<p>I was accepted at Amherst/Swarthmore/Wesleyan.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve got to consider is how much aid each one is giving me (btw, anyone gotten their Amherst financial aid letter?)-- but regardless of financial considerations, how would y’all compare and rank the schools? I’m interested in a challenging education, an intellectual atmopshere, and an active social life but w/out a lot partying. Also, subject areas I’d like to focus on are political science, anthropology, perhaps cognitive science, perhaps humanities.</p>
<p>AMHERST!!! No question about it. Then we can be Amherst bros. ^_^</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I got my finaid letter a while ago. Amherst is quite generous. They're ranked two on the Best Value Colleges listing at Princeton Review, after all.</p>
<p>i got finaid from amherst. b/c im instate, i got some various grants. the package was quite good.
as for your question, my sister went to wesleyan, and she loved it. but be warned, its an extremely liberal place thats not for everybody. i think that all 3 schools will be excellent academically, with amherst/swat a bit more rigorous. But amherst will have a good amount of drinking, wesleyan a lot of smoking, and swat a lot of studying.</p>
<p>Of the three, Wesleyan's is the only campus in a viable, downtown, residential neighborhood. The difference it makes in terms of students' ability to live outside of traditional dorms, meet faculty outside of class and entertain each other informally is enormous.</p>
<p>I liked both Amherst's and Wesleyan's towns, and thought they both had impact on college life. I've read Middletown isn't that nice, and I could have missed it, but I didn't pick up on any sketchiness when I visited. I'd rank them:
1. Amherst
2. Wesleyan
3. Swarthmore</p>
<p>But that's my personal opinion only. I think Swat's academics come close to overburdening.</p>
<p>Basing your pick on some perceived difference in the quality of your intended majors' programs may be risky. All 3 schools have great selections of majors, pick your favorite college based on some other reason.</p>
<p>(1) the existence of classes is only bound up with the particular, historical phases in the development of production,
(2) the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat,
(3) this dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society.</p>
<p>Thanks, especially to Beeph, for clearing my mind.</p>
<p>well i sense an 'h' in there when people say it...it's soft or maybe inherent in the way people say 'amerst' or w/e...but i'm all about that 'h'</p>
<p>If you pose this question on an Amherst board, of course the answer is going to be Amherst! I say visit and get a sense of the fit for you as an individual. Go check out threads on Swat and Wes if you want to hear a difference of opinion! My d. had zero interest in Amherst because of zoo Mass. so close to campus. She is not feeling at all "overburdened" at Swat and knows she made the right decision (for her!)</p>
<p>"zoo Mass" stays pretty much out of amherst's business, and has its own campus accross town - it also parties with itself, since it has a much larger student body than amherst. the general consensus among visitors seems to be that UMass has little affect on the amherst campus, and if anything, it's an advantage because of the grad courses offered. having "zero interest" in Amherst, or rejecting Amherst, because of UMass, seems unwise and foolish (just to caution the OP).</p>
<p>i agree with fire....when i visited amherst a couple times, for 10 total days, i never ran into a umass student...amherst is its own quiet little village</p>