I am from the Chicago suburbs and back in the very early 90s I went to a school called Emory in Atlanta. I chose it for its size, the fact it would be a good springboard for law or medical school, the weather and because it was near a big city. Even though four other kids from my high school also went there (so it wasn’t an unknown college), all during college and for many years thereafter, I constantly had to explain where Emory was and “why the heck” I went “down there” for college…sigh. The good news is, I don’t have to explain much about Emory anymore as most people have heard of it now----especially those with higher stat kids applying to college. My point being that colleges evolve and change along with people’s perceptions of them. I loved my time at Emory----I did what was best for me at the time and its worked out just fine. As someone else said, “you do you” and ignore the others.
Their ignorance is their loss. My daughter attends an ivy and, unless I say the full name of her college, lots of people assume it’s the big football state school. This is your journey; forge your own path and don’t worry about what others think.
The vast majority of Americans know colleges based on their sports teams. Perhaps they know a few local schools or ones that friends attended. Choose for yourself based on which one will best meet your needs - academic, financial, social. There are very few choices that will be universally recognized, and where you go to school is not meant to be a validation of your intellect.
The important thing is will grad school and/or employers know Amherst and of course they do!
When the LAC admission decisions started coming out a few years back, my son mentioned his results to some of his friends. No one, not one, had heard of Williams, Amherst and Pomona that my son mentioned. The very first thing his friends did was to look these up in the USNWR rankings, and that’s how quickly they “learned” about these schools, that is, what their standings are in the rankings. Did you say “myopic college vision”?
Who cares what others think? You want to pave the future path for yourself and your life.
I kind of like great schools with “low” name recognitions, like many of the LACs! You are and will be getting excellent education at these places, your neighbors or your friends have not heard of it, is only an annoyance of the moment, you get to enjoy and treasure your gem for life.
Good luck!
Just say with a smile “um, your myopia is showing” and saunter away. 
Can’t let it bother you.
Ask any UPenn alum from the late 60’s to the mid 80’s how many times they heard some variation of “Penn State, Joe Paterno…”
^^^but not to to genuinely sincere and humble folks…
Since we don’t live on the East Coast, we find that it’s similar to other things in life. Everyone has heard of Macys, but not everyone has heard of Barneys NY.
As for Amherst College, those that need to know, know and when you come across them they will be impressed.
My daughter now in her second year at Amherst, came up with a way to combat her HS classmates tiresome, “What school?” She would follow with, “Just Google #1 Liberal Arts College in the country and you’ll find Amherst College.”
Certainly people in your area have heard of Forbes:
I disagree based on the experience of my D who graduated in a STEM major and had several great job offers months before graduation. Maybe her STEM thinking skills are what got her there 
The athlete “thing” was also a non-issue for her.
There is a LGBTQ theme community on one floor of one dorm, but I guarantee most LGBTQ kids live elsewhere. I’m not sure that’s unique, actually. UMass has several LGBTQ dorm options.
You’ll find it right behind Williams at #2! (Ask Harvard how they get by, being #2 for so long…)
We have USNWR to blame for LACs lack of awareness. Its separate college rankings for universities and colleges have an effect of reducing the LACs to second class citizens among colleges, which is a disservice for HS students and families.
Back in the day, I had a T-shirt that said “Where the hell is Grinnell? Who the hell cares!” Generally, the people that matter know, and if they don’t… Educate them!
Thanks everyone! Just to clarify, I’m not actually looking at Amherst but rather Hamilton/Grinnell/Vassar, which are also quite good and comparable to T20 universities. I just used Amherst as a figure of speech in the title.
I do agree that US News should include LACs more prominently. Even the name “Liberal Arts College” insinuates a focus on the humanities, which gives short shrift to places like Harvey Mudd and Rose-Hulman.
@murray93 lol, did you go to Grinnell? How were the connections and reputation?
…or all the other LACs, since they ALL offer math and the hard sciences, none of which are humanities but are liberal arts 
I know, but Californians be Californians sometimes
I’ve said often on these boards (sorry for the repeat) that the average person has never heard of any LACs. This is why I have so much respect for those who choose the LAC route. They do so knowing that the average person is not going to know their college, and that’s okay because the smaller environment, the (often) increased rigor, and wholly undergrad focus is right for them.
Here on CC, we know the names of thousands of schools; the average person does not (and when I say “average” person, I mean the average B.A. holder). Williams College sounds impressive here, but outside of New England, few know the name (and even in NE, not everyone knows the name). The average person might think, “Williams? What is that? A community college? A Bible college?” The average person has never heard of Grinnell and would not be impressed to hear that you or your child attends; instead, the person would think, “Grinnell? What a funny-sounding school? What happened? Why did you (or your child) have to go off to such a strange-sounding place? Poor thing.”
I find a good way to deal with people’s questions about one’s college choices, whether the college is an OOS public school, a tiny LAC or the local CC, is to memorize one or two factoids about the college(s) that you can pull out when needed. Preface each with “It has great academics and…” For instance,
Grinnell: “It has great academics and amazing resources. The per-student endowment is larger than most of the Ivies!”
Vassar: “and it’s one of the original Seven Sisters, the sister schools to the Ivies.”
Hamilton: “and it has one of the best writing programs in the nation.”
Last weekend when a dinner conversation began to turn political, I decided to practice my Holiday-Dinner-Dodge, and simply changed the conversational topic. That can be something for you to try with your HS buddies. You needn’t force a discussion of whether Holly did merit her title in the 2019 Fat Bear Week contest (https://www.npr.org/2019/10/09/768475870/stuffed-with-sockeye-salmon-holly-wins-fat-bear-week-heavyweight-title) but you might get your pals to think about things other than college admission for a bit. 
Please do remember that most HS students haven’t a clue about colleges/universities that aren’t in their home state, aren’t where someone they (or their parents) know studied, or aren’t in the current favorite-this-year-list in their immediate social set. If you were hanging out with kids who were definitely headed to LACs, you might not feel quite as isolated. But then again, they might only be looking at west coast institutions and places in the midwest or on the east coast would be off their radar screens.
Do make sure that you have a safety or two on your list, and encourage your pals to do the same. Remind them to sit their parents down and run the Net Price Calculators at all of the places on their lists so that they know now which are likely to be affordable. All of you want options that you like when it is time to make your deposits next spring.