I am an international student with undecided major, torn between these three choices.
I am drawn to Amherst for all the obvious reasons - faculty, small class size, diversity, beautiful suburban/rural campus, 5 college consortium, etc…
Just very concerned about the constrained social environment. I am not a big party person but really want a healthy study-life balance.
Thanks.
I forgot to mention - I am a non-athlete.
@antya21 Congrats on your acceptances! Although the social life has taken a bit of a hit recently, there are still many, many ways for students to relax. Amherst puts on lots of events/talks/seminars/study breaks throughout the year. Your social life is really what you make of it.
D isn’t an athlete and enjoys a varied and busy social life. It is, indeed,what you make it. There are formals, school-sponsored dances and casual gatherings in dorms. The college really doesn’t do a lot of alcohol-policing, the focus is on safety, not punishment.
If large fraternity parties are what you want then you will not find them at Amherst College (UMass Amherst, however, has them and they are in walking distance). It seems mens sports teams sort of fill that role at Amherst if you are interested.
I have read that there is an element of ‘loneliness’ at Amherst and the long winters make it worse. At Amherst, in general, non-athlete students stay tucked away, studying in their rooms and social life happens in silos unless you make the effort of getting to know the friendlier students of the neighboring colleges. Is this accurate? I am not a large party kind of person but want to be on a campus where socializing happens naturally in a healthy way.
The rural setting of Amherst appeals to me and it is my top choice but wonder if Georgetown & Wellesley are more international student friendly.Are they academically comparable?
I’m not sure what you mean by “silo”.
My kid’s social life is with a varied group of friends in small groups (many of whom she became friends with in her first year dorm), sometimes includes friends of her friends, and can mean attending formal dances or theme house parties or the big school events or just hanging out in the dorm common areas.
What I will say is that very few Amherst kids party all the time, it seems to be limited to weekends for most. It’s hard to do the work any other way.
Will you be able to visit? Seems like that might help you feel this out.
@OHMomof2 Thanks. Unfortunately, I can’t visit.
I don’t think Georgetown makes much sense for you since it is urban and not small. Based on what you’ve described and your worries, Wellesley might be a great match. The class sizes are small. The faculty I easily accessible. The campus is attractive and one can easily walk to town. It doesn’t have a 5- school consortium, but I know women can take classes at MIT. Less partying and less emphasis on sports.
My daughter loves Amherst but she is an athlete so it’s not fair for me to assume how a non-athlete feels there.