<p>Hey, I’m an international applicant for class of '18. I’ll be taking the SATs this year and will try to maximize my scores in them. I’m in the top 3% of my school. What’s the admission rate for international students? Do you have to be exceptional(more than a US citizen) to get accepted? It’s need blind, so the problem of fin aid is solved. But I’m worried about the amount of emphasis on ECs. Is it a LOT? Are few ECs ok? Btw, I’m an Indian.</p>
<p>zolotaya: The transfer students I know are as smart and outgoing as traditional students. Many transfers’ closest friends are other transfers but a lot of them have close friendships with traditional students, too. Amherst is so small that it’s actually difficult or impossible not to meet people from varied backgrounds.</p>
<p>nineteen121: Students meet their friends in their dorms, extracurriculars and sport teams, and classes - meaning there are a lot of cross-class friendships. Most people will know almost everyone else in their class by sophomore year.</p>
<p>untamedgoddess: Congratulations on your achievements so far. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that international students are disadvantaged in the admissions process compared to domestic students. </p>
<p>Amherst does look favorably upon students who have excelled in extracurriculars as well as academics, but it’s not as if students are ranked according to their extracurricular achievement - The office of admissions makes a decision on each candidate based on their holistic profile. My tip to all applicants is to think about why you want to be at Amherst. And this is really for two reasons: 1) Thinking about the values that you want your college to espouse will help you make a stronger case for why you and Amherst are an ideal match. 2) You’ll gain a clearer sense of what it is you want out of your college experience… which is just the first step to living out that desired experience, whether that happens at Amherst or another college. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, no one here can tell you whether you’ll get in or not, but you can’t win if you don’t try so just try your best to make a good case for yourself!</p>
<p>Do you know when admitted students days will be this year?</p>
<p>@erlanger They are on April 8th and April 14th-15th.</p>
<p>Thanks Keilinger!</p>
<p>Does anybody know how housing is set up, like how roommates are paired? Is there a survey or something? do most people get along with their roommates?</p>
<p>Over the summer you will be sent a packet that includes the roommate survey. They will then pair you with somebody with similar habits to your own.</p>
<p>Hello,
I was just accepted into the Class of 2017 and Amherst is one of my top choices. I have a couple of questions. 1. Are most students like minded politically? I.e. Is everyone a democrat (with the occasional closeted republican)? 2. What sparked a controversy on campus this past year? 3. Do Amherst students get along well with the other students from the Five college consortium? 4. Have you taken advantage of the five college consortium? 5. How is the LGBT scene? In particular, expressiveness and support?</p>
<p>Hello paul17, I’d be happy to answer some of your questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I would venture to say that 75% of the students are democrats, 10% republican, and 15% don’t fit perfectly into either (keep in mind these are made up numbers off of the top of my head based on my own experience here so far and nothing else). I wouldn’t say that anyone feels pressured into being “closeted” in terms of their political preferences though. I had a lot of fun during election time last semester. The school hosted several events to broadcast the speeches and the atmosphere was always fun and non-hostile.</p></li>
<li><p>Many events involving sexual abuse and/or disrespect have risen this year. A former student who was assaulted on campus a couple of years ago wrote an article for the paper, a fraternity made misogynist tee shirts, and a college professor wrote an article in the paper asking for the correlation between being on a sports team and sexual misconduct to be further studied. The last two ****ed off tons of people. That said, I think the administration is doing their best and have put in maximal effort into offering support for everyone on campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Let’s see, I think UMass students are not allowed to cross-register for classes here (or maybe very very few are) so the only interaction we’d have with them would be at parties and such, and usually we go to theirs because they’re better. MoHolyoke girls come here for parties a lot though. I’ve had students from all of the other three colleges in my classes (especially Hampshire students in my comp sci classes!) and it has been great so far. You usually don’t even realize someone is not an Amherst student until very late into the semester anyway. </p></li>
<li><p>As a freshman, I haven’t had much of chance yet but I take scuba diving next fall at UMass.</p></li>
<li><p>Amhest is VERY LGBT friendly. I’ve yet to meet anyone who isn’t an ally. Our Pride Alliance is one of the most active clubs on campus. They have an awesome libary with LGBT material/meeting room that’s open every day and a lot of people like to just hang out there and study. They meet every week, throw a GAP (Gay Amherst Party) every month, and have all sorts of other events.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hi, I’ve been admitted to the class of '17!</p>
<p>I was wondering: how easy/hard is it to double major in, say, a science and economics?</p>
<p>Actually, UMass students can register for Amherst courses. That said, I don’t think that many do because I only remember one UMass student from a class three years ago.</p>
<p>Congratulations, karatekid! That is a major accomplishment. Double majoring is easy if you arrive on campus with some sense of what you want your majors to be. It’s just a matter of planning and making sure you hit all the pre-requisites on good schedule. There’s a lot of flexibility and freedom at Amherst, and as a result, many students end up double-majoring. However, you should also consider taking courses outside of your normal academic and professional fields of interest. There are many great departments here and I regret not having explored some of them sooner.</p>
<p>Are there many math/science majors or are they kind of a rare breed at Amherst? Are there many research opportunities?</p>
