Current student here to answer questions about Amherst!

<p>Since the forum’s lacking a thread where prospective students can ask questions to a current student, I thought I’d start one. Hopefully, other Amherst students can hop onboard to answer your questions, too. If you have any questions about admissions, academics, research opportunities, careers, social life and community, LACs vs research universities, post them here!</p>

<p>Thanks so much for starting this thread. I would like to know more about campus employment. When should students usually start contacting departments inquiring about employment opportunities? I searched amherst.edu about departments that usually employ students, but would also like to know some info that is not listed on the web site.</p>

<p>There are a lot of employment opportunities available for both federal work study students and non federal work study students. In terms of academic research positions, some departments don’t have a habit of listing them on the website but if you ask around and get in touch with professors whose work you’re interested in, you’re likely to find opportunities. In addition, many professors look for summer research assistants. You can get funding and on-campus housing for these opportunities, as well as for other nationwide internships that would otherwise be unpaid.</p>

<p>Non-academic positions (including at the Investment Office, the Advancement Office, the museums, the libraries, and campus-based non-profit organizations) are in high demand and they usually try to fill these at the beginning of each semester. The campus employment fair at the beginning of each year is a good way to find out about these job openings.</p>

<p>Could you please tell me about the location of the college, and that location’s advantages and disadvantages?</p>

<p>Amherst, MA is a small town with four other colleges in the vicinity. As a student, you can take the free bus to Northampton (or take a short drive), which is a small but vibrant city. Boston is two-three hours away, so some students will spend longer breaks there. In addition to Boston, you can take the Peter Pan bus to New York City. If you want to actually be in a city, Amherst is not the best place for that (to say the least). But the location makes it great for college students who want a certain experience. It feels like a true college town with all the associated amenities and disadvantages. You have your fair share of good local restaurants (especially in Northampton), bookstores, and green spaces. It is very safe. If you grew up in a major city like I did, it may be too small for you after 3 years. Enter domestic exchange and study abroad (and eventually, you’ll graduate after four years so there’s that)! Definitely not a bad place for the traditional college experience if you don’t mind losing out on big city life for a while. I had no experience living in a small town, and like town life enough, but I definitely want to move back to my home city after graduating.</p>

<p>Thanks! 10char</p>

<p>How is theater on campus? Do students support it/attend? Is it good?</p>

<p>I have several questions:</p>

<p>How challenging are the classes for freshman (gen ed course)??</p>

<p>Are students friendly and open minded, or do they tend to have cliques?</p>

<p>How is the social environment??</p>

<p>Has the social scene been affected by the recent sexual harassment publicity?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>

<p>Thank you, Keilinger, for your response. Do you know if there is any advantage to contact departments regarding student employment before September or they don’t make any offers before then? Do you know any students who did academic research during the summer after their freshman year either at Amherst or at other schools?</p>

<p>Can you remember your stats? Or anything that would have boosted your chance at admission? Awards? Hooks? URM? etc?</p>

<p>Where else did you apply? Get accepted? Denied? Why’d you choose Amherst?</p>

<p>I have a question: </p>

<p>I have applied for Computer Science Majors. If you could, could you tell me how rigorous is the CS at Amherst vs. CS at an engineering college?</p>

<p>I know you’ve touched on this already, but even though Amherst is in a small time, do you feel like there’s always something to do?</p>

<p>How important are athletics? Is it possible for a good high school athlete to get in with 3.6 GPA?</p>

<p>@arwarw The Amherst theater program is relativity small, but really well supported. I’m working on a show right now as a freshman, and its been a ton of fun. The theater people are so kind and welcoming! As for Amherst theater being well attended, the show being performed this weekend, Lungs, sold out on Monday for all three performances, so I think it’s safe to say shows are well attended.</p>

<p>@star118 Amherst doesn’t have any general ed requirements. We have an open curriculum (more on academics: <a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/[/url]”>Academics | Amherst College) which means that you are not required to take any classes. You must take a first year seminar (which can be in almost any department from physics to English) and fulfill the requirements of a major. This means that you get to choose what you want to take and you will be in classes with people who want to be there. We also have a great advising system, so you will have a professor helping you navigate course selection. Classes at Amherst are hard, but never impossible. Professors have high expectations, but will always do whatever it takes to help you succeed. You will probably have to work hard, but we still have lots of fun!</p>

