<p>Does anyone have any first hand information about Amherst that would be very helpful like financial aid, location, campus etc.</p>
<p>I don't have any financial aid info, but I visited the campus last April.</p>
<p>Amherst is in a pretty small town called (you guessed it, Amherst) and I doubt there's much nightlife in the actual town. They gave their whole "consortion" talk at the info meeting, but when I talked to students there they said there isn't really a need to go to the other colleges unless you want to take an obscure course only offered at UMass. The campus is aesthetically pleasing, depending on your taste in architecture. A lot of the buildings are old New England style, especially the church (it was very Puritan-esque). Personally, I thought the whole old New England architecture was a bit much, but that's just me. I remember them having only one dining hall (with little eateries scattered through out campus). From what I saw, the dorms were pretty nice, especially the newly renovated buildings, and some of the architecture was more modern as I got deeper into campus.</p>
<p>Anyway, this is just a general description. Sorry I couldn't go deeper, but I visited a while back and did so many other college visits. I'm sure someone else will respond with more detail.</p>
<p>Amherst was competitive on financial aid for us. They were in the ball park with the Ivies.</p>
<p>so basically their financial aid package wasnt to great</p>
<p>kacy:</p>
<p>At so called "need-based aid" schools, the financial aid packages can vary wildly from student to student. Depending on family finances, the package may be fantastic. While another student, with different circumstances, may not get a great package compared a school offering merit aid.</p>
<p>I would not draw sweeping conclusions from a limited sample of students saying their particular packages were "poor" or "great".</p>
<p>For any given student, even at need based schools, financial aid will vary greatly from school to school. We had as much as $7000 variation between need based schools in our case. Amherst was competitive with the best offers, within a $1000 or so.</p>