<p>Hello, </p>
<p>I am extremely interested in the humanities and LAC's. I've heard that Amherst's English department is phenomenal, better than Swarthmore's, although Swarthmore's is wonderful as well. I'm not sure what basis this claim was made on, but I continue finding tidbits online about Amherst's English department's reputation, and less information on Swarthmore's.</p>
<p>Could someone who is knowledgeable on both of these departments compare them for me?</p>
<p>I think you’ll find strong English departments at all the top LACs, at the two you mentioned plus Williams, Pomona, Wesleyan, Wellesley, Davidson etc. The difference will be more nuanced, reflected in the political and ideological context of the department. A good way to understand this is to look at the course titles. </p>
<p>You should also look at the visiting authors on board; this will give you an idea of the slant of the department. Also, if you’re interested in creative writing, you should drill deeper into course offerings, faculty support.</p>
<p>There’s also a significant difference among LACs in atmosphere and personality. Although Amherst and Swarthmore are similar academically they are quite different in culture and ambiance.</p>
<p>Count yourself lucky if you get in either one. To get admitted to both and to have to choose is a problem most of us don’t have.</p>
<p>Yeah, MrMom. I just need to know because I might apply to Swat EDII. </p>
<p>The level of professor-student interaction in an English department is the make it or break it factor for me, actually. I trust that both English departments have top professors (if someone has something to add to this, please do!), but the professors’ commitment to individual students – eg, small class sizes, approachability – is something I really care about. From what I can find, Swat keeps winning on this one, in its reputation as a school in general. I keep reading “best undergrad attention in the country” etc, “phenomenal professors” etc, and less often I read people gush about that for Amherst… except Amherst’s English department reputation (and it’s Law, Jurisprudence, Social Thought program) has stood out.
Maybe I’m looking in all the wrong places… which is why I’m here trying to get closer to some consensus…</p>
<p>I also realize, momrath, the stereotypes in nuances between the schools. I visited Swat and loved it, but I visited when no students were there. I’d like to investigate just how much swat students study, and if any Swattie has a word on this, I’d appreciate it to hear. Haven’t visited Amherst or any other LAC’s. Also, thanks for the suggestion, I’ll look into the course titles.</p>
<p>You can find strong English departments at LACs well outside the top 10. One of the best is at Kenyon.
[About</a> the Department of English<strong>·</strong>Kenyon College](<a href=“http://www.kenyon.edu/academics/departments-programs/english/about-the-department-of-english/]About”>http://www.kenyon.edu/academics/departments-programs/english/about-the-department-of-english/)</p>
<p>The essence of a small LAC education is the close and nurturing professor-student relationship. You won’t find a significant difference in degree of support and involvement between Amherst and Swarthmore (or among any of the academically rigorous LACs), but you will find a significant difference in campus culture and personality. The stereotypes are not reliable --e.g. all Swarthmore students are neurotic, all Williams students are jocks – but still differences do exist.</p>
<p>At all of the most academically rigorous LACs, students are serious about their classwork. The differences are more in what they do when they’re not in class or studying.</p>
<p>My impression is that Swarthmore is aware that some students become overwrought by academic pressure (self-inflicted, not competitive) and support mechanisms are in place to provide a counter balance. You could try the “contact a student” feature on their website to get a personal viewpoint.</p>
<p>Among these academically intense LACs, the quality of the teaching in the English departments is fairly consistent, but you will find a difference in the personality of the students and the ideological focus of the professors which will impact the classroom experience. </p>
<p>In other words, go for the best fit for you.</p>
<p>Look at course offerings and faculty interests to see if either school’s English department is closer to your interests than the other.</p>
<p>I want to add that its a mistake to choose a school based on one department. More than 50% of students with declared majors end up changing them. If you pick the place that ‘fits’ culturally and brings out the best in you, then minor differences in the ‘slant’ of an English dept aren’t going to be important in the long run. If we were talking about grad school programs, I’d feel differently.</p>
<p>Both Amherst and Swarthmore will provide what you need: Decide where you’ll feel most comfortable.</p>
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<p>Yes, and according to a recent Washington Post article, only 27% of college grads have a job closely related to their majors. My career has nothing to do with my major. Intended major can be part of one’s college selection, but should maybe not be the primary part.</p>
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<p>A student who is likely to change majors has the more limiting constraint of finding schools which are good in all of the possible majors that s/he may change to, rather than one or just a few similar majors (although strength of major subareas may be less of a consideration).</p>
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<p>That references some Federal Reserve research:
<a href=“Liberty Street Economics”>Liberty Street Economics;
<a href=“FEDERAL RESERVE BANK of NEW YORK”>http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr587.pdf</a></p>
<p>Note, however, that this is not limited to recent college graduates. The paper says “Given our focus on college graduates, we limit our sample to working-age individuals (i.e., aged 16 to 64) with at least a Bachelor’s degree who are in the non-military labor force and located in metropolitan areas since this geography is a good proxy for local labor markets.” So that could include older people who are more likely to have changed job type over the years. Also, people with graduate degrees are excluded, which tends to exclude some who are more likely to be in related jobs (e.g. PhD graduates) and some who are likely to be less likely to be in related jobs (e.g. graduates of some types of professional schools).</p>
<p>The other thing to note is that while 27.3% are in jobs nominally requiring a bachelor’s degree and are related to their undergraduate major, only 62.1% are in jobs nominally requiring a bachelor’s degree at all. This means that 43.6% of those in jobs nominally requiring a bachelor’s degree are in jobs related to their major.</p>
<p>Granted, English and other humanities majors are less likely than most majors to find jobs directly related to their majors (unless academic or teaching jobs are targeted), so the major-related career directions are perhaps less relevant for them than for the two thirds of college students majoring in pre-professional majors.</p>