<p>is Amherst College better than UMASS Amherst? Its sad that people mix up those two schools</p>
<p>The OP is completely correct, the vast majority of people never heard of Amherst. It has long been a bastion for wealthy prep school grads, a well kept secret. Way more people have heard of U Mass.</p>
<p>Most people also want to go to a college they've long thought was great which explains why so many apply to Harvard. Harvard gets a way higher percentage of unqualified applicants than Amherst does.</p>
<p>In another 100 years few people will still know of Amherst, and Williams and Swat....</p>
<p>OP: I'd love to know which school you go to.</p>
<p>Is he kidding? Is it a joke? I find it difficult to believe that a kid on CC from MA wouldn't know Amherst.
Btw, you would go to Amherst instead of Harvard or Yale because the quality of the undergraduate education is superior. Harvard and Yale have famous profs, but you only hear from their TA's.</p>
<p>Amherst is extremely famous to those of us who can actually apply there and have a chance of being accepted. I guess many people do not know about the school because they could never consider it as a choice in the first place.</p>
<p>are you f****** kidding me. who are you.</p>
<p>lol that's what i thought</p>
<p>I've been accepted at Amherst, but since apparently no one's heard of it that means I shouldn't go right?</p>
<p>Oh wait, I'd have thought that any person on CC would at least GLANCE OVER the US News Rankings and notice Amherst sitting there at the top of the LAC column...(Williams is just another campus of Amherst :))</p>
<p>You'd think your counselors would at least know that....</p>
<p>Also, I'm happy that a lot of kids at your school apply to ivies, but do any of them actually get accepted? I mean, I don't want to generalize the entire school population based on what the OP said but....damn....</p>
<p>Amherst is a horrible, no name school. Basically just a a community college for rich people. You shouldn't apply there. It's only for dumb people. You're obviously very smart.</p>
<p>OP: Wow. 10 char</p>
<p>Suze:</p>
<p>You said - "Harvard gets a way higher percentage of unqualified applicants than Amherst does."</p>
<p>So - is there any way to know/calculate their (and Yale, and friends who also experience a similar phenomenon) *** real *** acceptance rate, one that throws out the bottom outliers, those who have statistics/records far below those of the competitive applicant?</p>
<p>OP: Have you ever considered that people say 'ivies' as an easy way to generalize 'top, competitive' schools? Two things to notice when you're browsing the 'What are my Chances?' forum: </p>
<p>1st - the vast majority of the posters are either new or junior members who are less experienced and don't appreciate that generally, all people are doing when they evaluate your chances are just checking the school's test score averages, and using a quick subjective measure of your ECs - so pretty meaningless. But anyway, these usually inexperienced people ask about their chances to 'the ivies' - which is why you shouldn't use their existence as evidence. </p>
<p>2nd - since so many of these posters are inexperienced, they probably haven't finalized the schools to which they'll apply, SO - 'the ivies' is a quick and dirty way to pigeonhole the schools they hope to attend.</p>
<p>Wow.. this post was pretty absurd. I go to one of the top public schools in Massachusetts and I'll be darned if my guidence counselor didn't sell the liberal arts schools to me like crazy in all our meetings. Actually, though there are many applying to Ivies, I know a LOT of the top students in my grade have applied to the top liberal arts schools. A lot more than I recall in past years, too. The naviance data reflects that. There were a number of highly selective liberal arts school rejections posted on our "Wall of Shame" (seniors put up rejection and waitlist letters on a bulletin board in our school--kind of a nice little catharsis) during ED time, and, despite the "lesser known" names, there was no shame in it. Everyone was fully aware that these schools were just about equally as hard to get into as many of the Ivy League schools. </p>
<p>Maybe you should ask all the kids at your school who are applying to those Ivy League schools what OTHER schools they are applying to? You may hear buzz flying around about Ivy admissions, but I'm sure everyone applying to Harvard and Yale--which apparantly makes up your entire student body--is also applying to a number of NON-ivy league schools. Do you ever speak to these people about exactly what schools they are waiting to hear back from? Yeah. I pity the fool </p>
<p>And no, not everyone in your school is applying to only the Ivy Leagues. That would be ridiculous and illogical.</p>
<p>the amount of spite towards the OP in this thread reveals less about him than the overall parochial vision of CC's regular posters. Jeebus.... parents too...</p>
<p>I'm guessing that he, as a victim, is to blame for poor counselling and mainstream attractions?</p>
<p>After some great problems my year, my guidance counselor (at an average high school in New York) has been required to do research to advise people accordingly. My junior year, my guidance counselor arranged that the entire top 10% meet current Harvard students so that we would be encouraged to go. Of course, none of us applied. She was convinced it was the only school in the country. So, when I decided I wanted to apply to Smith and Mount Holyoke, she looked at me in complete disdain. She encouraged me not to "waste my brains" on "no-name schools", which, of course, ****ed me off. After that, I complained to the administration and several others, and she was forced to learn about colleges. To her, Mount Holyoke was a Catholic school on a mountain, and Smith-- well, was just another "no-name". Needless to say, my peers went to commuter schools-- even the brilliant ones, due to careless advising. The assistant principal is even convinced that Mount Holyoke and Smith are both much worse schools than Franklin Pierce and Fairleigh Dickinson. This year, however, several students have expressed interest in schools like Mount Holyoke, Barnard, Bowdoin, Amherst, and Colby, and sure, they were met with shock, but the guidance counselor contacted former students who went to liberal arts colleges and asked us to help her. Clearly, it's a bad system, and the school should be re-staffed, but for now, what can they do? </p>
<p>My point: maybe he hasn't heard of Amherst! Lots of people don't...</p>
<p>Just because you have not heard of Amherst College ... does not mean it is not good. Each year it is ranked either the #1 or #2 liberal arts college in the country (usually #1). What matters is that grad schools and employers have heard about it ... and they have. A credential from Amherst College is a credential from one of the finest schools in the country. And no, I do not work there. Some students choose a small prestigious liberal arts college like Amherst over a larger prestigious university because of the nature of the academic and social experience.</p>
<p>^Williams and Swarthmore?</p>
<p>OP: don't feel too bad. I hadn't even heard of LACs for a long time, though I can't say I went to a prestigious prep/feeder school like yourself, so it is odd and sorta sad that your counselor or other students haven't discussed a great school like Amherst. You should look into Amherst and its school profile: you'll notice that it's students are among the best in the nation and people often turn down HYP for ASW and other top LACs. Don't limit yourself to what people have merely heard of. I don't know what your future plans are, but if you're looking to professional/graduate school, you should check into the undegraduate representation of incoming students at great schools like Yale Law School, Harvard Business, Stanford Medical, etc. and you'll see that a lot of students come from great LACs like Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Reed, etc. There was also a report done by the Wall Street Journal (though a bit biased) that examined which schools were the best "feeder" schools into top professional programs. Amh, Will, Swat, Well, Wes, Pomona, etc. were all on the list, and in fact I think Amherst was ranked higher than many precious ivy league schools.</p>
<p>Research of schools is key.</p>
<p>Mallomar, Williams is the other school in the top 2 ... Amherst usually gets #1 but sometimes it is Williams. This is the US News rankings.</p>
<p>Not hating on Amherst (happen to love the school) however, for the past few years, Williams has consistently been ranked # 1</p>
<p>In which poll? It seems that Amherst, Swarthmore, and Williams have been fighting over that number one spot for the past number of years.</p>
<p>Two people in my school have heard of Amherst =) .</p>