<p>What is it like for women in math the sciences at Amherst? Are they encouraged?</p>
<p>Is there a big LGBT community there? Is it very preppy?</p>
<p>Any information on these subjects would be appretiated!</p>
<p>-There are plenty of women science majors, esp. in bio and chem. They tend to be highly motivated, and though I haven't noticed any overt encouragement, they're definitely not discouraged. It works out fine.
ETA: I have no idea about women math majors; I suspect there are few. Ditto for Physics and Comp Sci.</p>
<p>-It's a school of about 1700 students, so... no, I wouldn't say the LGBT community is large. It exists, and the student org. has moderately well-attended events. It's not nearly as prominent as at Smith, for example.</p>
<p>-I suspect that almost every LAC is going to have preps, but I'm still not 100% sure what preppiness is-- wealth? snobbiness? or a style of dress? Compared to people at my (public) high school, Amherst students are (on average) smarter and very slightly nicer. Nice doesn't equal outgoing/going out of their way to make new friends all the time, but if approached in a non-weird way, most are pleasant. (I'm from the Northeast, so this is totally normal for me.) Some students come from super-wealthy families; many don't. My hs was not terribly cliquey, and neither is Amherst, I think. People tend to hang out with certain other people because they like them and/or because it's convenient, but these groups are all really interconnected/porous.</p>
<p>I agree with blue129. I'm not a science person so I can't speak to gender ratios, but those I know in math and the sciences (both male and female) are very happy with the departments.</p>
<p>The LGBT community at Amherst is not numerically very huge, but is reasonably active, holding parties and having institutional support and such. Non-LGBT students also, as a rule, are very tolerant. There's also a very large community in the 5 colleges, with Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire all having large LGBT communities and supportive student bodies.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what you mean by "preppy". Are there people who come from wealth and went to expensive prep schools before coming to Amherst? Yes, there are some. Do they flaunt their wealth and generally act like snobs? Definitely not. Most people are pretty relaxed when it comes to the social scene. If there is some kind of social rat race, I haven't seen it. Nor would I care about it if I had.</p>