Amherst, Middlebury, Haverford pros and cons? Travelling dilemma

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

<p>I’ve been accepted to all, but I can probably only visit one or two, due to limited resources and conflicting scheduling.</p>

<ul>
<li>ALL the open houses are on the same weekend (4/18), though Middlebury has another open house the weekend before that.</li>
<li>I want to visit what I think is my first choice, but I don’t want to feel like I’m making an uninformed decision, which is what I’ll feel if I don’t check out all the schools. They all seem like good matches for me, in different ways-- How do you go about making a tough decision between three great schools? (Not that I’m complaining-- I really am lucky to be in this position! )</li>
</ul>

<p>Amherst pros:

  • Schupf scholar (25k in funding for independent study, but everyone seems to get all the internships they could possibly want, I’m not sure Schupf gives me a huge advantage)
  • name recognition
  • classes at Hamilton and Smith, but consortium schools not that close to each other</p>

<p>Amherst cons:

  • sense of community might be compromised by sharing town and school with UMass?
  • cliques
  • high proportion of athletes
  • low possibility of joining acapella with no experience
  • library looks run-down</p>

<p>Haverford pros:

  • **consortium with other small schools (contrasted with Amherst, whose main consortium partner seems to be UMass), but UPenn available by train if students really need it[b/]
  • honor code and genuinely good people
  • duck pond!
  • tight community</p>

<p>Haverford cons:

  • could get claustrophobic with just 1,200 students
  • the honor code seems like it could go overboard</p>

<p>Middlebury pros:

  • winter term w/ lots of opportunities
  • Facilities!!
  • seems to be gaining name recognition
  • friendliest people
  • $2k/year more aid than Amherst
  • tight community</p>

<p>Middlebury cons:

  • don’t know that I’d fit in, given my minority status and socioeconomic background.
  • high proportion of athletes</p>

<p>What pros or cons am I missing? Right now, I’m leaning towards Amherst, though if I had something similar to Schupf at the other schools, I don’t know what I’d choose. So the issue with the open houses is that I can pick, at max, two. Visiting Amherst is free, and although Midd is just a three hours from Amherst, I can’t drive. Not to mention, Midd’s first open house is a week before Amherst’s, so I have two options: 1) Spend the entire week visiting colleges and miss a lot of school or 2) Fly twice, which means I’ll have to pay more airfare to visit Midd, coming from the west coast.</p>

<p>Haverford is really far away from Amherst and Midd, though I could potentially get a partial travel grant. The biggest problem is that its open house is on the same day as Amherst’s, so I’d have to cut my Amherst visit short. Even then, I don’t know that I’ll be able to make the open house, with airline reliability and timing as the main questions.</p>

2

<p>Look at college catalogs in chosen major. They’re usually on-line. See which description of courses piques your interest more.</p>

<p>Look at pictures.</p>

<p>Read the websites corner to corner.</p>

<p>You probably will get a good idea of which school interests you more.</p>

<p>U Mass does not dilute the Amherst experience, and that seems to be your most negative feeling about Amherst. </p>

<p>From your list I think Amherst is a good choice; it is halfway between Midd and Haverford in size and has the consortium (Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and Hampshire, not Hamilton) which seems to intrigue you.</p>

3

<p>Amherst does have an honor code.</p>

4

<p>As someone that got to spend three amazing days at Amherst, I have to tell you not to worry about there not being a sense of community. I was lucky enough to visit during homecoming. I have never seen more school spirit in my life (something that I am sure stems at least partly from the great caliber of athletics). It wasn’t just the students that were convivial and enthusiastic; the alumni, faculty and even janitors were exited. Plus I found that, for me at least, Amherst was just the right size to feel like you know everyone, but still have a lot to do. It’s true that many people do go to UMass to party, but TAP (The Amherst Party) is really popular as are the parties held by clubs and not the school itself. </p>

<p>I know you are also worried about their library; you shouldn’t be. The library is expansive and quite modern. Plus, if there are any books you can’t find in the Robert Frost Library then the Five Colleges have a book request program and if the book is not in any of the five colleges, you can request it be order. Besides, Amherst has a lot of other primary sources students can utilize like the on-campus Natural History Museum and the Mead Art Museum. Not to mention that Amherst owns the Emily Dickinson Museum and administer the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC. </p>

<p>Of course, I’m not going to say that Amherst is the best out of these three great colleges since each has its own identity, but for me it is and thus I think you should know as much about what it is like being there as possible. If I were you, I’d visit Amherst.</p>

<p>Good luck and I hope this was helpful.</p>

5

<p>A few notes on your pros/cons for Amherst</p>

<p>-Consortium: You can take classes at a total of four other colleges – Hampshire, Smith, Mt Holyoke and UMass. While they are not within walking distance of each other, the PVTA (bus) stops right on campus and will take you (for free!) to any of the schools (or the mall, nearby towns, etc) very quickly. </p>

