<p>I recently found Amherst and it’s caught my eye due to its small size and incredible financial aid reputation, combined with the fact that it offers Astronomy, which is what I want to major in. However, I am put off and scared by the fact that on the astronomy major home page, it says:</p>
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<p>Link: <a href=“https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/astronomy/major[/url]”>https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/astronomy/major</a></p>
<p>Now, I’m not saying I’m definately going to graduate school, but it’s a possibility, and this statement makes me think that the program is lacking. Amherst seems really nice, but I want to go somewhere that I’ll get a good education.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience in Amherst’s astronomy department, or even just the physical sciences departments in general (mostly Physics and Chemistry). Thank you SO much, in advance!</p>
<p>Astronomy is known to be a joke department with easy A’s. Physics is supposed to be very difficult, and Chem is tough, but offers TONS of help, review, etc., and has excellent professors.</p>
<p>What about astronomy classes in the 5 colleges system?</p>
<p>My understanding is that Amherst College only offers introductory courses in Astronomy. These courses alone are insufficient for grad school, as the Astronomy major webpage explicitly states.</p>
<p>Amherst students who want more advanced astronomy courses can take them at other local schools through the collaborative [“Five</a> College Astronomy Department”](<a href=“http://www.astro.umass.edu/index.php?id=fcad]"Five”>Astronomy at UMass Amherst : Department of Astronomy : UMass Amherst). So it should be possible to graduate from Amherst with a perfectly respectable astronomy degree. However, you will have to take more courses off-campus than most other Amherst students do.</p>