<p>For a school of its size, Amherst is extremely diverse. I think one of the best aspects of being at a small school is that it forces people to mingle with others and not self-segregate. For example, my boyfriend is an international student, and from what he tells me, his friends at other schools in the US are shocked at how integrated and friendly Amherst is compared to their schools. (Ahem, cough, Yale.)</p>
<p>This is progressively becoming a yale bashing forum,.... AND I WILL NOT ALOW IT.</p>
<p>hehe...but i agree, both Yale and Amherst are great schools...let's each leave the other alone.</p>
<p>wow, Amherst08, how do you have an international boyfriend? are you going out with a British or something?</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the social life, especially for minorities, is at Amherst? I know Amherst is big on recruiting minorities, yet what about transfer students who are minorities? Thanks.</p>
<p>kimfuge, he's turkish</p>
<p>So it's not overly rural/isolated?</p>
<p>Amherst is a small town, but with the five college consortium, it seems a lot bigger. There's about 30,000 college age students in the area, and a free bus system connecting all of them. Compared to Dartmouth, Cornell, and Williams, Amherst is very cosmopolitan with Northampton 20 minutes away, Boston 1.5 hours away, and New York 3 hours away. BTW, I'm originally from New York City and haven't felt claustrophobic yet. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I visited amherst. Its not that great. SO what if they discuss philosphical stuff, we do that in ap english already. It just does not stand out.</p>
<p>As a kid who has taken philosophy courses at stanford, I'm telling you there's a huge difference between what goes down in a HS AP Eng class and what goes down in an elite college philosophy class.</p>
<p>i would agree with that...also consider the difference in the teacher</p>
<p>come on...what's up with this board? why is it so dead?</p>
<p>I'm planning to apply ED to Amherst or Dartmouth next year. But for now, I'm leaning a little more towards Amherst. Yeah, Amherst isn't necessarily Harvard, but its prestige is still on par with the rest of the ivyleague other than hyp. But that's not the reason this board is so dead - look at williams and swarthmore! But, I'd choose Amherst undergrad education over harvard undergrad any day. Plus, I think it's so cool of getting to know everyone in your college. Fire, what were your stats?</p>
<p>i visited it as well, although not during that diversity weekend, and i didnt think it was ugly at all! i dont like the fact that theres construction going on (or it was going on) but thats minor, and it should be done soon if not already. what didnt you like about it? i didnt get to "bond" with amherst as much as i did with like, tufts, but i fell in love nonetheless and decided to apply ED after an hour :)</p>
<p>grad schools will probably rate amherst's prestige as equal to HYPS</p>
<p>however, to the average person on the street, all 8 ivies would seem more prestigious, b/c many uneducated ppl have not heard of amherst.</p>
<p>Stats are only part of the picture, but:</p>
<p>1560 SAT (800V and 760M)
790/790/750
4.0 uw GPA
5 on AP chem and ushistory</p>
<p>Stuff that may have been more important:</p>
<p>My essays kicked ass. I'm a good writer and the 2 English teachers I showed them to both liked them.
My recs were gorgeous - they were specific and personal, and I had a rec from a Stanford professor. My counselor talked about how I considered dropping out of high school in sophomore year b/c I wasn't happy or challenged in highschool.
My ECs were decent - I've played tuba since 6th grade, I compose music, I'm involved in my community.</p>
<p>hope this helps</p>
<p>I'd say Amherst's prestige in general is par with Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and Penn (wharton). And probably a tad pole behind HYP and above Cornell and Penn (college). I know of an Amherst grad here in Korea who majored in French and music, and she is one of the most versatile person I have ever met! Impressive stats fire - hopefully I can join you next week in the new dorms!</p>
<p>I don't think people here in the US see the prestige issue the way that you might see it in Korea. HYPS have name recognition, but employers and grad schools know that Amherst is the best of the best. just because the average person doesn't know much about Amherst doesn't mean Amherst isn't equal to HYPS in the intelligentsia's eyes. A family friend who was schooled at Yale (and Harvard Law, i think) told my mom that she was being too modest in her Xmas card discription of Amherst, and that "Amherst is Yale, it's Harvard". </p>
<p>Also, most people who aren't totally obsessed with college don't bother ranking the ivies according to a USNews-like system. Yes, HYPS have the most name recognition, but all the other schools you mentioned are seen as "top schools" and there are plenty top schools that you didn't mention. PLEASE don't focus on the ivy league as the definition of academic exellence - many ivies have a pre-professional, less-intellectual attitude, and the ivy league itself is an ATHLETIC conference, not an academic group. It seems to me that you're splitting hairs in comparing these schools by PRESTIGE - this is NOT a good way to rank the schools. To employers and grad schools, Amherst is not "par with Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, and Penn (wharton)", it is arguably the best liberal arts school in the world. People seek Amherst for reasons other than why people go for those schools and HYP. I think you're making two mistakes by thinking about prestige: 1, you're de-valuing amherst, because amherst isn't as well-known (especially in the US) as some of the other schools you mention (i'd argue that amherst has an intellectual/educational edge on all those schools you mention) and 2, you're splitting hairs by ranking all these top schools against each other.</p>
<p>Maybe that might be the case in the U.S., but if you want to work overseas, you might have more problems getting a high paying job with an Amherst degree than with a Yale degree for example. I have talked with an employer of a consulting firm here in Korea, and he told me he chose Dartmouth over Amherst because he knew that reputation would matter to get a job in Korea and other foreign countries. Probably my comparison was a little faulty, but dismissing so that Amherst = HYP is quite silly. I don't want to be a prestige whore here, but obviously the value of HYP is a notch above AWS, even if AWS offer better undergrad focuses.</p>
<p>What are you talking about? If you mean quality of the education, Amherst is = to or better than HYP. If you mean prestige, Amherst falls behind because HYP have better name recognition.</p>
<p>"I don't want to be a prestige whore here, but obviously the value of HYP is a notch above AWS, even if AWS offer better undergrad focuses. "</p>
<p>If you greatly value prestige, and therefore are a prestige whore, than yes, HYP is valued above AWS.</p>
<p>If you value education, and are not a prestige whore, you recognize that "AWS offer better undergrad focuses" and therefore is valued at or above the value of HYP. </p>
<p>So you're contradicting yourself - You say you're not a prestige whore and that Amherst has a better undergrad program, but you say "the value of HYP is a notch above [Amherst]". In earlier posts, you mention Amherst's prestige and the Ivies' prestige and Harvard's prestige. It sounds like you're being a de facto prestige whore.</p>
<p>You say "that Amherst = HYP is quite silly" even though you say "AWS offer better undergrad focuses" and that you'd "choose Amherst undergrad education over harvard undergrad any day". The only way that Amherst would NOT = HYP is in prestige, but you say you're not a prestige whore, so from your logic, Amherst SHOULD = or > HYP.</p>
<p>Maybe you're worried about employers... The employer from Korea sounds pretty prestige-whorish to me, but i think employers and grad schools will all know Amherst. Since you personally want to go to Amherst, you acknowledge that for you, Amherst is better than HYP.</p>
<p>yeah, i like amherst better because i think it is a better fit for me, but i still think HYP is more prestigious. so you're right on that im a prestige whore. But korean employers do care a lot about prestige, which i dislike, but i think korea is different? good luck at amherst fire, and maybe you can help me a little with my essays in the future for amherst? I'm planning to apply ED right now.</p>