Cornell (Arts & Sciences) vs. Amherst vs JHU

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm going to college Undecided - which of the three do you think would offer the most well-rounded education/which college has the best departments across the board?</p>

<p>Also, how would you compare the humanities, social sciences, and biology departments at these schools?</p>

<p>Things like cold weather or "middle of nowhere" collegetowns aren't really going to factor into my decision since I can adapt, I think :) Campus-wise, I thought Cornell was really pretty and scenic, JHU's was fairly nice (perhaps a little repetitive), and I wasn't able to visit Amherst unfortunately. </p>

<p>What do you guys think? Thanks!</p>

2

<p>You cannot go wrong here. I’d have said one way to decide would be the issue of Amherst being a small LAC in comparison to the other schools, but Five Colleges really takes care of that. </p>

<p>[Five</a> Colleges, Incorporated: Home](<a href=“http://www.fivecolleges.edu/]Five”>http://www.fivecolleges.edu/)</p>

3

<p>I say it’s between Amherst and Cornell for humanities and go with the best financial deal.</p>

4

<p>Amherst for the personal education and opportunities. Depending on the money–all good choices. Campus life is probably most enjoyable at Amherst because of the five college thing. JHU is in a dangerous area. Cornell is supposed to be SO beautiful, though, but I’ve heard the classes are big and crowded.</p>

5

<p>Cornell will offer more courses, more majors, more areas of study, more advanced level courses, more fellow students with quite varied interests. Amherst will have much smaller classes and a more initimate environment.</p>

<p>By varied interests, a significant difference is 100% of Amherst students are studying in Arts & sciences subjects, while only 1/3 of Cornell’s students are.
With seven different undergraduate colleges, there are many different types of people and fields of study at Cornell. They will all be in your dorm. Some people may prefer the expanded opportunities this diversity affords, others may prefer more homogeneity.</p>

<p>If it were me, if I were a guy, I might look very closely at Amherst, because it offers the traditional LAC advantages (eg smaller classes) with the 5 college system to mitigate, in some measure, some of the traditional disadvantages (eg fewer courses, fewer and less of everything). Though I believe the mitigation is imperfect, due to travel time between campuses and no top graduate programs, the situation there still seems potentially much better to me than the typical stand-alone LAC. </p>

<p>But I would only strongly consider it if I felt certain that I fit very well with the predominant campus culture there. Because my D1 found that she didn’t, at her LAC, and it became an issue for her socially. And that school is larger than Amherst.</p>

<p>Socially, Amherst students have posted statements such as the following:</p>

<p>“…significant number of Smith and Mount Holyoke students taking the bus over every weekend. Long story short, if you are seeking a girl, the odds are definitely tipped in your favor”.</p>

<p>While that guy seemed enthused about it, frankly it didn’t sound as great to D2 when she was considering colleges to transfer to.</p>

<p>She is currently studying Humanities at Cornell, likes it there, and is happy with the size and content of her courses, in the path she has chosen. She is actually having a great experience there, academically and socially.</p>

<p>Biology is a research powerhouse there, but it is a big major, there may be many opportunities and choices within it but also many students. Certainly it will be of a different magnitude than Amherst, in both a good way and possibly in a bad way as well.</p>

<p>Cornell just built a brand new biology mega-facility, while if I’m not mistaken I think I’ve read Amherst’s biology facilities are in need of refurbishment, yet a replacement was deferred due to finances. You might check on this, if you care. They would not be close to comparable anyway. But how much this would matter to you might depend on what you wind up wanting to do there.</p>

<p>The intro classes at the university will probably often be big lectures with recitation sections, clearly a less personal form of instruction, though not necessarily less effective. Actually one such course is one of the most beloved courses on campus. But it is not Biology. I personally did not care for those huge lecture courses as an underclassman, but I was happy to have such a large array of advanced level courses to choose from in my upperclass years.</p>