<p>Some more general answers:
As for social life at amherst, I think it’s pretty great. Amherst is an exceptionally diverse place, and that manifests itself in a diverse social scene. Anything you want, you can find. People party, people go to performances or lectures, people just hang out. Whatever you want, you can find. I’ve never been bored. There is always more going on than you can possibly do! Amherst people are just genuinely good people and in my experiences, people want to get to know each other. Everyone here has something interesting to share. Also, if you somehow find yourself bored (which I can’t imagine happening) there are four other fabulous colleges just a free bus ride away (UMass, which is a big state university that has everything, smith and mount holyoke, which are women’s colleges, and Hampshire college.</p>

<p>About admissions chances: There is absolutely no way to know whether you will get in unless you apply. I know that is the worst possible advice and is incredibly frustrating (because I’ve totally be there) but it’s true. There are people here with perfect high school records, and people here who don’t. There are athletes and people like me who would rather not run anywhere. There are kids who saved starving children in Africa (literally) and people who don’t have any kind of “hook.” And I’ve heard stories from people who didn’t get in despite a “perfect” application. I’m sorry to say that no one can tell you if you can get in except the admissions committee. It’s so frighting and annoying and difficult, but I can promise this: the entire admissions chaos is worth it to end up at the right college for you. I absolutely adore amherst. Waiting is so hard, but it’s worth it- I promise! Good luck!</p>

<p>Thanks Amherst2016!</p>

<p>@zolotaya: Sorry for the late response. One of the things I love about Amherst is that its size helps most people to feel like they can contact anyone. I met the head of the Advancement Office and a social event a few months back and plan to inquire about openings for the fall. I don’t know if there is an advantage to inquiring in advance of the positions being publicly advertised, but it is generally good to show that you are interested - and inquiring about any possible positions, even those not advertised, is a great way to take initiative. If there is a department, office, or specific professor whose work you’re really interested in, I would encourage you to send them a friendly email introducing yourself.</p>

<p>Yes, students with an interest in research do take on positions during the summer after their freshman year. There is a fellowship program for Amherst students specifically for the summer months: You are paired with a faculty mentor, conduct intensive research, and have the opportunity to present your work at a symposium in the fall. Apart from the formal program (which is mainly geared toward chem/bio/psychics), jobs in research are also advertised in April or May. If you are interested in pursuing any research in the social sciences, I highly recommend taking a statistics course in your freshman year so that you have skills for quantitative, as well as qualitative, analysis. Here’s more info on the Hughes Fellowship Program: <a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/funding/students/howard_hughes_fellowship[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/funding/students/howard_hughes_fellowship&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>@berries123: As I mentioned in Post #2, I sometimes do get tired of the small town feel. But in terms of on-campus activities, there is always something interesting going on. A former U.S. Treasurer and a former Prime Minister of Pakistan are just two visitors to Amherst in the past few days. Organizations are easy to start on your own, and founders get a lot of support from administrators and the Program Board, which is composed of students and administrators whose work involves planning and sponsoring major campus activities. Check out the events calendar here: <a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/calendar/events[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/calendar/events&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>How are the dorms? Are teachers accessible?</p>

<p>@hevydevy: I turned down Dartmouth and Middlebury for Amherst because I wanted to be in a more vibrant location, which is something I didn’t realize until I had been accepted to colleges and starting visiting. I turned down large research universities because I wanted to be able to know my professors and not feel as much pre-professional pressure while still building a strong foundation for my career. Amherst (or any LAC, for that matter) will make sure you leave with excellent critical reading and writing skills, and these are the skills that will help you do well in post-college life.</p>

<p>@alexissss: The dorms are reputed to be some of the best around. Some are better than others, but it’s not unusual for people to live in amazing housing all four years. A few have been recently renovated (Charles Pratt, Stearns, James). Off-campus housing might be on the rise due to the new science center project, but no one lives off campus who doesn’t want to.</p>

<p>Professors are super accessible. This was actually one of the selling points for me. I met one-on-one with a professor during Admit Week, and this was before I accepted their offer! Professors have open office hours every week. In general, professors choose Amherst because they want to teach undergraduates, and as a result, the quality of teaching is extremely high. Larger universities have looked to the LAC model of education to inspire better teaching:<a href=“Harvard Task Force Calls for New Focus on Teaching and Not Just Research - The New York Times”>Harvard Task Force Calls for New Focus on Teaching and Not Just Research - The New York Times;