<p>In your opinion, what are the advantages/disadvantages to the Five College Consortium? </p>
<p>It seems to me that the sharing of 30,000 students in such a small range detracts from the small liberal arts experience.</p>
<p>Also, if the students from any of the 5 are allowed to take classes from the others, what makes going to Amherst better than say, going to UMass?</p>
<p>I’m not being critical, just wanna see what opinions there are and clear up any misconceptions i may currently have. Thanks</p>
<p>It's a fair question. In my (albeit limited) experience at Amherst, I haven't found the 5 college consortium to have any effect on the small liberal arts feel of amherst. My classes have been pretty small, and there haven't been any 5 college students in the classes. I think there are some 5-college students in Amherst classes, but not many. They still try to keep class sizes small, and I think Amherst students have priority over 5-college students in signing up for Amherst classes. The only time I've really noticed a significant number of 5-college students are on some party nights, where women from Mt. Holyoke and Smith come to Amherst. Amherst feels like a small community, but we can take advantage of what the other schools have to offer. UMass being nearby means that we have access to great speakers/concerts that wouldn't necessarily come to a small place like Amherst.
In general, the consortium doesn't really effect the small size and feel of amherst, but it expands the overall experience.</p>
<p>Basically, if you're not interested in seeking out the 5-College experience, it's not going to interfere with your time at Amherst. There will probably be some students from other colleges in your classes, but as Lemonjello said, the class sizes are kept small. The small liberal arts college feel is definitely present. :)</p>
<p>As for differences between the colleges... you're only allowed to take 2 classes per semester at other locations, but it sounds like you're asking more about feel? I don't know about UMass, but the class I'm taking at Smith I've enjoyed just as much as the Amherst ones. Frankly, I think one of the major differences is Amherst's huge endowment - we can afford things that, unfortunately, a lot of the other colleges can't.</p>
<p>I graduated from MHC just after Four Colleges became Five with the addition of Hampshire--but I stay in touch and have been to the Five College area twice in the last year with my D touring schools. </p>
<p>The Consortium brings only advantages to all concerned and in no way affects the small college community-feel of the LACs--for example, we attended an MHC student poetry reading and a guy from Amherst and someone from UMass each read a poem--made the evening more interesting but it was clearly an MHC-style event. Back in my time, it made it possible for my roommate to major in Anthropology --even though MHC had no department in that area. </p>
<p>Amherst and UMass are entirely different in their demographic, campus style and academic-social atmosphere but students from each can enjoy some "time out" in the other world and benefit from the increased palette of course offerings. If UMass suits your budget better, you can still enjoy some of the "elitist" privileges of the private campuses, and they, in turn, benefit from the wider range of course types and subjects at UMass.</p>
<p>And for the Smith and MHC women, of course, they sometimes enjoy seeing a few more men around even if they prefer being primarily "at home" on their own campus with their "sisters".</p>
<p>The consortium does not in any way ruin the LAC feel of Amherst College. The fact that students are allowed to take classes in other colleges does not mean that everyone goes marching to another college just because they can. It requires a lot of planning to be able to take a class even at UMass considering that you can't just jump from one of your classes in Amherst to another in UMass in 10 minutes. In fact, there is only one Five College student in the classes that I'm taking (and that is because that class is not offered in her college). And Amherst students seldom take more that 2 classes in any other of the colleges over their 4 years at Amherst.</p>
<p>You should als remember that you do not see "all 30,000" Five College Students on the Amherst campus at any point in time. Being in the consortium just gives you options. It does not taint your experience in at all but on the contrary, it enhances it.</p>
<p>When I was at Amherst College, I spent quite a bit of time exploring the other schools. I majored in Religion and studied mostly with Bob Thurman (Uma's dad). I met students from other schools that came to Amherst to take his classes. These students were always very interesting. Anyone who would take the initiative to come study with your favorite professor probably has many of the same interests as you. Many of the professors on these campuses have far reaching reputations. Smith, MHC, and Hampshire also have many great profs. Most of my friends took at least one class "off campus," usually in their Junior or Senior years. At least one of the guys definitely used it just to get invitations to the famous candle light dinners ;). I ended up becoming a physician, after all was said and done, but in college I was a dancer. And our department was small. Interesting, but small. I ended up dancing with the 5 College Faculty, which greatly enhanced my experience. Hampshire has always had some of the most interesting and brilliant (albeit fringe type) students. And their Halloween party is legendary, if that still happens. Everyone can find their crowd eventually. Amherst College is small enough that it can feel socially stale or redundant at times. No worries, just jump on one of the free buses to another campus and follow the noise in the evening to find a party full of new and different people. One of my best buddies ended up marrying one of the Smith women that I met on one of those very adventures... ah the memories.</p>