<p>Coming from Vegas I have no exposure to the type of lifestyle that Amherst has to offer me. I feel like Chicago would feel more at home for me. However, I believe that Amherst’s atmosphere could provide me with an opportunity to focus on being a student and put some of that city-life business on the side. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Is it a rough transition to make for a kid raised in a big city?</p>
<p>and how does Amherst fare with those graduate-level scholarships and admissions into good grad programs?</p>
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<p>NU is smaller than a lot of other schools. That’s a poor excuse to downplay the achievements. Uniqueness: the only private school in the Big Ten conference. How is Amherst more unique?</p>
<p>OP,
One of the advantages of being at NU is the wider range of course selection and the greater flexbility/ease of double-majoring without delaying your graduation (quarter system helps).</p>
<p>^^there are over 4,000 comprehensive and research level universities in the United States; there are only 200 or fewer institutions of higher learning that can legitimately call themselves liberal arts colleges. That alone, makes Amherst more unique than Northwestern.</p>
<p>^in my book, that kind of uniqueness bears no educational substance. I guess one can argue tech schools (GATech, VATech, Illinois Tech, MIT) are more unique too. </p>
<p>If one wants a LAC, Amherst is a much better choice. This is really just about research U vs LAC. Each has its own pros and cons. The OP wants a LAC but is unsure about Amherst’s location and the logistics of taking Arabic within the consortium; the fact that NU does have an awesome econ program also makes him/her waver. Perhaps you guys should just focus on addressing his/her concerns instead of nitpicking NU, esp when many of you don’t know enough and then give false info (TA grade papers only for a small number of large intro classes; you can take classes in other schools).</p>
<p>Amherst is in a small town, but it’s part of the 5 college system–five great colleges at which you can take classes including Smith, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire and UMass. There are thousands and thousands of students all cross-pollinating with each other. Buses run between the different campuses all day and all night long. Amherst is one of the top three LACs in the country. Northwestern is in no way in that league, though it definitely has its advantages as well.</p>
<p>I stick to my previous assertion that yes, the college consortium is a nice option, but that in S talking to more than a dozen students and my talking to even more parents who are alum, and even more whose kids’ attend Amherst… </p>
<p>It is not very well utilized by the majority. That does not mean they dont utilize or enjoy it at all. And frankly, the academic calendar of Amherst (with Jterm) sometimes makes taking those classes a tad more of a scheduling headache. It’s not that it isn’t done, but it is also my impression that regardless of the access, Amherst kids still know they’re the smartest. 
As for social life, I talked to a number of students recently home about that stabbing earlier this winter, and at least for the near future it has sort of cramped the potential and practice of “thousands and thousands of students all cross-pollinating with each other” at least on Amherst’s campus.</p>
<p>This said… son absolutely liked Amherst and didn’t even care to apply to NW. It is a different feel entirely. It really does depend on so many factors, but educationally, I think they are both stellar with great reputations.</p>
<h2>NU is smaller than a lot of other schools. That’s a poor excuse to downplay the achievements. Uniqueness: the only private school in the Big Ten conference. How is Amherst more unique?</h2>
<p>Still, percentages should be more revealing. I was pointing out the fact, not downplaying anything. </p>
<p>Take U Chicago: its core, the number of Nobel laureates in its faculty, the long-held cerebral image, the illustrious academic tradition with long-lasting impact—I’m sure you’ve encountered the term “The Chicago School” in a number of disciplines. How does “the only private U in the big ten conference” compare to that? Amherst is one of a few colleges that offer the open curriculum. It (tied with Williams) has been the No.1 Liberal Arts College in the nation. I consider THAT a very distinctive tradition. I didn’t apply to Amherst, and I’m sure the Amherst students would have more to say about its uniqueness.</p>
<p>^You were downplaying by saying “I am not surprised given the size of NU”. When you have the most Cambridge Gates or the fourth most Fulbrights, it’s impressive even after taking size into consideration. You don’t need to do any percentages (if you really want them, get them yourself) </p>
<p>We are not comparing Chicago here. If you are being fair, you should know Amherst pales when compared to “The Chicago School” too. #1 in LAC ranking? So we are talking about rankings, not really the actual uniqueness of the school? You seem to be pretty into “labels”. If you need an external validation from things like a commerical magazine or labels to make you feel a school is more unique, maybe you shouldn’t consider LACs because a lot of people never heard of them especially internationally. By the way, top 3 or even #1 out of 200 is not really statistically different from top-15 out of 4000 (using johnwesley’s number).</p>
<p>^^jeezus, get a grip. this is obviously not an argument that’s going to be won or lost on the basis of prestige or statistics. the OP just has to decide whether he likes the idea of being a city kid out of his element for four years. Btw, I’ve been to Evanston and it’s not exactly fair to compare it to the city Chicago.</p>
<p>^exactly my point.</p>
<p>Evanston has experienced a development boom in the past 15 years. It’s possible it’s very different from what you saw, depending on when you were there.
