Is it hard making friends at such a small school? I go to a pretty small high school and its all cliques here. Is it the same way at Amherst? My biggest concern is not finding a group of friends early and feeling left out after that. Also, is it true that its mostly just parties over the weekend? Is there anything for non partiers?
Also is there a club or intramural tennis team? On the club sports page it doesn’t list tennis but says"and more!" so I wasn’t sure if they just didn’t list tennis. The intramural website was also confusing, but I think there is an intramural team. Can someone confirm this?
Parent of a frosh here. My kid’s first and still main friend group is made up of kids in her dorm, especially her floor. I think this is typical, you’re with those kids the most in the first year. Some kids make friends in their orientation group, which is also, I think, the first year seminar class group. Or on the orientation trip or class they choose. All of these have structured activities designed to help kids meet each other. There’s an entire week of orientation stuff before classes begin.
She’s not a varsity athlete but does like sports, and intends to do an intramural sport this winter. Club sports are limited at Amherst because there are so many varsity sports given the # of total students, so they seem to be limited to sports that do NOT exist at varsity level, rather than being a less serious version of an existing varsity sport, as is the case at many larger schools. This page lists some: http://athletics.amherst.edu/information/club_sports - but some no longer exist, like sailing, so check each page for the latest info with dates.
I know intramural soccer was busy this fall with games 3x a week - not sure if all sports listed have neough interest every year but maybe someone else can answer. http://athletics.amherst.edu/information/amherst_intramurals/index
She also has friends from classes, kids she studies with or has lunch with because it’s right after class. She hasn’t had a “clique problem” but observes that sports teams do tend to hang out together. That said, she has at least one good friend who plays on a varsity sports team so it’s not like team members ONLY hang out together.
She did what I suggest any new freshman do: buy a door stop for your dorm door so you can leave it open when you’re there, join any clubs that interest you and DO things. The first few weeks everyone is new and looking to make friends. This may be especially true at a school like Amherst (rather than a school with a more regional draw, like our local state flagship), because few kids will have gone to high school together.
Another facet of Amherst social life is the other 4 colleges. My kid has one class that has kids from each of the other 4 - kids can and do go to the other campuses for classes, to hang out, whatever. That’s a LOT of potential people to meet via classes, clubs that span the campuses and so on.
Weekends. D does a mix of attending parties and other things. There is plenty going on off and on campus on weekends beyond parties. Some clubs (like Special Olympics and Outing club) almost exclusively do their stuff on weekends. D has only left campus for the weekend once, on fall break (a long weekend). Her main problem is fitting in everything she wants to do - there just isn’t enough time for everything.
Hope that helps.
“The first few weeks everyone is new and looking to make friends. This may be especially true at a school like Amherst (rather than a school with a more regional draw, like our local state flagship), because few kids will have gone to high school together.”
This is spot on. Amherst is small and draws from all over the country. The 469 students in this class came from 396 different high schools. When everyone arrives at college with no prior friends or cliques, it is really easy to make friends. My D is on a varsity team, but her friends group includes people on her floor, people in her orientation group and freshman seminar, people in her Chemistry class that formed a study group, her teammates, and her teammates’ roommates.
I can’t seem to find an intramural tennis, but I would be interested in basketball and soccer. If I never played soccer in high school, would it still be ok to play intramural soccer? I know intramural is the lowest level, but are most people still really good?
D said some IM soccer teams were very serious and some weren’t at all.
“I can’t seem to find an intramural tennis, but I would be interested in basketball and soccer. If I never played soccer in high school, would it still be ok to play intramural soccer? I know intramural is the lowest level, but are most people still really good?”
The main point on intramurals is to have fun with your friends. Years ago in college and grad school, I played intramural soccer, basketball and softball. I had never played any of them before except in my backyard as a kid. And I was truly horrible, especially at softball. Didn’t matter. My friends were good sports and let me play with them and we had fun.