Amherst, Middlebury, Haverford pros and cons? Travelling dilemma

Colleges and Universities A-Z Middlebury 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>You need to visit all the schools to make an informed choice. You don’t have to visit during an open house, it could be at any time. Just fly once, any of the visits can be as short as they need to be. You don’t need a week to visit three schools.</p>

3

<p>I would visit Haverford just because it’s the one outlier on your list (non-New England, denser suburban surrounding) and, as you say, probably the least room for error, size-wise. And, then I’d visit Middlebury mostly because it seems in some sense both Midd and Haverford are competing with an idealized version of Amherst in your mind’s eye. I hope that makes sense. :p</p>

4

<p>I would call the schools and explain that you’d like to visit but have no money, schedule a 4 day trip one time coinciding with the weekend, start at Haverford and go up or Midd and go down. You don’t have to visit on only those days, and if you are URM, they will perhaps be willing to help you arrange a nice little visit, with an overnight and everything. They would do it for an athlete, why not you? There are buses between Midd and Amherst, also a train from journey may be do-able. Ask for your admissions counselor, explain your dilema, and see what they come up with.
Midd students are friendlier, less clique-e and less preppy than Amherst in my opinion, but Amherst is in a more accessible region for a non-driver.</p>

5

<p>If you’re concerned about fitting in based o your minority status and socioeconomic background at Middlebury (likely an unnecessary concern) I should probably be concerned about Amherst too - perhaps even more so given the smaller student population. Although, I want to reiterate, I suspect that concern is unnecessary at either school. Go check them both out. I know you’ll find Middlebury to be very tolerant and friendly.</p>

<p>Amherst is just filled with idiots :wink:
Don’t attack me, I’m kidding.</p>

6

<p>IMO, Haverford is too small but of the three, it has the best access to a major metropolitan city. Sounds to me like you are best seeing Midd and Amherst and forget about doing the visits on specific open house days. Let’s face it, those are geared to be sales events anyway and you want to see the colleges as they are on any typical day and not be shepharded around in flock fashion anyway. Worse case scenario, catch a bus between Springfield and Burlington. There are local buses that run from those cities to each of the schools. Best bet is probably to fly into Burlington, VT…bus it down to Midd and then take a bus to SPFLD and a local to Amherst. I am sure it will work out. Based on your pro and con list, these two schools seem like they make the best choices for you anyway. I’d eliminate Haverford from a financial standpoint, size and your feeling about the honor code.</p>

7

<p>If this helps, we have scheduled a visit to Middlebury (an overnight on April 4.) We are meeting with three professors and my D is sitting in on several classes. They seem very receptive to letting kids sit in on classes. My D is also meeting with girls on the sports team she would like to play on and has a meeting with the coach. All this is squeezed into one afternoon and the following morning and early afternoon, so you might be able to do the same. I agree with what someone said about it not being necessary to go on just the preview days, although we would like to do that as well. My D may be missing some school time in April but the visitations seem very important in helping her choose the right school. I only know a little about Haverford and Amherst but it seems that you have a three nice choices you could make - congratulations!</p>