<p>"this "greater breadth of academic opportunities" thing is stale"</p>
<p>How is it stale? I transferred from a small school that offered about 7 modern languages to a large university that offered about 40. If all you want to take is Spanish, the breadth may not matter to you, but it's beyond dispute that 40 languages is a broader array than 7.</p>
<p>Amherst is part of a consortium through which students can take Hindi, Persian, Swahili, Sanskrit, Uzbek, Amharic, Czech, Hungarian, Norwegian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Thai, Twi, Indonesian, Wolof, Vietnamese, Yoruba, Zulu, Urdu, Romanian...that is just scratching the surface. Often these classes are taught in a very small environment (one on one, in many cases, including my own experience). </p>
<p>Yes, breadth is very important to many students, but the benefits of consortiums are way too often overlooked.</p>
<p>That's like saying "Harvard is Harvard" is stale or "ilovebagels is handsome" is stale. Just because everyone takes knows it and it's often said doesn't mean one can take it for granted. They're still true and they still matter.</p>
<p>"Amherst is part of a consortium"</p>
<p>If you believe that the courses at UMass are the precise equivalent of those at Penn, well, that's a defensible position, but one that's quite inconsistent with paying much of anything to go to Amherst. If you got into Amherst, a much less selective LAC would probably give you a four-year full ride. Why would you go to Amherst if you didn't believe that highly selective schools are different from the rest in ways that matter? A course in Wolof may be one-on-one, but the vast majority of UMass courses offering "breadth" to Amherst students won't be.</p>
<p>"the benefits of consortiums are way too often overlooked."</p>
<p>And speaking as a former attendee of an LAC in a consortium with a big university...maybe Amherst and UMass make cross-registration easy, but coming from Bryn Mawr or Haverford to take take Turkish (or any several-days-a-week class) at Penn is a gigantic pain in the butt and severely limits the other courses you can take. A consortium is nice, but it is not the same thing as having 6000 courses offered at your own school.</p>
<p>
Hanna, you really think so? :)</p>
<p>Defensible? Absolutely, and I'm not being facetious.</p>
<p>OK. Let's hear it.</p>
<p>well, I get enough financial aid at Amherst that it's basically a full-ride. And I do think that the academic experience here is something different from the rest in ways that really matter, and I am very grateful to be here, but I'm not so deluded to think that schools ranked less favorably by US News don't have their own strengths as well.</p>
<p>Most Umass courses are not comparable to schools like Penn, though of course certain departments at Umass are amazing, like linguistics. Schools like Smith and Mt. Holyoke offer languages like Sanskrit, though, and I think they are academically top-notch. So no, I would never argue that the quality at Umass, as a whole, could compare...but that doesn't mean that it doesn't bring major benefits along with it.</p>
<p>And yes, the consortium is easy here, and the area has one of the mose extensive free public transport systems in the country. It isn't the same as having six thousand courses at your own school, you're right. At the same time, LACs have their own benefits that schools like Penn may lack. For my personal needs and desires, Amherst strikes the perfect balance.</p>
<p>Is it safe to say I can't make my decision based on the quality of education I'd get because all three would give me a great education and the same opportunity to succeed in my career?</p>
<p>What I'm taking from everyone's posts is that I should decide based on where I fit the best in terms of size, location, community, athletics, etc rather than which school is "better" than the other.</p>
<p>It seems like none of these three is actually "better" than the others, they just have different feels rather than educational quality.</p>
<p>That's pretty much it.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the advice. It was a great help. I figured I let you know how the decision turned out - I chose Penn. Some of the reasons were: I was accepted to the Vagelos Program, I will be a bit closer to home than JHU, I like the city, I look forward to great research opportunities, and I view D1 running as a unique challenge.</p>
<p>Thanks again everyone.</p>
<p>Congratulations--great choice! Now go win some races for the Red and Blue! :)</p>
<p>Thanks! Don't worry I'll be sure to.</p>