<p>Georgetown’s class size needs to be adjusted to do a cucumbers to cucumbers comparison (as opposed to cucumbers to bananas) since you should eliminate the Health and Nursing program from the Georgetown class size. Also, Georgetown’s own law school diverts a not insignificant number of students who might be competive for HY under its own in-house early admission program to Georgetown Law. Still, Amherst does have impressive placement at HY. Also some Georgetown students who may be competitive at HY opt for the Joint JD-MSFS program where the prestige of the School of Foreign Service grad program (ranked 1st in the nation) might dissuade a future lawyer from going to HY.</p>
<p>Good call about the class size adjustment. I took out business, health, and SFS.</p>
<p>Yale: 7 Georgetown, 17 Amherst
Harvard: 32 Georgetown, 77 Amherst</p>
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<p>Little bit of a Freudian time slip there but we know what you mean. Georgetown is in a safer neighborhood than Amherst? Really? I think that saying Georgetown is in a cultural hub is incorrect. It is more accurate to say that Georgetown is on the outskirts of a cultural hub like U of Maryland is. Only important difference is that College Park has a metro line on campus. </p>
<p>Certainly Amherst kids can get internships as well but as the O.P. is interested in government that factor favors of Georgetown. </p>
<p>Two top schools. Really gets down to fit versus anything else. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Kwu:</p>
<p>"The following was your response to my compliment to Georgetown, that one could find a more “traditional college experience there.” -kwu</p>
<p>You are twisting my words. I never mentioned anything about a more traditional college experience at Georgetown. Correct me if I am wrong. I believe you made that statement.</p>
<p>"Well, there’s your statement and your implication that I believe that the “Georgetown experience”/a “traditional college experience” entails “all drinking and partying.”-kwu</p>
<p>I didn’t say that you believe this. I said these forums tend to project this.</p>
<p>“As to your cynical view toward law school admissions, I suppose I could concede that point. I would recommend, then, that the OP head to his local community college instead. I’m sure that if he can pull of the amazing feat of being admitted as a transfer student to both Amherst and Georgetown that he would be able to pull off a solid GPA there.”</p>
<p>Here you have taken my words and grossly taken them out of context. The gap between most community colleges and a Georgetown or Amherst are very large. This is a very poor counter argument.</p>
<p>IBClass06:
I conceded earlier that Amherst does send a higher % of students to top law schools. But we have to remember the elements of self-selection to go into law as well as the students we are talking about. Amherst probably has an overall more accomplished student body, and has higher SAT averages than Georgetown which may lead to higher overall LSAT averages. What I am saying is that if the OP is driven and does well, she will be golden for getting into a top law school from Georgetown. Plus, we are only looking at the top two law schools in the nation! It’s not like it’s Yale or Harvard Law or bust.</p>
<p>Cytanke:
“Little bit of a Freudian time slip there but we know what you mean. Georgetown is in a safer neighborhood than Amherst? Really?”</p>
<p>No freudian “time” slip (what that is, I never seen the word time thrown into the phrase “freudian slip” but I could be wrong). I never said Georgetown was in a safer neighborhood than Amherst. Read what I said again. I guess I made it a bit unclear as to whether I was talking about areas in which Georgetown beats Amherst, or just areas that are pros in Georgetown’s corner. Two schools can have the same pro, such as a safe neighborhood. Also, I would consider a school being 20-25 minutes walking distance from downtown DC a part of the HUB of DC. It is definitely not on the outskirts of the HUB as Catholic U and George Mason are. It is not as close to the HUB of DC as George Washington however.</p>
<p>To the OP:
Your request for information has obviously gotten thrown into this crossfire of which school is better. I apologize if I started any of this. I really think both Amherst and Georgetown are amazing schools and that you should focus your decision by looking at the soft factors of each college. Have fun where ever you attend!</p>
<p>You might find it interesting to compare Wikipedia’s lists of notable people associated with the two schools.<br>
For Georgetown:
[List</a> of Georgetown University alumni - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Georgetown_University_alumni]List”>List of Georgetown University alumni - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>For Amherst:
[List</a> of Amherst College people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amherst_College_people]List”>List of Amherst College people - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>“Certainly Amherst kids can get internships as well but as the O.P. is interested in government that factor favors of Georgetown.”</p>
