<p>Has anyone here ever heard of Amherst College? Its supposedly one of the best LACs... I have a question, why would anyone ever want to go to unknown colleges like Amherst or Vassar when they could go to top private universities like harvard, yale, etc</p>
<p>Nope. Never heard of it. I've heard of Pepperdine. Why don't you go to Pepperdine?</p>
<p>what a good question. gee, why doesn't everyone go to harvard or yale?</p>
<p>yep, heard of Amherst but not sure if they're top of not. I know that wesleyan (billy b of the pats went there) is a great lac.</p>
<p>well you didnt mention princeton. but yes princeton sucks! i mean, its NOT EVEN ranked by US News!</p>
<p>Oh my god.. "Has anyone every heard of Amherst?"</p>
<p>Hilarious. You really need to do some research, kid. Are you seriously a high schooler (not a frosh?) who doesn't know what Amherst is? I live in California.. a long way away from MA, and Amherst is.. well, very well known here. What a total dumbass.</p>
<p>Amherst is the equal or very near equal of HYP, etc., as are most of the top LAC's. Some people prefer a smaller enviornment, where there are no grad students to soak up resources or be teaching assistants, and so LAC's are better choices for them. Certainly most people who are admitted to HYP, etc. attend those schools--their yield is very high, well over 50%--but Amherst is most certainly not a step down from Harvard academically in any measurable way. </p>
<p>Amherst or Vassar are NOT unknown schools. They are both extremely well-known schools, as are many of the top LAC's. It is probably generally true that your average "man on the street" knows of more of the National Universities than of the LAC's, but that does not mean that the LAC's are not well-known or well-respected, or that they do not have excellent academics, or that attending them would hurt your job prospectives in the least.</p>
<p>Harvard? Yale? I've never heard of those ;]</p>
<p>Wow come on now, Amherst is crazy (in a good way). Anyone who has done any kind of college research knows that their academics is on par with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hilarious. You really need to do some research, kid. Are you seriously a high schooler (not a frosh?) who doesn't know what Amherst is? I live in California.. a long way away from MA, and Amherst is.. well, very well known here
[/quote]
High Schooler who lives in Massachusetts. No one from my high school has ever heard of Amherst College and no one is applying there, so it can't be too famous</p>
<p>"so it can't be too famous" </p>
<p>Yeah, it's so not famous. Only complete idiots go there. You should so go to Suffolk. Everyone knows Suffolk. Suffolk is good. No one knows Amherst and Vassar, but everyone knows Suffolk.
So yeah...Suffolk is the bomb.</p>
<p>If you live in Massachusetts, and Amherst:</p>
<ol>
<li>Is one of the top LACs (liberal arts colleges) in the country that is also in Massachusetts (interchanging the 1,2 3spot with Swat and Williams, the reason you may see the acronym AWS) </li>
<li>One the "small ivies" because of their focus on undergraduate education</li>
<li>Would be the HYP equivalent of Liberal arts colleges </li>
</ol>
<p>I would worry more about the guidance and college counseling you are receiving at your school must be sorely lacking or you could be surrounded by people who know nothing about education, or the group think mentality of your peers in thinking that if it isn't a ivy, or some other big name recognition school, then the school must not be any good. I think you really need to expand your group of friends as they are very limited and not too knowledgeable about colleges either if you are posing this question.</p>
<p>Don't worry if the average "man in the street" knows nothing about Amherst. the people who need to know; professional and graduate schools, and employers are well aware of amherst, the caliber of student that goes there and the education one gets from the school.</p>
<p>Well, I don't think "name fame" is a reason to go to college but itis a factor. I know that my d. applied to Haverford and I was "stunned" when someone told me she'd never heard of it. Amherst and Vassar are well-known Amherst if far more challenging to gain admittance to--I went on visits to both and my d. opted not to apply to either. I also know people confuse the names Wellesley and Wesleyan--and Miami U and U of Miami and Penn State and U Penn.</p>
<p>nycmom,</p>
<p>You being up a good point. While many people may not have heard of Haverford, those same people are missing out on an opportunity to attend or give a look at a great school because the average man on the street has never heard of it.</p>
<p>To the original poster, what high school do you go to? I want to know so that whenever you or someone from your school does a chances thread, we'll instantly know the level intelligence that your community radiates. If you're on CC you must be like top 10 percent so to ask a question like that, you might be a member of one of the dumbest top 10 percent class ranks. And that's weird because I always figured people from the South would fill that niche.</p>
<p>sybbie -- great post, that was my very first thought! I would be very, very worried about the quality of college counseling if a kid from Mass hasn't even heard of Amherst.</p>
<p>sorry, my school is composed of kids who mostly apply to ivy league... Its a top school in MA so everyone's applying to ivy league, MIT, stanford, etc... No one really applies or has heard of any of those smaller schools like Williams, Amherst, yet.</p>
<p>edit: nevermind</p>
<p>this is a joke thread right?</p>
<p>I sure hope it is Mallomar.</p>