<p>-Community: Not at all compromised by sharing a town with UMass. Amherst College and UMass-Amherst are very separate–about 1.5 miles apart. While they do both use the town of Amherst, it does not at all feel like UMass dominates Amherst College. We each have our own campuses, activities, teams, courses, etc. The only time we run into UMass students is in line for pizza at Antonio’s or when we go there for concerts and stuff. Honestly, having UMass nearby is an advantage for Amherst College; it brings resources, stores, artists, etc. to the area that might not come otherwise.</p>

<p>-Cliques: I wouldn’t say that Amherst is more clique-y than other places. Did you see something in particular that made you think it was? As at any school, people have groups of friends. However, I would say those are quite fluid, and people associate with lots of people they might consider outside their immediate group of friends.</p>

<p>-Athletes: I was concerned that Amherst was too much of a jock school for me as I was deciding where to attend. However, the athletics program adds to the school rather than takes away from it. For a non-athlete like me, the athletics program just gives me more things to do on the weekends. It definitely doesn’t dominate campus at all. Plus, the athletes who are at Amherst are academically qualified to be there; they are not a drain on the classroom environment either.</p>

<p>-A Capella: There is actually a very good chance of joining a capella with no experience! A friend of mine auditioned for the Zumbyes (arguably the top a capella group on campus) without any experience at all – he had never sung in front of anyone else before his audition. He was accepted into the group. While the a capella groups do have a number of students with more extensive backgrounds in music, there is a good chance that you’ll get in with little or no experience. The Choral Society is also fantastic – the Glee Club, Women’s Choir and Concert Choir are also very highly regarded and will in fact be traveling to South America (I think) for a concert tour next spring.</p>

<p>-Library: To the best of my knowledge, the College is planning an extensive renovation of the library soon. While the facilities may not be up to par, the resources are fantastic! Great books, great online resources, and the librarians are very helpful. I often request books from the 5 college system. Last semester, I needed a book that wasn’t available in the 5 Colleges. The Library ordered it for me from a library in London…for free! I agree, Frost needs some work, but it’s really what the building houses that’s most important, no? </p>

<p>Good luck making your decision.</p>

6

<p>dear ACKB12,</p>

<p>you are the most informative person ever. lol.</p>

<p>i hope everyone at amherst is as helpful</p>

7

<p>One thing you should consider from the West Coast is travel schedules and costs.</p>

<p>You might pick some random week and price out door to door air travel from where you live to all three schools. For Amherst, you can fly into Bradley in Hartford (ask here for the cost of bus or shuttle to campus). Middlebury is going to be very difficult. You’ll need to fly into Burlington, VT (ask at their forum for the cost of a shuttle.</p>

<p>For Haverford, be sure to check Southwest fares into Philly. You can take a train directly from the airport, about an hour or it’s probably 30 to 40 minutes on a Haverford shuttle. </p>

<p>You could be looking at substantial differences in price.</p>

8

<p>Interesteddad makes a GREAT point. Do some searches on airfares. I often buy one-way tickets from a moderately large West Coast hub to Bradley. They tend to run from $180 to $250 one way. (You basically have to keep an eye on airline websites all the time to snag good deals.) There are also very few (if any) airlines that fly directly from any west coast airport into Bradley. </p>

<p>Getting from Bradley to Amherst and vice-versa: For Thanksgiving and Spring break (both one week long) the student government operates a free shuttle to/from the school and the airport. Otherwise, most students share taxis or shuttles (Valley Transporter) to the airport. (Those run between $30 per person to $65 if you take a taxi by yourself.) Usually, I just put up a Facebook status along the lines of “Anyone going to Bradley at noon on Saturday?” and one of my friends jumps in to offer a ride. It’s not nearly as inconvenient as I thought it would be.</p>

<p>It’s also relatively easy to fly to Boston or New York. To get to/from Boston, there is the Peter Pan bus line that leaves from the town of Amherst frequently, and will have you at the airport in 2.5ish hours. I’ve also flown out of New York by getting rides with friends who live near NYC (pretty easy to find). BOS/NYC have the advantage of offering more direct flights to/from the West Coast at lower prices.</p>

<p>Being from the west coast, I can attest to the extra difficulty of attending a small, more rural school in New England. Despite the hassle, I wouldn’t trade my experience at Amherst for a school closer to home. That being said, you should be aware that at any of the schools on your list, you’ll become a lot more familiar with airports than you might want to be.</p>

9

<p>Just a few notes about Haverford College. Keep in mind that HC’s proximity to a major, huge city gives you a lot of opportunities that you’re not going to get in smaller, ruralish towns (i.e. lecturers, professors, cultural events, concerts, etc.). Haverford is actually the perfect distance away from Philly it’s like a 25 minute ride; the suburbs surrounding Haverford are really nice, there are coffeeshops to go to, local stores, etc. so you get the best of both worlds urban/suburban wise. There are buses going on the 1/2 hour from Haverford/Bryn Mawr/Swarthmore, and really, getting into Philly/Penn isn’t that difficult. (I.E. Haverford is super easy to get to and in an awesome location.)</p>

<p>The Honor Code plays into Haverford’s community in a way that’s very different from other schools. And definitely speaks for the character of the student body as a whole (very active/involved/public/open/student-run/legit…)</p>

10

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064462318-post13.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064462318-post13.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;