<p>None of my kids looked into JHU.</p>

<p>I would not choose a school I hadn’t visited.</p>

6

<p>

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<p>All are very strong. Even Hopkins, which isn’t really known for the humanities, has a strong humanities program. You need to decide if you want to be at a small liberal arts college or a large research university, more of a community feel versus more of a ‘world is your oyster’ mentality.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the feedback! I understand that in terms of the size of both the campus and student population, Cornell and Amherst are very very different. But I’m curious - since I’m in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell (which I believe is considered a kind of LAC in itself?), is it possible to somewhat have that “community” feel while ALSO being part of a large research institution? Or are they pretty much mutually exclusive?</p>

8

<p>Cornell CAS is significantly larger than the typical LAC–it’s got about 4200 students.</p>

9

<p>Arts & sciences is a program of studies, not a school size. </p>

<p>I got more collegial with a group of fellow-travelers when I got into my major. But certainly nothing like at a stand-alone LAC, and it highly depends on the major. Someone who had been a humanities major at cornell posted that she got to know the people in her department quite well, and a number of her professors came to her wedding. My experience was less cozy than that. So I guess one can say experiences vary.</p>

<p>The social milieu is shared by the university as a whole, there is not a separate “CAS dorm”. And there is cross-registration across the university, many lower level classes will not be exclusively CAS students, and the big intro courses will have students from many of the colleges. Similarly, CAS students are not confined to taking CAS courses, they can and do choose courses across the university.</p>

<p>The sense of community at an LAC develops from repeatedly seeing,and interacting with, the same people, which leads to actually knowing them.</p>

<p>The size, breadth and depth of Cornell’s offerings mitigates against this to an extent. People spread themselves all over to take advantage of the diverse offerings,hence see the same people less often in the ordinary course of things. There may be several sections of a particular course, which greatly enhances your scheduling flexibility and ability to take the course, but makes it less likely that the same people will always be in your classes.And there are so many courses.</p>

<p>People carve out more initmate sub-units for themselves, in various ways. Some join fraternities, or coops. Some rent a house with their friends. They join clubs. Hang out where the “artsie people” hang out, Meet people while doing part-time jobs. Etc. And yes, some get friendly with people within their majors. You choose who you want to be intimate with.</p>

<p>In the small school there is less choice about it. If you fit very well with the predominant campus culture at an LAC this can be great, because you get to know well a large bunch of people who are prescreened to have a lot in common with you. This wound up not being the case with D1 however, at a different LAC, and she wound up having to repeatedly interact with people she didn’t like. There were but a handful of students majoring in her field, the same people were in numerous classes with her, and she didn’t like most of them.</p>

<p>You should not count on CAS providing anywhere near the same level or sense of community that an LAC requires. For better or for worse.</p>

10

<p>It depends whether you think you will feel lost at Cornell. One poster mentioned that people from all 7 Cornell disciplines will be in your dorm. For an undecided person that could be a little intimidating. I think there’s not a better undergraduate education than Amherst. But it is a sports-oriented culture, I think, and you should make sure that you are comfortable with that. There may be more non-athletes in a big university.</p>

11

<p>Thanks again for the responses. I ended up committing to Cornell, since I really do like the school, and also because I didn’t feel right about choosing a school I never had the chance to visit. My only worry is that, since I’m somewhat of a shy person, that my “image” would fit better at an LAC, since they’re smaller and more intimate (or at least this is what my friends tell me). Though I’m sure you can find shy people at Cornell too, right? :]</p>

<p>And even though I’m undecided, I’m not too worried about being mixed in with people from all 7 colleges/programs - I’ll have to work with all kinds of different people at any school I go to.</p>

12

<p>you can find every kind of person imaginable there. Make an effort, join a club or two. Maybe get a social part-time job. Look into that “outdoor odyssey” thing people are talking about. Hopefully you’ll meet a bunch of nice pople in your dorm, and you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>Good luck, and congratulations !</p>