Amherst, Brown, Pomona, or Swarthmore?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

<p>I want:
Liberal arts, “learning for the sake of learning” kind of feel - more students going for PhDs than MDs.
Strong program in (molecular) biology.
Also interested in astronomy, physics, linguistics, English, astrobiology.
College town or city, not isolation.
Amazing, devoted professors.
Lots of undergrad research.
Nice dorms/good food = definite plus.</p>

<p>My take on each school…</p>

<p>Amherst
Small LAC but not claustrophobic thanks to college town, proximity of UMass & other schools (also broadens academic options somewhat). Far but not too far from home. Intro bio class I sat in on was great but I get the feeling Amherst is more social science-y than hard science-y. Only 1 dining hall but amazing freshman dorms. No core (good/bad?).</p>

<p>Basically: I love the way the school is integrated with the town, but worry about the lack of science options.</p>

<p>Brown
More of a mix of smaller, discussion-based classes and larger lectures (good or bad?). No core (good/bad?). Larger student body + grad school = harder to connect with professors or better research opps? Nice town, close to Boston/NY. Does having more students make socializing easier (more diversity, chance of finding “your people”) or harder (not as welcoming, harder to actually meet “your people”)? Icky dorms, from what I can tell. A few dining options, some good food off-campus too. Happy students. Would Brown have more oddball classes on super specific topics than the others? (I love the idea of this)</p>

<p>Basically: I’m divided over whether I want a small U like Brown or an LAC.</p>

<p>Pomona
Small, closeknit college, yet social/academic options broadened by consortium. Close(ish) to LA but immediate surroundings = suburbia (blah). Very far from home (:(). Has professor/class in a specific area of bio research in which I’m very interested! I love the beach / warm weather (but would I miss seasons?). I also love the little things like Death by Chocolate, Ski-Beach day, daily snack, etc. Lots of dining options since you can eat on any campus. Seems like they make making friends super easy with sponsor groups, freshman adventure trips, etc. Nice dorms, happy students.</p>

<p>Basically: the only thing I worry about is being too far from home and too suburbia-fied.</p>

<p>Swarthmore
More of an intellectual atmosphere (beneficial or smothering?). Close to Philly but I get the feeling that students don’t get up there much. Great student-professor relations (see: the bathtub debate!). Strong in all sciences. But are students too stressed? Apparently social activities don’t start until the library closes (at 10!) on Friday. But reputation of less drinking is a plus.</p>

<p>Basically: I can’t decide if the super intellectual atmosphere is amazing or stifling.</p>

<p>The ED deadline is coming up and I just don’t know what to do!!! Suggestions? How much would waiting for RD lower my chances at each school?</p>

2

<p>Well I've only been to Swarthmore so here's my opinion. 99% of Swarthmore students seem to honestly love their school despite any aspects of the college that may seem negative.</p>

<p>It seems that everyone who goes their studies very hard Monday through Wednesday. At 1 am people were still doing homework, having debates, etc. It's a lot of work and they seem committed to doing well. Still on weekends they seem to forget about that and have fun. It may not be a huge drinking school but at most big parties you will find alcohol. Also, on the weekend I went, there were a ton of people that had went out to Phili because the school gave them free train fare or something. I don't think many people were in the library studying, average parties just start late.</p>

<p>It didn't seem intellectually stifling to me. Even the smartest kids were down to earth though your bound to find as some people you may consider too studious. Still, many of them seemed very outgoing and friendly.</p>

3

<p>To complicate your life even more: for sciences, check out Oberlin.</p>

<p>General wisdom on CC is that the only reason to apply ED is if you're absolutely sure it's your first choice, since you must live with the outcome. Also look at the college profile statistics to find out how many they admitted ED last year compared to RD.
That might give you an indication, although they can change from year to year.</p>

<p>Years ago, I'd read that Amherst isn't as keen on ED as is Brown; and more recently Amherst only fills up 30 percent of its freshman class with ED applicants, saving the rest for RD consideration. Years ago, Brown relied more heavily on ED to fill up a larger percentage of its freshman spots; at that time, 40 percent. Check for updated stats.</p>

<p>Some people apply for their reachiest school as the ED, hoping to improve their chances and make the reach work. The trick there is, once that app is filed, to begin serious work on the rest of the apps and not believe you'll get into the ED place. Otherwise if you do get the reject or defer notice in early Dec, then you spend all of your Winter Break scrambling to do 7 (or how many other) applications in time for RD.</p>

<p>If you'll need to compare financial aid offers, ED isn't ideal because you can't compare. Your folks might want to weigh in on that.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for your input.</p>

<p>paying3tuitions: Oberlin seems like a great match. Do you know anything about the town it's in?</p>

5

<p>Hey, the ED deadline is past for some schools already (like Brown) but I just wanted to know what you finally decided on -- or if you still haven't. I was considering all of the schools you mentioned up there, but it was mainly Amherst and Brown that were my top choices. I had Pomona down too, but then I thought about it and since I'm from the Northeast I figured if I ever wanted to come home for a while I'd need to pay airline tickets and everything; it would just be too much of a hassle and a strain on the cash I don't even have. So Pomona was out, and Swarthmore I never really considered seriously. It's a great school, definitely, but I just found that I didn't really know much about it.</p>

<p>Amherst, however, was where I spent three weeks of my summer before junior year, and I loved it. I do get what you mean about the small U/LAC thing; I had the same dilemma. It took me a while to finally decide Brown, but when I did I realized it'd been my first choice the whole time, and I just hadn't wanted to admit it because it's an Ivy and all, and the admissions rate is 4% lower than Amherst's. So basically, a big reach. But from what I know, Amherst is more social-science/humanities-ish than hard science-y. I mean, amazing as it is, it still is a liberal arts college, while Brown is a university = more options and opportunities. Plus, Brown is great for "hard-science," to my knowledge anyway. I like English too, but I'm considering Human Bio right now for a concentration/major. Brown also has a nice telescope for astronomy-related things, haha. And I don't think the student-faculty relationship will be diminished at all because of the larger sb or grad school; at least, that's not what I got out of the info session I went to.</p>

<p>Well, this was a really long response for someone who's probably already decided on an ED choice. Ha. If not, I hope it helped.</p>

6

<p>Actually, I'm still torn (uggghh). I've never been much of a decision maker haha. I think I'm just gonna do all RD but just in case I change my mind the deadline for Pomona, Amherst, & Swat is Nov 15.....</p>

7

<p>Pomona? Well, all I can say is, if you're looking to be able to go to LA sometimes, it's a long drag. Pomona's about 30-40 miles from Downtown Los Angeles, and by train it's about 1 1/2 hours away. By bus, around the same. And the buses don't run late at night so be careful.</p>

<p>Even if you're driving, it'll probably be the same, unless you're caught in one of those times where there's no traffic. But there's not much to do in Pomona...</p>