<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/communities/chi-evanston_chomes_0213feb13,0,6622787.story[/url]”>http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/communities/chi-evanston_chomes_0213feb13,0,6622787.story</a></p>
<p>Quote from the article:</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Well, now. ya see. I gotta say, that quote is revealing in a way because one could very well say the same thing about Evanston: if all of a sudden it disappeared and just left the university standing, I doubt the average Northwestern student would know the difference. The same could not be said, for Chicago or Columbia or UPenn, for example.</p>
<p>I thought that quote was funny.</p>
<p>Northwestern has a distinguished and respected graduate program in Economics. If one were interested in partaking in intense research activity and if one were to have the ability and talent to take graduate level courses as an undergraduate, Northwestern would be the better choice.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>I’m sure both programs are lecture heavy, and demand a great deal from students in terms of critical thinking and application. Know that the Fall Semester Introduction to Economics course at Amherst is taught such that there are four sessions a week, three discussion sessions, and one large lecture. The discussion sections are small enough, 12-24 students, such that it allows a great deal of personal interaction in the classroom. The lecture, 75-100 students, is taught such that every time a specific topic is brought up that touches upon a particular professor’s specialty, i.e. environmental economics, the economics of finance, international trade, Macro/Micro-economic theory, that professor will teach the particular session. So, every other week, a different professor will be giving a lecture on the basic talking points and, in addition, provide explanations from their own extensive research experience and examples from real world phenomena. It’s a nice touch. And, of course, it’s very, very easy to spend one-on-one time with professors going over material, problem sets, exams, etc.</p>
<p>Both our philosophy and political science departments are strong, especially the latter. </p>
<p>Political Science has always been among the top 5 most popular majors of Amherst graduates over the past three decades. </p>
<p>In an authoritative ranking, Brian Leiter glowingly mentions Amherst several times with regards to undergraduate studies in philosophy:</p>
<p>[The</a> Philosophical Gourmet Report 2009 :: Undergraduate Study](<a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp]The”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp)</p>
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</p>
<p>The methodology is arbitrary, but this should give you an idea of how well Amherst performs in graduate and professional school admissions. As you can see, one could argue that Amherst and Northwestern are on different levels in terms of success in this particular criterion:</p>
<p><a href=“WSJ in Higher Education | Trusted News & Real-World Insights”>WSJ in Higher Education | Trusted News & Real-World Insights;
<p>Amherst rivals Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford (and Williams!) with regards to proportional representation at Harvard and Yale Law Schools. 89 percent of Amherst grads who decide to attend business school do so at a Top 10 Program (as defined by the USNWR).</p>
<p>The kids at Amherst are NOT necessarily the smartest in the five colleges. Many students attend UMass because it is affordable–just look around at all the CCers who are weeping now because they got into top colleges and their parents can’t pay for them. You might be surprised at how many bright and interesting people there are at a place like UMass. Also, a lot of very alternative kinds of students go to Hampshire. IMHO, Hampshire is kind of a bullshi**y school, but still, it suits a certain kind of very interesting kid. Likewise, some very interesting, brilliant women who value education at a fine women’s college would go to Smith and Mt. Holyoke. So while Amherst really is fabulous, too much snobbery is not warranted in this case. Also, there may have been a crime committed in the Amherst area–but that can happen anywhere. I believe more than one crime has been committed in the Chicago area, for instance. Also, there are plenty of reasons why students might take classes at the other colleges–sometimes fantastic professors offer something at Smith, etc. If nothing else, students would take those buses to go shopping and out to dinner in Northampton, which is a gorgeous and slightly larger town with multiple dining and entertainment options, and they might also amble over to UMass for great concerts, etc.</p>
<p>Fair enough… but I guess the little smiley face went ignored. Sorry to offend either by intelligence or income.</p>
<p>Amherst is much more prestigious, and you will get a far better education here.</p>
<p>And sorry, Amherst kids are the smartest kids in the five college area. And UMass kids are certainly the dumbest.</p>
<p>Yeah, this is oozing with much warranted snobbery.</p>
<p>Charming. Your parents must be so proud. I certainly hope my Swarthmore student displays a little more class when he graduates from college. I would weep to get someone with so much education and so little wisdom for my 200,000 bucks.</p>
<p>SemperParatus,</p>
<p>And coincidentally, you’re an Amherst student, not a UMass student, Smith student, or a Mount Holyhoke student… I’m completely surprised that you think the college that YOU attend is better than the other colleges in the area.</p>
<p>Yeah, Endicott. Your beloved little boy is going to tell everyone he went to Swarthmore, <em>snicker</em></p>
<p>See “Swarthmore” :
[Gawker</a> - Vote For America’s Most Annoying Liberal Arts College - bard](<a href=“http://gawker.com/news/rankings/vote-for-americas-most-annoying-liberal-arts-college-280730.php]Gawker”>http://gawker.com/news/rankings/vote-for-americas-most-annoying-liberal-arts-college-280730.php)</p>
<p>I don’t like flat-out calling people dumb, and that was really unnecessary, but, yes, “Amherst kids are the smartest kids in the five college area.” Perhaps “smarter” is the better choice of words, but even that is still an ambiguous assertion.</p>
<p>But, honestly, I hope I’ve made a strong case for Amherst in my previous post. It is the wiser choice; I’ll leave it at that.</p>