<p>what are some of amherst’s best departments? is it good at turning out business undergrads? what are the best courses to take for this then? i was thinking about going here and then going to u of chicago for finance. thanks for any help!</p>
<p>Amherst has a really strong economics department. A Nobel prize winner is a trustee and he recently gave a lecture here, and the profs are really good. UMass has Accounting and more business related classes like Management and some kind of Financing department. Amherst has a really high rate for getting students into grad schools, so you really shouldn't have a problem getting into UChi if you do well here.</p>
<p>many strong departments across the board, especially in the humanities. Also strong is the law, jurisprudence, and social thought department/major, which is unique to amherst, I think.</p>
<p>No. UChicago has the law, jurisprudence, and social thought major as well. I too am trying to decide between UChi and Amherst. Hey, tansytroll, if you wanna do something in econ there is NOO question about it. UChi. Number one program in the country, undoubtedly. 4 nobel prize professors of econ there. The most influential department in modern econ.</p>
<p>Amherst grads have recently held positions as NIH Director (Harold Varmus) and FDA Director (David Kessler). The scientific training at Amherst is unique and outstanding. You get the opportunity to be mentored one-on-one, with an emphasis on understanding the scientific process and method. Though I graduated 25 years ago, I continue to actively recruit Amherst students to my lab, and look for their applications when I sit on med school/grad school admissions committees. Many of my former classmates are also senior profs at high power research institutions, and I know that they seek out Amherst grads for their programs as well. Though my university has long been rated as the top or #2 research university in my field, there is no way that our faculty could possibly give the type of personal attention to our students that Amherst Profs are able to give to theirs. So, I'd count the sciences - particularly Neuroscience - as a real strength of AC.</p>
<p>What about this situation: I love Linguistics and plan to get a master's degree in it. I also love Amherst, except that it doesn't have a Ling major (prolly will have to take courses at UMass). The question is: do grad schools, MIT in particular, take in Amherst grads who want to major in something they didn't study in depth at college?</p>
<p>thanks for all the feedback! i'm also thinking about med school. which courses at amherst should i take to get prepared for somewhere like yale as med school? i'm not too familiar on which courses to take in this situation in an LAC...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amherst.edu/%7Epremedg/pmcourses.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.amherst.edu/~premedg/pmcourses.html</a> is a link to the courses in the Amherst premed curriculum.</p>
<p>Linh, your question can be broken down in 2 parts.
1. Do grad schools take in undergrads who want to pursue something they didn't study in dept at college?</p>
<p>the answer is yes. but of course, it is expected that you know the basics of what you want to study in grad school - either through formal or informal trainings.
For info on the MIT's linguistics program, go here:
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/program/admissions.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/program/admissions.html</a></p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do grad schools, MIT in particular, take in Amherst grads (presumably here esp. the MIT linguistics dept)
I'd say yes in general. but Amherst grads going into MIT linguistics post-college, I've never heard of a case.</p></li>
<li><p>I think you're worrying ahead a bit too much. You have 4 years of college awaiting. Worry about something more short-term, things that will happen in that 4-year period. Grad school or whatever can wait. Who knows what you'll be interested in, coming out of Amherst.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks amherst_alum:) It helped. About Linguistics, it's been my passion ever since I learned how to read; surely it's reasonable that I'll want to pursue it to grad school;)</p>
<p>does amherst prepare you well for med school? that's also another one of my concerns...</p>
<p>anyone know a link to see the amherst student admissions rates to med schools?</p>
<p>here it is</p>
<p>it analyzes the statistics pretty well, rather than just giving you a figure.</p>
<p>I think it was Henry Steele Commager who said, "a liberal arts education trains you for nothing and prepares you for everything." As you'll see from the stats on Professor George's website, Amherst students are extremely successful at gaining admission into medical school. But this does not mean that these students are well prepared for medical school. Are they? My assessment, as one who made that transition decades ago, and who has watched other Amherst students do it since then, is "no, and yes". Amherst does not prepare students well for some aspects of medical school, e.g. memorization of long lists of trivial details that still dominate much of the preclinical curriculum in medical school. On the other hand, Amherst prepares you exceptionally well for the more important challenges of medical school, e.g. using analytic skills to understand complex situations, and to make important decisions based on many levels of information. In the end, the preparation you receive at Amherst will serve you long beyond medical school, into your career as a physician, scientist or educator.</p>