- every other top ranked SLAC and nearly every top 20 university is ahead of them.

Nice cherrypicking. They're ahead of Williams and Swarthmore on under 30. Either way, the "advantages" the other schools have are rounding errors.

Anonymous wrote:
They themselves said few utilize the 5 College consortium, so that's a moot benefit.

The benefit also takes the form of being in a real college town with sports games, bars, and an actual full selection of amenities.

The consortium is not a real benefit and few students use it. I don't know why people on DCUM still are lying about this when it's common knowledge at this point. If you want a consortium that bad, go to the Claremont schools or whatever they are.
What percent of LAC classes even have 30 students?

I don't think this is true about the consortium. My kid is at another one of the colleges in this 5 college consortium and it's definitely a benefit. She has gone to many social events at other colleges. Her friend is taking a class at another school. They do use it. Plus there's just an overall benefit to being in an area that serves a lot of college students in terms of the infrastructure that serves them.

So 1 student at another school takes class off campus (btw no one is saying other colleges don’t sue the consortium- Hampshire basically only exists to take classes at the other schools), and students go off campus to other ones for some things. These aren’t exactly dazzling reasons to go to a college- I went to many MIT and BU events while at Harvard, but I wouldn’t list MIT parties as a core reason to go to Harvard

Being in a real college town with a full suite of amenities, restaurants open late into the night, proper bars, and 40,000 other students does give Amherst an advantage over Williams or Middlebury.

Have you been to Amherst? There were only a few restaurants and bars on the main drag, I was shocked given that UMass is so big and nearby. Apparently Mich of the social life is going to UMass parties. Not ideal.

DC goes to Amherst; we are quite familiar with the town.

Please enlighten where this “college infrastructure” is then because it certainly isn’t in the little shopping area next to the school. We could barely find somewhere for dinner outside of that horrible historic Inn.

Protocol. Lao Hu Tong. Formosa. LiLi's. Miss Saigon. Bueno Y Sano. Amherst Oyster Bar. Royal Chicken and Kebab. Pita Pockets. The list goes on and on. If you go to Hadley (easily accessible by a free bus), there's pretty much every store you'll need: Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Home Depot, Michael's, Big Y, T Mobile, AT&T, a Chase Bank branch…the amenities are all there.

DP here. I went to Dartmouth and Hanover is similar in size, but farther from other little towns. I remember Amherst being close to Northampton, which also has a bunch of great restaurants, shops and coffee shops. The point is that if you have a bunch of colleges nearby, there's more places to check out, which makes Amherst more interesting than, e.g. Williamstown. I heard that the kids at Williamstown drive to Northampton.

That’s definitely not true, at least not because they need to. People go to North Adams or Pittsfield. It’s easier to go to Albany than it is to Northampton

Northampton is far nicer of a place than North Adams or Pittsfield.

But if you’re going an hour out, just go to Albany-which has multiple times the things as Northampton. No one really mentioned niceness originally, so I’m not sure why we care.

I am one of the Amherst detractors. The Williams Inn was heaven. Even the sandwich and coffee places were nicer.

Students don’t go to the Williams inn.

There were plenty there eating with parents when we were there. But yes, kids likely tend to eat on campus at all schools.

I’ve been on maybe 30 college visits between my two kids over the past three to four years. Amherst is the only one I really disliked. Obviously, thousands of kids attending the consortium schools feel differently and are happy to have that location be the place where they spend their college years. However, op is not alone in wondering why.

You liked Wesleyan more than Amherst?

Didn’t go there.

[Anonymous]

I’ve got no dog in this fight but having visited Amherst, known grads from there, and looked at it for my own dc bc of an athletic recruit angle, I’ll admit that I don’t find it appealing at all. Small boring campus, not much diversity, seemed over hyped. And anecdotally, the grads I know from there are a bit off.

I’m not bashing it, it’s just my personal opinion. FWIW my dc preferred lower ranked SLAC.

[Anonymous]

Seems to me that some would pick or reject a school based in largely on aesthetics or having met a few grads they do or don’t like. That to me seems like poor decision making.

[Anonymous]

I am one of the Amherst detractors. The Williams Inn was heaven. Even the sandwich and coffee places were nicer.
Students don’t go to the Williams inn.

My Williams student seems to live at Tunnel Coffee - and Spring St Market and Lickety Split (in season) seem to be in heavy rotation. When anyone has a parent in town, friends tag along for a meal at the Barn. But you are right that if they eat out, it's mainly Sproot or Blango.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that some would pick or reject a school based in largely on aesthetics or having met a few grads they do or don’t like. That to me seems like poor decision making.

