<p>Hey! I was lucky enough to get accepted to columbia and Amherst but I cant choose. I am an international so I can’t visit. I was hoping you would recommend something for me…
1.I want a ‘traditional’ campus
2.Obviously I want great academics but I also want the pretige associated with it…
3.I heard that columbias core forces you to take some classes but I’m not sure if I want that…
Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>You might want to contact Amherst College for Diversity Open House program. It covers 100% of the travel expenses, including the airplane fees to the Open House, for certain perspective students. I am not sure if that includes international students. You need to arrive on April 17th between 3-5 p.m. for the following two-day program. Then drive to Columbia. It is about three hour drive. It’s easier to make the decision once you visit both schools.</p>
<p>I don’t have too much familiarity with Columbia, but I can speak to Amherst.</p>
<p>Amherst certainly has a “traditional” college campus. It’s located in a small college town – very different than NYC! It also has rolling hills, large grassy quads…pretty much the epitome of a traditional college campus.</p>
<p>Amherst doesn’t have the same name recognition as Columbia, but it does carry a lot of weight with those “in the know” – those with experience in higher education, graduate schools, some employers.</p>
<p>There is no core curriculum at Amherst, so you take only the classes you want to take from your first semester here. No messing around with biology classes as an English major (or vice-versa). It really allows you to go in greater depth in areas you’re interested in or to explore new disciplines as well.</p>
<p>The schools are different, and there are too many differences to cover, so I’ll just address your three concerns:</p>
<p>“1.I want a ‘traditional’ campus”</p>
<p>Columbia has a small, compact campus in the middle of the city, and many classrooms are off-campus and one must travel by foot/bus/metro to them. On the weekends, most students separate into groups to explore the city and rather few students stay on campus. As a result, student intellectual and social lives are less focused.</p>
<p>Amherst’s campus is small as well, though there’s substantial greenery and rustic beauty that you cannot find on Columbia’s campus, which is all cold marble and stone (which has a charm of its own). There are malls and populous towns to which one can travel with friends on the weekend, but most of the students remain on campus, so the campus is really the center of life here at Amherst. It’s small and close, but one can also get away–that’s the good thing.</p>
<p>“2.Obviously I want great academics but I also want the pretige associated with it…”</p>
<p>Both are prestigious schools because of their traditions and roles in American history. Columbia is a member of the athletic conference, the Ivy League, and that impresses average people walking down the street. Amherst, too, has always been considered among the best small colleges in the country. Both schools’ prestige are really restricted to the Northeastern elite, and the elite in general. You can impress a random New Yorker walking down the street by telling him you go to Columbia, but anywhere else, and you’ll have more trouble, because people will begin asking you why you decided to go to school in Colombia of all places.</p>
<p>“3.I heard that columbias core forces you to take some classes but I’m not sure if I want that…”</p>
<p>Columbia’s core is very rigorous and does force you to study, write about, and discuss the classics. If you haven’t had exposure to the canons of Western Literature, it’s a great opportunity.</p>
<p>Amherst, on the other hand, has the Open Curriculum, which trusts you to have the maturity to decide exactly what you want to study. In that way, you have a great deal of freedom to learn what you love and explore academic interests that you may have never considered before.</p>
<p>I would say that for those who are familiar with both schools, Columbia and Amherst holds equal prestige. Everyone who needs to know will definitely hold both schools in very high regard, so you don’t really need to worry about it. They are very different schools though, so you really should make a decision based on other factors. I been to Columbia, and its buildings are very magnificent and pretty. However, the layout seemed too small and compact for me. Plus, I love how we have a forest right next to our campus where I can go hiking in anytime I want. I would hate a city campus.</p>
<p>Not really true. Columbia’s courses are all on campus unless you are talking about the med school.</p>
<p>Columbia has a traditional campus. Kids hang out on the steps of the Lowe Library and it has a very cozy feel.</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s the place for the OP, but play fair guys.</p>
<p>D attended Barnard but her major was at Columbia and she spent all her time there, so I know what I am speaking of.</p>
<p>OTOH, my S attends the “evil” Williams (LOL) so I understand the lure of the LAC’s.</p>
<p>It’s a tough choice for sure, and a very individual one.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your acceptances. I am fortunate enough to have had a child who recently graduated from Columbia College and a daughter at Amherst (who was also accepted at Columbia, but chose Amherst and has never regretted her decision). Both are great schools. Amherst is more intimate an environment, and I do feel that my daughter has gotten to know her professors better than my son did at CC, perhaps that is a function of the differences between each of them, but I do believe that the Amherst profs have been more available than those at Columbia. My daughter has been able to devise her own “core” by choosing her own classes at Amherst. The Amherst campus is a very traditional college campus, quite beautiful and the town does not feel remote. It is a quintessential college town with great restaurants and plenty of suburban stores if you want that. You can not beat the dorms at Amherst. On the other hand, the dorms at Columbia leave a lot to be desired (at least Columbia does guarantee 4-year housing which is essential given the living costs in NYC, but the dorms are pretty lousy).</p>
<p>Having said all that, Columbia is also a great place and an incredible research university. The core curriculum is very appealing to me especially as an adult, but I think a student can accomplish studying a core of sorts at Amherst if he wishes. My daughter can’t get enough of the classes offered at Amherst. Columbia College is focused around the main quad in the center of the campus at 116th street. It is very attractive as an urban college, but clearly a city. If you are not looking for urban, I wouldn’t chose Columbia. You have the advantages of New York City, which are great, but you will likely spend more time studying than exploring New York, especially after your first semester. </p>
<p>As far as name recognition, anyone who knows anything about great American colleges and universities will highly regard both; they are both excellent colleges; in this respect you can’t go wrong. Amherst’s focus as an undergraduate college is on teaching which it does exceedingly well. Columbia’s focus as a university is on research and professional schools along with their fine undergraduate program, which is known for it’s core curriculum. The beauty of a liberal arts college is that the professors are there precisely because they love to teach; that is not always true of professors at universities, but I don’t mean to say you can’t find university professors who are great teachers. At Amherst, you will not have TA’s teach your classes.</p>
<p>I think the answer lies within you. Do you want a more intimate atmosphere where the focus of the school is primarily on teaching? Do you want urban? I would NOT make your choice based on name recognition.</p>
<p>I can also tell you that when my daughter was deciding between the two, several Columbia graduates told us that they would chose Amherst as an undergraduate program and Columbia as a graduate school, for what that’s worth! I don’t think you could go wrong with either. What a lucky student you are to have the choice! Good luck.</p>