<p>Which school is the best Amherst or Vassar? and why?</p>
<p>Amherst, but its not like Vassar is the bottom of the barrel</p>
<p>Personally I think Amherst is more diverse and has more educational opportunities(5 college consortium).</p>
<p>i applied to both. i must say, i really really really liked vassar when i stayed overnight. it would be a tough decision if i got into both.</p>
<p>whether it matters to you or not, amherst, williams, and swarthmore are generally recognized as the apogee of lac's.</p>
<p>Amherst is def. the more prestigious of the two and can stake a claim (along with Williams and Swarthmore) as top LAC in the nation, and it is often regarded as equal to ivy league schools. You cannot say the same thing for Vassar, which is about a rung or two below Amherst. However, both are excellent schools, and I actually liked Vassar more when I visited. I could see myself picking Vassar over Amherst.</p>
<p>lol bjrwrh, i had an opposite reaction. it probably depends a lot on who you meet, but i did not like the vassar campus and i really liked amherst. i would have probably leant more towards vassar, but when i visited something about it seemed unfriendly or uncomfortable. can't quite put my finger on it, but i was just ready to leave. meanwhile, amherst just seemed so open and friendly. i guess it just depends...</p>
<p>Strange... when I visited Amherst everyone seemed distant and no one seemed to talk to each other, and the campus felt cramped, and I had a tour guide that I really disliked. But, I have heard good things about it, so it was probably just an off day.</p>
<p>Just two cents on the five college consortium: it's a great thing in concept but the logistics of making it work can be difficult from a scheduling standpoint...the round-trip of the shuttle bus, which can be unreliable, plus the actual class itself, means a 4-hour blot on your schedule. It can work easily if most of your classes are MWF and the Five College class is TTh. Classes at UMass would be the easiest, obviously. However, and I don't have stats at hand, Smith is the greatest "net importer" of Five College students. </p>
<p>My daughter is at Smith and may take a Math class at Amherst next year. Northampton, where Smith is, tends to be the social center of the Five Colleges. (Though Green Day is coming to Amherst on April 30.) NoHo is about a 15-25 minute shuttle ride, depending on whether or not traffic is backing up at the bridge.</p>
<p>hey guys im really stuck between dartmouth and amherst...what advantages does amherst have?</p>
<p>Binge drinking is less of a problem at Amherst.</p>
<p>check out the Amherst 2009 group - the link is in my profile. some of the discussions have some valuable info for prospective students.</p>
<p>Well, reputationally, Amherst is more known than Vassar. However, it is up to you decide. You will be the one staying there.</p>
<p>actually more "common" people know about Vassar but amherst is ranked higher in US news</p>
<p>Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say known. I meant to say as far as rankings. I don't know where my head was at. LOL</p>
<p>My niece went to Vassar and loved it. The campus is pretty. The older dorms are not so pretty. And the town of Poughkeepsie is awful. Northampton is a wonderful college town. Amherst MA is a nice community too. My suggestion, visit each college taking note of everything on and off campus. And ask students about the community. Vassar students tended to stay on campus rather than mix in the outside community. I can see why, having visited Poughkeepsie on several occassions.</p>
<p>UMass isn't for everyone. It is a relatively huge school. It posseses a very urban flavor with its high rise dorms. It is home to the studios of WFCR a well liked western MA NPR station. Still, it is nice to know that as part of the Five College Consortium you could take courses there while being a member of a much smaller, more intimate and more friendly institution.</p>
<p>I'm of the same feeling as bjrwrj, the atmosphere was a bit cold, but I'm hoping it was just my particular circumstances at that timemaybe it was me. I'm in at Amherst but I'm still waiting on a few other decisions, however, I think youd need a pretty good reason to pick Vassar over Amherst.</p>
<p>I think the conventional wisdom might be that Vassar is closer to Wesleyan in "feel" than it is to Amherst, with Vassar perhaps having more of an artsy, liberal vibe and certainly less emphasis on sports than does Amherst. </p>
<p>For what it's worth, the one person I know well who went to Amherst was frustrated that people in California did not know the school. Those same folks--if they've heard of Vassar--probably think it's still all women, so.... Trust your heart and you'll be happy!</p>
<p>any more on dartmouth and amherst?</p>
<p>I'm hoping to be accepted at Dartmouth rd, I'm already in at Amherst; if I get in to Dartmouth, between the two it's definitely going to be Dartmouth. My real difficulty is MIT v Dartmouth &Williams (I'm already in at Williams and MIT).</p>