<p>I am considering applying to Amherst this autumn; if you’re an Amherst student or alum (or have even just been there) could you tell me about what kind of college it is? It looks like a nice place, but it’s hard to get an idea of the college just by looking at pictures online or seeing how high up it is in rankings lists. So what makes it special? :)</p>
<p>It was founded by Emily Dickinson’s grandfather, Robert Frost taught there once upon a time, and students should be honored to apply to an institution of such caliber. If I were you, I’d direct myself to the common application, read some of the supplement essay prompts, and begin writing.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Visit the school. The clouds of doubt will part and you’ll see why it manages to rank so high for so many. If the clouds don’t part and you remain in doubt… perhaps it’s not what you seek. And that’s ok too.</p>
<p>^^well, it’s a little early to start planning trips - unless h/she happens to live nearby. Suffice it to say, what you see is essentially what you get with Amherst: a very well-rounded curriculum (which is open), a well-rounded student body (which is racially diverse), a town with a Main Street; almost a given that everyone will go to grad school.</p>
<p>I’ll give you a quick and dirty run-down of the reasons I applied:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Open Curriculum: only major requirements and a first-year seminar</p></li>
<li><p>Financial Aid: not as amazing as that of HYPSM, but still very generous</p></li>
<li><p>Prestige: one of the U.S.'s oldest and most well-respected colleges</p></li>
<li><p>Academic quality, and student body strength and diversity: self-explanatory</p></li>
<li><p>Dorms: many resemble five-star hotels, and most are well-maintained, clean, and spacious</p></li>
<li><p>Campus: small, intimate, aesthetically pleasing</p></li>
<li><p>Town: beautiful, clean, quaint, populous; ethnic restaurants, bars, Starbucks, Subway, CVS, Ben and Jerry’s, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Close to home: 2.5 - 3.5 hour drive, for me</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Why would it be too early to visit? Certainly seeing the school in session has a great deal of benefit. And waiting until the fall is certainly doable, but at the same time it is a hectic time all around and my best advice would be to start working on essays in the summer. Son did not visit a few of his schools and depending on where the yesses fall, it’s not like he will have a lot of time to visit them before May. Every school he applied to is an airplane (or 2!) away.</p>
<p>I agree with Modadunn…it isn’t too early to visit in the fall. I visited during the summer between my junior and senior years. Looking back, it would have been helpful for me to have visited when classes were in session. If you have the time and resources to make this happen…do it. It will only make your future decisions easier when selecting colleges that may be a good fit for you.</p>
<p>Does the OP plan on visiting every top twenty-five college?</p>
<p>I don’t see where she/he said she was considering every top 25 college. But I am just saying that waiting until Fall to start visiting schools is waiting a long time. In fact, we were out east for some other reason completely in between sophomore and junior year. We stopped at four very different schools in terms of location and size. Son knew after those visits what he kind of liked and what he didn’t. Added bonus, he really knew to not let any part of his game down for junior year and in fact, worked a lot harder because he had a better tangible vision of what he wanted for his future.</p>
<p>Hmm, well, I live in the UK, and I can’t really afford to visit any of the colleges beforehand, which is why I thought I’d ask here.</p>
<p>Well THAT explains a lot! I guess the question what are you are looking for in a school, what you hope to study? What do you like about your current school (class size, etc). I think it’s hard to just list the pros of a school to see if it might personally fit someone else. I have no idea what my son liked about it and of course, we were more of the mind set: “hey, if you love it, we love it.” And now we just hold our breath hoping the decision gets here soon!! Granted, he originally was thinking of playing football there and while we don’t know how that stands at this point, one of his pluses was that the athletes he met were really smart and hard working when it came to academics. He met no, pardon the expression, meat heads, really liked the tenets of the program itself, knows it is academically an excellent school and most important, academics were confirmed as coming first. The campus was beautiful – even in the dead of winter, the dorms were really nice, and the other people he met (through friends who had graduated last year from his HS) were incredibly nice. He loved that everyone was really to talk about their academic experience, but he didn’t get any feeling of anyone being pretentious (huge point for son). He just felt like he fit.</p>
<p>I’m homeschooled, so I’m not entirely sure what college size I’d like, but I generally like to live “in the centre of everything.” Where the people are, if that makes sense.</p>
<p>hmm… Amherst is pretty small. NYU is in the center of everything. Columbia… a little further out but still in NYC. Son did not want to be in the middle of everything this is certain. However, there is the four school consortium around Amherst and so it’s a lot larger student population than the singular population of Amherst College would lead you to believe.</p>
<p>You mean Amherst’s next to four other colleges?</p>
<p>yes. i think if you add up the total student population in and around Amherst (UMass), Northampton (Smith) and South Hadley (Mount Holyoke), it comes to ~30,000 – and Amherst students feel superior to all of them. ;)</p>
<p>Seems like I’m applying, then :).
Thanks to all of you for the advice.</p>
<p>DEFINITELY visit while school is in session is my advice. I tried to avoid all summer college visits with D for northeastern colleges. Made that mistake with S three years ago - beautiful college on the banks of the Hudson River in August. In Feb when he went for overnight visit was the coldest seeming, most godforsaken place ever. The nice “breeze” off the river was a gale in the winter - it was a total transformation. Face it - you will be there from Sept to May so see what the place looks like then, not in July or August!<br>
D loved Amherst even in Feb (freezing cold day) felt like she fit right in there!</p>
<p>/as someone who chose to apply (and just got in!) one of my big reasons, besides the ones already listed, was the fact that Amherst, over most LAC, is quite diverse and brings brilliant people from all over the country/world, which I think is an extremely valuable feature to an institution of learning…</p>
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<p>Too funny… and probably too true! :)</p>