<p>Certainly, not. How many in-term internships in government did Amherst students hold last year? This shouldn’t be a very difficult piece of information to come by.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how “easy” the grading is at either school? I know the work will be challenging at either school, which I want, but I also want to have a good GPA so I can go to law school.</p>
<p>As a follow on to post 41, Georgetown Law typically has over 90 to 100 Georgetown undergrad acceptances in a given year. With all the early assurance programs and with the draw of studying law in Washington and the opportunity to combine work with the graduate programs at SFS (which includes world-class area studies programs as well as the MSFS degree), there is likely a significant runoff of Georgetown undergrads who are potential Harvard and Yale Law attendees. The numerator of “raw number” Georgetown attendees to Harvard and Yale would likely increase from this factor making the percentages between Amherst (a LAC without direct early acceptance to a professional school) closer. This is especially true since Georgetown gives credit for high performance on AP exams which Amherst does not, and many cost conscious overachievers look to begin their professional lives in the fourth year of college, which Georgetown, as a large AP respecting university(with many, if not most, of its top students having significant AP Credit), gives them the opportunity to do. I know that after seven years someone might well love to have a Georgetown BSFS, MSFS and JD while at Amherst she would have a B.A. and JD alone. Georgetown gives this option, and the extent to which it is used would significantly alter the relative numbers.</p>
<p>
38 Georgetown students matriculated at Georgetown Law. Even if **ALL **of them were accepted at Harvard and Yale (extremely unlikely), it still wouldn’t match Amherst if you adjust for size.</p>
<p>[Georgetown</a> Law - Profile of the Entering Class (Admissions)](<a href=“http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admissions/jd_profile.html]Georgetown”>http://www.law.georgetown.edu/admissions/jd_profile.html)</p>
<p>“38 Georgetown students matriculated at Georgetown Law. Even if ALL of them were accepted at Harvard and Yale (extremely unlikely), it still wouldn’t match Amherst if you adjust for size.” - IBClass06</p>
<p>Matriculation rate a pretty useless number when you have rough admit rates:</p>
<p>[Law</a> School Admission Statistics for Georgetown Students (2007/2006)](<a href=“http://careerweb.georgetown.edu/prelaw/applying/61084.html]Law”>Cawley Career Education Center | Georgetown University)</p>
<p>I personally think that going to undergrad that has an associated top law school would be a huge plus, if Harvard and Yale law school admission was not looking good (let’s face it, we are talking as if it is easy to get into any of these school). Georgetown Law favors their own. I think that throwing around admit rates to Harvard and Yale law is silly. They both place well, Amherst places a bit better. End of story on that front. Let’s talk about other stuff for a change.</p>
<p>To the OP: As far as grade inflation/deflation, I can only speak for Georgetown. As a former science major, I personally didn’t experience grade inflation. Sciences at Georgetown are graded rigorously. As far as the humanities and social sciences, Georgetown has been accused of some grade inflation. But Georgetown is certainly, certainly not a walk in the park. If Amherst is as rigorously intense as those on this board say it is, then you may need to put more effort into getting the same GPA at Amherst as you would Georgetown. But I really have no idea what Amherst’s grading is like. Finally, I want to reiterate how much weight law schools put on your GPA and LSAT when they consider your application. I have seen it myself - my girlfriend, a graduate from the SFS, 3.72 GPA in a difficult major. Her first LSAT score of 161 garnered her no admits at any top 35 schools none. Retake and scored a EDIT** 167 (just asked her), two admits to top 14 law schools, schools ranked 18-30 were throwing money at her, but she wound up choosing Georgetown Law. The same happens with GPA (not so much as it does with LSAT scores i believe). You’re GPA is very important to Law Schools.</p>
<p>The early admission to Georgetown law is really tempted because I did horrible on my SATs, so I assume I won’t do too well on the LSATs… Georgetown is playing to my insecurities.</p>
<p>From the original post:
</p>
<p>Do you really care about “most people”? Or do you care about the people who matter most to your career and life?</p>
<p>Amherst definitely is known by law school admissions people. Among people who know academia well, I’d venture to say Amherst has a stronger reputation than Georgetown. Depending of course on whom you ask and how you frame the question.</p>
<p>One rather quirky ranking system is at stateuniversity.com:
[Top</a> 2000 Ranked Universities for Highest Overall School Score](<a href=“http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html]Top”>http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html)
This system (unlike USNWR) places national universities and LACs all in one pot.
