<p>I am choosing b/w Amherst and Columbia. I am interested in economics major (medicine/business for career).</p>
<p>Have you visited both? The college environments are quite different. To me, the appeal of Amherst is that it is a true community, a close-knit environment. Students from different backgrounds don’t self-segregate the way they do at larger institutions. You can no doubt gain a great education at either institution, but I’d bet you’d build life-long relationships at Amherst in the process that you won’t find at Columbia.</p>
<p>Columbia College is not that big. There are many life long relationships nurtured there. I think the biggest difference is Columbia’s core vs. no distribution requirements and Amherst vs NYC. I had one child choose Columbia U and the other choose Williams and both were happy with their choice. Choose whichever one inspires you more. And my apologies for bringing W into the equation; Amherst is obviously livelier than W’town. Good luck. This is a nice choice to have.</p>
<p>Congrats on the great admissions. With little information these two schools seem like an odd pair to be a student’s final two schools. They both are full of top students. One big - one small. One in a college town - one in a huge city. One has a core - the other does not even have distribution requirements. One LAC - one research U. It seems most applicants would have a clear favorite among the two … what do you see as the pros and cons of the two?</p>
<p>I think the main difference is - black and white - the distribution requirements:
Columbia: Core Curriculum
Amherst: Open Curriculum (save for freshman seminar)
… You must have an opinion on this at least.</p>
<p>^^ Actually, I am also in this same situation. I really like both schools, and as for the curriculum, I can see myself doing well in either situation. The Core sounds like a great foundation to me, but at Amherst I imagine I’d probably set up my own “de facto” Core, simply because I like a lot of different subjects.</p>
<p>This shouldn’t be that hard.<br>
Do you want to live in NYC or in a more suburban/rural area. Amherst of course has the state school and women’s college and Hampshire nearby, so it’s not isolated.
Core vs. Open Curriculum. With the Open Curriculum, you can decide your own core and won’t be stuck in classes that take away from what you actually want to take.
Small vs. Big - this is a duh. Amherst is a very very tight knit community.
Financial Aid - if it matters, Amherst is usually very generous and does only grant aid, no loans.
Alumni network/career connections - Amherst is amazing when it comes to this. I know nothing of Columbia though I’m sure it is good too.</p>
<p>I would hate to live in NYC, so that would make my decision easy.</p>