I have a few pretty different choices and it’s especially hard for me to decide considering I’m really uncertain about what major and future career I want to have. Currently thinking about majoring in Applied Maths/Maths and a double major/minor in either Art or Film/Media studies. Though I have not ruled out any major at all and can definitely see myself majoring in just about anything if I give it a try like premed or economics, but having a good arts/film program is important to me. Definitely looking at Grad School.
I have strong interests in Music theory and CS and will look to take classes in both, though I most likely won’t be major/minoring in either.
Same (full) price for all.
Schools: Vanderbilt (Arts and Science), Rice (Humanities), Amherst College. With UCLA (LSA Pre Applied Maths) and Cal (Letters and Sciences) sneaking in, will have to appeal for In-state tuition for both
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to visit any of these schools.
Amherst (My top choice so far)
Pros
Best undergrad teaching (?), though I don’t think the other two lags behind much.
Close relationship with professors, this is the biggest factor for me in favoring Amherst as I have benefitted a lot and loves it when a teacher themselves take special interest in my learning. From what I’ve read this almost all the professors at Amherst are like this.
Open Curriculum, though I don’t know how much I’ll benefit from this considering I don’t know what major I’ll be in.
Highest placement into the top grad schools.
Most prestige (not entirely certain this is true as I’ve read some conflicting sources)
Don’t mind the weather/location much, love mountains.
Five college consortium, though I’m not sure how much I’ll use it.
By far the highest endowment per student.
Massachusets area, have lots of friends going to school near me.
Most artsy vibe.
Cons
Party life? Seems like the school with the worst party life and that’s definitely something I look forward to a lot in college.
Some people say there’s a social divide between athletes and non-athletes, though the current students I’ve asked have said it’s not too bad.
Small school. I wouldn’t normally mind a small class size, but I’m just a little bit worried that if I don’t like my class I’ll feel stuck.
Only one dining hall, I like food.
Smallest class/major offerings.
Hour and a half drive to Boston.
Study abroad programs not as robust as the other research unis
I don’t know how the math program is, not much info. Honestly it’s a bit hard to find exactly how good any of their programs are aside from their best, if anyone can chime in on this I’d be so thankful.
Probably end up in the East coast, most well known school in that area.
Vanderbilt
Pros
Haven’t visited but Nashville sounds like a great place. I love living in cities and experiencing new cultures so I think I would love my experience in the South.
Research uni with undergrad focus.
Party life. Not sure if I’ll join a frat though so maybe this’ll go into a con as I’ve read social life is decently centered around Greek Life.
Much more traditional college experience.
Higher rated math major than Amherst.
Doesn’t admit into a major, can explore interests too.
Offers much more majors and minors.
Much higher range of study abroad programs offered. Going to study in another country is one of the things I’m looking forward to the most in college.
Cons
Being an Asian in a mainly white school that’s very Greek life focused.
Not as much attention on the students by the professors.
More well known in the South.
Higher competition for school resources.
Core requirements (could be a pro).
Rice
Honestly I haven’t looked much into Rice, I think if I decide on Vandy over Amherst I’ll look more into Rice as Rice and Vandy are decently similar. I think I would like Nashville more than Houston.
I find this choice really hard to make especially considering they’re all so far from home and I haven’t visited any of them yet. I think I see Amherst as a more high risk high reward option where there’s a slight chance I hate my experience there, but it also has the highest potential both socially and academically, while Vandy is a much safer option, where I’ll get great education at a more traditional college setting. I’m really thankful for such great options after many years of hard work and work love some feedback.
I can’t really add much, but will say that Amherst Massachusetts has several colleges, UMass Amherst, Hampshire and Amherst. Therefore – it is a college town, with tons of little restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores etc. It is only a couple of blocks from Amherst’s campus to walk into town. So, although small, and although not in an urban area, there is a lot going on in Amherst.
Regarding Amherst’s math program, Amherst appears (as does Rice, actually) in a Princeton Review sampling, “Great Schools for Mathematics Majors.” I recommend you disregard any graduate department rankings you have encountered.
If you are concerned about limited study abroad options if you attend Amherst, look into its range of approved programs, which may be administered by other U S. colleges.
Amherst, of additional interest, placed first in this Forbes article of a few years ago:
Amherst has the Five College Consortium so you can take a class at the other four colleges that you find interesting if you dont find what you want at Amherst. Also, four other schools to find parties if that matters a lot. 30k students in the neighborhood basically. Amherst is small but close knit. They have hand picked those students, so you are likely to find many people with similar interests or just interesting people. I agree that the NARP / Athlete divide can be conquered and is a non issue. Make friends with athletes because they have parties, too. UMass has one of the best rated best dining halls in the country- so no lack of good dining hall food. Good Thai, Mexican, Asian restaurants near enough also. Not many, but you can get by.
The other schools you mention have graduate students to focus on and Amherst has a singular focus on their undergraduate students which means you get to know profs and have first dibs on research opportunities as well as outstanding resources for internships. I have never heard a lack in any options for study abroad, in fact you can piggy bag on some of the Ivy study abroad programs they explained to us in one session we attended with our daughter on Family weekend. Don’t let a small town scare you, because most college kids stay in the vicinity of the college for fun. Amherst does a good job at bringing incredible speakers, RBG for instance and concerts along with every college student’s favorite- free food trucks
LOL I read the 3 in the title and thought ‘obvs Rice of those 3’- and then I read your pros/cons list!
For prestige, invested profs, and grad school acceptance there is no meaningful difference. All of them will let you explore different subject areas as well as whatever ends up being your focal area. IMO the differences are very much experiential.