It ranks Amherst at #7, Georgetown at #43. </p>
<p>You do have to take stateuniversity.com’s information with a large grain of salt. Some of their rankings go way against the conventional wisdom. I’ve noticed significant factual errors. </p>
<p>A ranking that might be more relevant to your case is WSJ’s ranking of colleges as professional school “feeders”:
<a href=“http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf[/url]”>http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf</a>
Amherst #9, Georgetown #17. Is this ranking sufficiently up to date? Is the spread even significant? Hard to say.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t want to come off as bashing Georgetown. It’s a good school, it’s in the nation’s capital, it has a lot going for it. It really might meet your needs better than Amherst. But please don’t choose it just because you think it’s more prestigious.</p>
<p>Why is prestige such a big thing here on CC?</p>
<p>Georgetown and Amherst will have the same amount of relative prestige across the nation when you factor in different social circles, settings, areas of the country, lay vs. academic. This isn’t Harvard vs. Georgetown tk21769. Georgetown will be known by more people in the nation, that I am sure of. The same number of people in academia will have heard of Georgetown and Amherst.</p>
<p>Vienna man points to something you really should consider. Georgetown is an AP respecting school and Amherst is an AP disrespecting institution. In fact, it might be more accurate to say that Amherst has, for whatever reason one may posit ( lack of high level courses since it is not associated with a larger university, need to gather tuition dollars for a final semester or year, just plain hating a high school advanced studies program since it isn’t as good as Amherst for the basic stuff, etc.) no real use for the AP program at all since it grants no academic credit. If I were coming out of high school today, I would like to have my work recognized so that I could move on to the next professional or graduate school level.</p>
<p>Access to all the five year Masters programs at either SFS (which are ranked the best in the nation) and Georgetown’s MBA program (now ranked in the top 20 by the Financial Times) sure look tantalizing when compared to any liberal arts college, not just Amherst, particularly if you are an AP overachiever.</p>
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<p>Well, right. I presume the OP wants to get behind perceptions of prestige to some objective indicators of quality. If that’s not available, then some expert opinions.</p>
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<p>I’m not sure if we are agreeing or disagreeing.
I’m not denying that the same number of people in academia (i.e. virtually everyone) will have heard of both schools.</p>
<p>This is like comparing a Rolls Royce to an Aston Martin or a Champagne to a Bordeaux. They’ll both get you where want to go, but they will provide you with very different experiences while getting there.</p>
<p>No, we’re comparing a Maybach (Amherst) and a Mercedes Benz (Georgetown) here, since you enjoy car analogies.</p>
<p>Also, blackbird1384, your gf had a superior GPA in a highly selective program. Her difficulties can be attributed to her LSAT score. 167 is on the low side, 25th percentile, for most of the T14. You’re blaming GPA, when your gf’s primary concern had been her LSAT score. You are correct that the two factors taken together are important, but, ultimately, a strong LSAT score is the only must.</p>
<p>You purport to understand how admissions panels interpret (or do not interpret) college GPAs contextually, but unless you’ve worked on a committee yourself, or have read an extensive amount of literature covering law school admissions, it’s unwise to make such generalizations.</p>
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</p>
<p>[Nixon</a> Peabody: Salary Cut Follow Up - Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession](<a href=“http://abovethelaw.com/2009/05/nixon_peabody_salary_cut_follo.php]Nixon”>http://abovethelaw.com/2009/05/nixon_peabody_salary_cut_follo.php)</p>
<p>[Tragic</a> News From Simpson Thacher - Above the Law - A Legal Tabloid - News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession](<a href=“http://abovethelaw.com/2009/05/tragic_news_from_simpson_thach.php]Tragic”>http://abovethelaw.com/2009/05/tragic_news_from_simpson_thach.php)</p>
<p>Just happened a few days ago.<br>
I perused the comments and found a few gems for all the pre-law out there.</p>
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<p>Idk what I would choose if i was in your place. Amherst is a nicer school but I like D.C. and Georgetown has better oppurtunities.</p>
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<p>I’m surprised that Georgetown admit rates to what I would have thought to be second tier law schools such as BC, Colorado, Illinois, Loyola-Chicago, GWU, George Mason, Maryland, WFU are all below 30%. Would that be comparable for schools with equivalent student bodies like Notre Dame, Wesleyan, JHU, CMU?</p>