<p>Are there a lot of Amherst alumni in the media/publishing industry? It shouldn’t be extremely difficult for me to get internships right? I know Amherst has plenty of alumni who work in finance or go on to med/law/grad school, but I never hear much about media/publishing/journalism. Thanks!</p>
<p>bilateral: Here’s my response to another question earlier in this thread.</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...hes_fellowship[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife...hes_fellowship</a></p>
<p>There are a lot of math and science majors at Amherst. Physics seems especially popular, but I couldn’t give you the exact numbers. It’s certainly not as mathy as Harvey Mudd, but some people assume that Amherst is just for humanities and social studies people, which is just not true. If you love math and science, you’d be in good company. And even people who don’t major in these fields often take classes in them.</p>
<p>berries: Yes, many alumni are in finance and consulting or grad school. But the diversity in careers is not bad and Amherst grads seem to invariably be doing interesting things in their fields. There are hundreds upon hundreds of summer internship listings (many of them offered by Amherst alumni) each spring, and I know that many of them are in publishing. Interterm opportunities are also plentiful. I don’t think you’ll find a shortage of opportunities to get good experience here. On campus, there are ample opportunities to work on a publishing staff for The Amherst Student, science publications, and short fiction magazines, etc. You can also seek out job opportunities with the Office of Public Affairs on campus.</p>
<p>How rigorous are the classes in general? I don’t need or expect a 4.0 but I’m planning on attending law school, so I’d like to keep a 3.7+.</p>
<p>In general, Amherst classes are pretty challenging, but there’s a spectrum. Keep in mind that discussion-based courses often involve more work than lectures, because if you want to do exceptionally well you have to contribute something valuable to every class meeting. Most people will get the syllabi for the classes they’re interested in during the first week and a half of classes and add/drop classes. So the workload is somewhat within your control.</p>
<p>If you’ve been admitted, I would not worry about Amherst being too difficult. It’s not easy, but you will learn so much and be infinitely more prepared for graduate school at the end of your four years. Most Amherst graduates do go on to grad school, and plenty get admitted to top-tier institutions for their field.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think my HS (over 2000 students and 40/class) really prepared me for Amherst the way a private HS or boarding school would have. But it was true for me, and probably even true for my friends who did attend Andover, Exeter, etc., that freshman year was a major time of intellectual growth. That is to say, Amherst gets easier fast if you focus on doing well and keep your eyes open for ways to optimize how you work.</p>
<p>Keilinger, your comments here are extremely helpful. Do you know any pre meds, and what their experiences are at Amherst?</p>
<p>Thanks for answering my questions amherst16! I still have a couple of more questions. 1. I’ve heard the dining hall or Val is horrendous? Is that true? I go to a boarding school and a lot of people complain about it but I’ve always found something to eat. 2. Do you enjoy the lack of a core curriculum? Do advisors come in handy for what courses to choose? 3. How do choosing majors work? I know they are chosen at the end of Sophomore year but where does the planning begin? (I haven’t really decided on a major so that’s why I ask). Thanks for the responses I receive!</p>
<p>Thanks, Ruby! It’s great to be able to help out and procrastinate at the same time. :)</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I can think of two pre-med friends, who are majoring in chemistry and neuroscience. They spend a lot of time in lab, but also find time to be involved in Senate, have an on-campus job, do research with faculty, and socialize. As a social studies person, it’s hard for me to imagine having their workload - the lab hours alone are daunting - but somehow they manage to do it.</p>
<p>There is a lot of collaboration and mutual tutoring at Amherst, and I think that’s especially apparent for those exam-intensive departments like economics, math, and the sciences. If my friends’ late-night study sessions are any indicator, pre-med is a tough path. A lot of science major pre-meds have to take two or more science classes per semester at some point in their college career. I don’t think pre-med at Amherst varies from other schools in that regard, but it is probably eased by the sense of community here. Any horror stories you might have heard about competitive pre-meds ripping out the pages of library books are unrecognizable and would not make sense on this campus.</p>
<p>The resources are great. There’s peer tutoring available, office hours like you wouldn’t believe (for almost all faculty across all departments), and pre-med advising workshops. There are always loads of shadowing and internship opportunities for Interterm and the summer. Amherst has also a searchable alumni database, and the average alumni is very loyal to the College and those affiliated with it. The number of Amherst grads working in hospitals and research institutions in the U.S. and abroad means the database is an especially useful resource for those considering health professions.</p>
<p>I thought I’d also mention that students at Amherst and other LACs are extremely likely to work in fields totally unrelated to their majors and there are quite a few pre-meds who are majoring in a non-science but are still working on the pre-med track.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to the Amherst guide for pre-med students:
<a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/students/gradstudy/health/guide/part1[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/careers/students/gradstudy/health/guide/part1</a></p>
<p>Another thread I found about pre-med at Amherst:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/amherst-college/247555-pre-med-amherst.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/amherst-college/247555-pre-med-amherst.html</a></p>
<p>On Amherst and med school admissions:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/amherst-college/126754-getting-into-med-school-amherst.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/amherst-college/126754-getting-into-med-school-amherst.html</a></p>