Amherst- consortium option (though my impression is that most students don’t use it a lot); NE history & a traditional heavy hitter;
Vandy- the up & comer in the group: they have actively worked to lift the academic credentials of the students while maintaining a very social vibe;
Rice- the UChic of the group: the one that quietly went about doing high level academics and letting people find it on their own. Houston is not a great city, but it is a city, and Rice itself has a house system instead of Greek life.
Your reasoning sounds as if you actually know which you want- Amherst- but are anxious about pulling the trigger. You can’t make a bad choice amongst these three, so pull the trigger & don’t look back!
Different strokes… Our family leans towards the academic, mid-size private universities in the Power 5 Conferences e.g. Duke (ACC), Vanderbilt (SEC), Northwestern (Big 10), Stanford (Pac 12). We feel you get the best of all worlds and therefore the best places to make college life what you want even as your tastes change.
My two Asian daughters are at Vandy. One joined a sorority, liked it, but got bored of it in a year and moved on to many other interests. Greek or not is not a big deal at Vandy. The other didn’t bother to join a sorority and is perfectly happy. 60% of undergrads are not in greek life.
Both love Vanderbilt and wouldn’t trade Vandy for any college.
Not a lot of notes on my part. Agree with @collegemom3717 that OP seems to be leaning toward Amherst. Someone with his breadth of academic interests should really do well at a LAC; the simplicity of the course catalogue (one undergraduate college open to everybody), the professors, the small classes, really combine to make sampling easier.
Rice, Vandy and Amherst are on our 2021 kid’s preliminary list, but for math I think Rice wins out. Also, Houston is fun, only really hot for the first two or three months of the academic year. I do like Nashville a lot, too, though.
Please give me some insight on my choices as I am struggling a bit and worried about making the wrong choice.
Asian-International attending hs in Cali.
Sorry in advance for the wall of text.
I have a few pretty different choices and it’s especially hard for me to decide considering I’m really uncertain about what major and future career I want to have. Currently thinking about majoring in Applied Maths/Maths and a double major/minor in either Art or Film/Media studies. Though I have not ruled out any major at all and can definitely see myself majoring in just about anything if I give it a try like premed or economics, but having a good arts/film program is important to me. Definitely looking at Grad School.
I have strong interests in Music theory and CS and will look to take classes in both, though I most likely won’t be major/minoring in either.
Same (full) price for all.
Schools: Vanderbilt (Arts and Science), Rice (Humanities), Amherst College. With UCLA (LSA Pre Applied Maths) and Cal (Letters and Sciences) sneaking in, will have to appeal for In-state tuition for both
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to visit any of these schools.
Amherst (My top choice so far)
Pros
Best undergrad teaching (?), though I don’t think the other two lags behind much.
Close relationship with professors, this is the biggest factor for me in favoring Amherst as I have benefitted a lot and loves it when a teacher themselves take special interest in my learning. From what I’ve read this almost all the professors at Amherst are like this.
Open Curriculum, though I don’t know how much I’ll benefit from this considering I don’t know what major I’ll be in.
Highest placement into the top grad schools.
Most prestige (not entirely certain this is true as I’ve read some conflicting sources)
Don’t mind the weather/location much, love mountains.
Five college consortium, though I’m not sure how much I’ll use it.
By far the highest endowment per student.
Massachusets area, have lots of friends going to school near me.
Most artsy vibe.
Cons
Party life? Seems like the school with the worst party life and that’s definitely something I look forward to a lot in college.
Some people say there’s a social divide between athletes and non-athletes, though the current students I’ve asked have said it’s not too bad.
Small school. I wouldn’t normally mind a small class size, but I’m just a little bit worried that if I don’t like my class I’ll feel stuck.
Only one dining hall, I like food.
Smallest class/major offerings.
Hour and a half drive to Boston.
Study abroad programs not as robust as the other research unis
I don’t know how the math program is, not much info. Honestly it’s a bit hard to find exactly how good any of their programs are aside from their best, if anyone can chime in on this I’d be so thankful.
Probably end up in the East coast, most well known school in that area.
Vanderbilt
Pros
Haven’t visited but Nashville sounds like a great place. I love living in cities and experiencing new cultures so I think I would love my experience in the South.
Research uni with undergrad focus.
Party life. Not sure if I’ll join a frat though so maybe this’ll go into a con as I’ve read social life is decently centered around Greek Life.
Much more traditional college experience.
Higher rated math major than Amherst.
Doesn’t admit into a major, can explore interests too.
Offers much more majors and minors.
Much higher range of study abroad programs offered. Going to study in another country is one of the things I’m looking forward to the most in college.
Cons
Being an Asian in a mainly white school that’s very Greek life focused.
Not as much attention on the students by the professors.
More well known in the South.
Higher competition for school resources.
Core requirements (could be a pro).
Rice
Honestly I haven’t looked much into Rice, I think if I decide on Vandy over Amherst I’ll look more into Rice as Rice and Vandy are decently similar. I think I would like Nashville more than Houston.
UCLA and Berkeley
Money is not a huge issue for me, so I don’t see the advantages of going to such large schools, plus they’re both in CA which I want to leave for college.
I find this choice really hard to make especially considering they’re all so far from home and I haven’t visited any of them yet. I think I see Amherst as a more high risk high reward option where there’s a slight chance I hate my experience there, but it also has the highest potential both socially and academically, while Vandy is a much safer option, where I’ll get great education at a more traditional college setting. I’m really thankful for such great options after many years of hard work and work love some feedback.
