Amherst or UPenn?

<p>I have narrowed down my choice to either Amherst College or Univ. of Pennsylvania. I don't really know what I intend to study; will probably major in something along the lines of English(creative writing), Religion studies and/or Visual Arts. </p>

<p>Parents are pushing for UPenn -- they would like the big Ivy name and the "big school" atmosphere. It's not that I don't like UPenn, it's just that I have grown to be quite fond of Amherst and think perhaps I could receive a much more personalized education there. </p>

<p>What are your opinions? Anything you say would help me out substantially. I haven't been able to visit either campus (international student) so I feel quite insecure of just winging a big decision like this.</p>

<p>Congatulations on two great choices. Penn may be an Ivy, but Amherst
is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the US. I don't have personal experience with these schools, but if your heart says Amherst, go for it. Penn is urban, Amherst isolated in western Massachusetts. What kind of environment are you looking for?</p>

<p>Amherst all the way. Last year one of the seniors from my school chose Amherst over Yale and Columbia.</p>

<p>What country are you from? I kind of understand your parents - but Amherst in my opinion has better reputation among the academic circles in the states compared to Penn SAS.</p>

<p>
[quote]
What are your opinions? Anything you say would help me out substantially. I haven't been able to visit either campus (international student) so I feel quite insecure of just winging a big decision like this.

[/quote]
Congrats on the two great admissions ... both are terrific schools ... both with be terrific experiences. It is unfortunate that you can not visit because I would think the two schools will feel very different. Among the top schools these two are about as different as possible ... one small, liberal arts focussed, in a rural area ... the other large (2nd largest IVY), undergrad strength in business and engineering, and located downtown in a major city ... pretty substantial differences. Even is you can not visit I think you can establish a preference on the city/rural dimension and the small LAC / bigger research U dimension ... if both of these point to one of those schools I'd think that answers your question. </p>

<p>Good luck .. and you will be going to a terrific school!</p>

<p>There are many reasons to choose either of these schools over the other, but your parents' preference for the "big ivy name" should be very low on the list. Tell them that anyone who doesn't know Amherst is just as likely to mistake Penn for Penn State! Amherst is one of the most respected colleges in the US, and practically any RD acceptee will have turned down at least one Ivy to go there. More importantly, their English Department is reputedly one of the best in the country. I don't know specifically about creative writing, but they clearly place a very high premium on written expression generally (one of the reasons for their quirky application essays, IMO).</p>

<p>I generally agree with what others have written, but I would quibble with the descriptions "isolated" and "rural." I think of it as suburban, rather than rural--certainly much closer to other communities than rural schools such as Williams and Middlebury. There must be close to 30,000 undergrads in the Amherst/Northhampton area.</p>

<p>Whoops, I was thinking of Williams when I described Amherst's location. Must've had a brain cramp.</p>

<p>I too would go with amherst. Firstly, I think you should completely ignore your parents perhaps skewed assesment prestige, and its importance in the college decision. With this in mind, Amherst flip flops with Swarthmore and Williams as one of the top 3 LAC's in the country (though of course, Amherst has been #1 the most frequently... ;)). Also, if you check out data regarding graduate school rates, I think you (and probably your parents) would be surprised to see how well Amherst ranks, specifically in admission to top business, medical, and law schools. </p>

<p>Moving on, I think that the individual attention and intesne focus on the undergratduate student community that Amherst can offer outweighs whatever benefits Penn would yield. Penn to me just seems like a factory, whereas Amherst seems to be a real school, where the sole emphasis is on education.</p>

<p>"Amherst in my opinion has better reputation among the academic circles in the states compared to Penn SAS."</p>

<p>I agree. I would pick Amherst.</p>

<p>Amherst for sure. (And this is a vote from a Williams grad). Go to Penn for grad school.</p>

<p>I would choose Amherst. Explain to your parents that it really is harder to get into then Penn!</p>

<p>Penn kills Amherst!....dude, you better not give up penn for amhearts....you'll regret it forever :)</p>

<p>Don't worry about the size of penn....it's slightly smaller than columbia, and has about 23k students! That's hardly large, and quite small if you consider that harvard and cornell are about 18k students each. Most universities like UCLA, UMAA or UT-austin have at least 40k+ students, so all the ivies are quite tiny by comparison.</p>

<p>If you want reallllly small, why even go to college?</p>

<p>Both offer great academics but very different college environments (penn: larger, urban; amherst: small, suburban). Really, i think that a lot of your decision could be made from factoring in these elements. I personally had planned to apply to Penn and Amherst but, after visiting both campuses along with many others, decided to take Penn off of my apply list. Even though I applied to some bigger schools (or what i consider big) and will be attending a school with around 6000 undergrads, Penn's campus and student body just seemed a lot bigger than other schools. And, while I loved almost everything about Penn, I had a much better "feel" for Amherst when i visited it. If possible (which i know it isn't always) I would see whether you would be able to visit the campuses to really see what each campus is like.</p>

<p>Good luck deciding (you have two great schools to choose between)!</p>

<p>(I also agree with darkstarrising that if individual attention from faculty is important to you, definitely go with Amherst over Penn)</p>

<p>golubb sounds like a salesperson.</p>