Does Amherst admit by major?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Amherst College
1

<p>Does Amherst admit by major? Will I be at a disadvantage if I apply to a common major? Or will I be at an advantage if I apply to a less common major?</p>

2

<p>No, they don’t care about what you major it. They care about grades, scores (and it helps to be a recruited athlete).</p>

3

<p>What if you play a sport that’s not NCAA but is big Club wise in the school? Should you still contact them about atheletics?</p>

4

<p>Amherst belongs to the NESCAC, not NCAA. Either you get recruited for a varsity team, or you play a club sport for fun. They don’t care (admission wise) about club sports. But if you play a club sport in hs, and are competitive (meaning your high school may not have football or something, but you still may play it in a community based club team) then contact the coach.</p>

5

<p>It’s in the NESCAC conference (New England Small College Athletic Conference) and is an NCAA Div. III school.</p>

<p>NESCAC is just the conference – sort of like “districts” in high school sports. NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has three divisions: I, II, III. Not all schools are NCAA schools, but Amherst is. All of the NESCAC schools are, otherwise they wouldn’t be in the same NCAA conference.</p>

6

<p>

NESCAC does function as an NCAA Division III conference. Most sports at Amherst (and other NESCAC schools) represent both NESCAC sports and NCAA Division III sports. However, this is not always true: it is possible for a sport to represent one of these groups, but not the other. </p>

<p>For example, squash is a NESCAC sport – but not an NCAA sport. NESCAC recognizes squash teams, organizes a squash schedule every year, records the results, and crowns the men’s and women’s champions (which are always from Trinity). NCAA does none of those things, because they don’t sponsor squash. So Amherst’s squash teams are NESCAC teams, but not NCAA teams. </p>

<p>On the other hand, skiing is an NCAA sport – but not a NESCAC sport. Some schools (like Williams or Midd) have NCAA ski teams; these teams are technically NCAA but not NESCAC (even though Williams and Midd are normally thought of as “NESCAC schools”). Amherst has a club ski team, which is neither NCAA nor NESCAC. </p>

<p>So it is possible for sports teams at NESCAC schools to be:</p>

<ul>
<li>Both NCAA and NESCAC (this is the most common)</li>
<li>NESCAC, but not NCAA (e.g. Amherst squash)</li>
<li>NCAA, but not NESCAC (e.g. Williams skiing)</li>
<li>Neither NCAA nor NESCAC (e.g. Amherst skiing)</li>
</ul>

<p>Rowing and wrestling are other examples of sports where NCAA and NESCAC do not necessarily overlap</p>

7

<p>

Well I play a sport which in my country is taken as an important one. I was surprised that it wasn’t on the list of NCAA/NESCAC sports. I play it on a national level so I was wondering if I should contact the coaches. Do they even care how their club teams do? For example, Columbia’s and MIT’s club team is in the Top 5 nationally so I would guess it would matter to them? I’m not applying to MIT so that doesn’t really help me but do you think contacting the coaches would come close to ‘recruiting’? Or help me at all?</p>

<p>EDIT- Okay, so the sport I play is table tennis and the school I am applying to is registered with the NCTTA and competes with other college teams on national level. Does that make any difference?</p>

8

<p>Amherst will be impressed by high achievement in almost any field of endeavor, including table tennis. Realistically, however, table tennis is not a major college sport in the US. Table tennis teams are primarily student-run organizations at larger universities; they may or may not get much funding or support from the school, and may or may not have coaches. Even if a school does have a table tennis coach, I would doubt that he or she would have much influence in admissions. </p>

<p>At Amherst College, there apparently has been a table tennis club in the past, but it has reportedly been [url=&lt;a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/studentgroups/table_tennis_club]inactive[/url”&gt;https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/studentgroups/table_tennis_club]inactive[/url</a>] since 2007.</p>

9

<p>^Oh well, I guess it’s the achievement that counts, eh? It would be considered just like any other EC just not like any other sport then. I guess I’m happy with that too; not every EC helps as much as atheletics does with recruition.</p>