I’m PP. I don’t totally disagree but there are many schools and let’s be honest, there probably isn’t the huge distinction between them that people want to make. And they’re all ridiculously pricey. So if a kid doesn’t like a school for whatever reason, why force it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that some would pick or reject a school based in largely on aesthetics or having met a few grads they do or don’t like. That to me seems like poor decision making.

“Largely”? Not really.

But they are factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Tiny, mediocre campus in a lackluster town.

Opinion.

Anonymous wrote: No academic highlights (like Williams tutorial, Swarthmore Honors, etc).

Open curriculum? Consortium?

Anonymous wrote:
Racial and socioeconomic diversity on paper, but every group sticks with themselves.

I'm always surprised when I see this repeated here. DC's friend group looks like it was made for a brochure.

Anonymous wrote:
Snobby, condescending students who think they're big shots. This struck us because the students we met at Yale and Brown were so much more friendly and humble.

Opinion.

Anonymous wrote:
They tout small classes but only 62% are under 20 students- every other top ranked SLAC and nearly every top 20 university is ahead of them.

Nice cherrypicking. They're ahead of Williams and Swarthmore on under 30. Either way, the "advantages" the other schools have are rounding errors.

Anonymous wrote:
They themselves said few utilize the 5 College consortium, so that's a moot benefit.

The benefit also takes the form of being in a real college town with sports games, bars, and an actual full selection of amenities.

The consortium is not a real benefit and few students use it. I don't know why people on DCUM still are lying about this when it's common knowledge at this point. If you want a consortium that bad, go to the Claremont schools or whatever they are.
What percent of LAC classes even have 30 students?

I don't think this is true about the consortium. My kid is at another one of the colleges in this 5 college consortium and it's definitely a benefit. She has gone to many social events at other colleges. Her friend is taking a class at another school. They do use it. Plus there's just an overall benefit to being in an area that serves a lot of college students in terms of the infrastructure that serves them.

So 1 student at another school takes class off campus (btw no one is saying other colleges don’t sue the consortium- Hampshire basically only exists to take classes at the other schools), and students go off campus to other ones for some things. These aren’t exactly dazzling reasons to go to a college- I went to many MIT and BU events while at Harvard, but I wouldn’t list MIT parties as a core reason to go to Harvard

Being in a real college town with a full suite of amenities, restaurants open late into the night, proper bars, and 40,000 other students does give Amherst an advantage over Williams or Middlebury.

Have you been to Amherst? There were only a few restaurants and bars on the main drag, I was shocked given that UMass is so big and nearby. Apparently Mich of the social life is going to UMass parties. Not ideal.

DC goes to Amherst; we are quite familiar with the town.

Please enlighten where this “college infrastructure” is then because it certainly isn’t in the little shopping area next to the school. We could barely find somewhere for dinner outside of that horrible historic Inn.

Protocol. Lao Hu Tong. Formosa. LiLi's. Miss Saigon. Bueno Y Sano. Amherst Oyster Bar. Royal Chicken and Kebab. Pita Pockets. The list goes on and on. If you go to Hadley (easily accessible by a free bus), there's pretty much every store you'll need: Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Home Depot, Michael's, Big Y, T Mobile, AT&T, a Chase Bank branch…the amenities are all there.

DP here. I went to Dartmouth and Hanover is similar in size, but farther from other little towns. I remember Amherst being close to Northampton, which also has a bunch of great restaurants, shops and coffee shops. The point is that if you have a bunch of colleges nearby, there's more places to check out, which makes Amherst more interesting than, e.g. Williamstown. I heard that the kids at Williamstown drive to Northampton.

That’s definitely not true, at least not because they need to. People go to North Adams or Pittsfield. It’s easier to go to Albany than it is to Northampton

Northampton is far nicer of a place than North Adams or Pittsfield.

But if you’re going an hour out, just go to Albany-which has multiple times the things as Northampton. No one really mentioned niceness originally, so I’m not sure why we care.

I am one of the Amherst detractors. The Williams Inn was heaven. Even the sandwich and coffee places were nicer.

Students don’t go to the Williams inn.

There were plenty there eating with parents when we were there. But yes, kids likely tend to eat on campus at all schools.

I’ve been on maybe 30 college visits between my two kids over the past three to four years. Amherst is the only one I really disliked. Obviously, thousands of kids attending the consortium schools feel differently and are happy to have that location be the place where they spend their college years. However, op is not alone in wondering why.

You liked Wesleyan more than Amherst?

Didn’t go there.

It’s worse than Middlebury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems to me that some would pick or reject a school based in largely on aesthetics or having met a few grads they do or don’t like. That to me seems like poor decision making.

“Largely”? Not really.

But they are factors.

Yep, for some it’s largely and sounds personal

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.