<p>After a good bunch of college visits, I’ve decided that Amherst is my top choice school. It’s the only one that really clicked with me, and the only one where I said outright, “I want to go here.”</p>
<p>However, I liked a lot of other schools I visited very much…Vassar, Haverford, Brown, Harvard…some harder to get into than Amherst, some easier.</p>
<p>Here is my problem: the only thing I worry about at Amherst is the preppy/jock factor, which I feel is less prevalent at Haverford, closer to nonexistent at Vassar, and while it’s present at Brown and Harvard, those are bigger schools with more options.</p>
<p>Should I go with my gut and apply ED to Amherst? Or should I spend my fall doing overnight visits at my top choices to make sure Amherst fits me better than, say, Vassar?</p>
<p>Man, they lie if they tell you you can learn all about a school by staying overnight. </p>
<p>It's your decision, but I say go with your gut. </p>
<p>By the way, when I visited Amherst I didn't see a lot of the "prep" factor...granted a lot of the kids are from rich white private schools, but there's also a lot of lower income kids etc. There's always a huge range, and Amherst does have 400 people in each class, so there should be people that you can hang with. </p>
<p>Besides, Amherst is a private liberal arts school. It's not MIT/Olins. A little preppiness is expected.</p>
<p>rubinator, it's a tough decision. You should do ED to Amherst if you are sure that it is you top choice, and you would have no regrets being bound to go there. If you choose to apply EA elsewhere, and then apply RD to other places, your chance at getting into amherst (or any other ED school) would be less likely. However, this does give you more time to research/stay over/think. Another plus for ED is that it will relieve a lot of your stress if you get in early, and allow you to enjoy your senior year. Ultimately, it comes down to how sure you are that amherst is your top choice. You should consider whether you are willing to lessen your chance of getting into amherst by waiting and having more options.</p>
<p>If you have reservations about something as fundamental as the campus culture, then I would think about doing a few more overnights and continuing to think about your priorities before applying ED.</p>
<p>IMO, issues of campus culture and "fit" are the single most important factors when trying to chose among very good schools.</p>
<p>On the "preppy/jock" scale, Amherst probably falls in the middle of the big 3 LACs, with Williams being the most preppy/jock and Swarthmore being the least preppy/jock -- keeping in mind that all three schools have preppy/jock elements and geek/hipster/artsy/whatever elements.</p>
<p>Amherst is a school in somewhat of a transition. 35 years ago it was intensely preppy, probably the most preppy of those three schools. However, very aggressive efforts to diversify the student body in recent years have almost certainly started to change the campus culture.</p>
<p>More than half of the kids get FA now, so the preppy factor is less than it used to be. D is a FA student and has made wonderful friends - rich and poor. She hasn't felt left out.</p>
<p>Preppies are abundant but not overwhelming. You don't get into Amherst without studying to some degree, so you'll be hard-pressed to find the slacking potheads you might expect to see at a large state school. On the other hand, I haven't run into a single major jock (a few minor ones, though) for the first few weeks I've been here. Good record!</p>