Hello there, I have been admitted to Amherst and am attending this fall. I know the more commonly known positives and negatives of Amherst (small class sizes, intimate environment, lowkey social scene, etc.), but what are the lesser-known advantages or disadvantages of Amherst? Thank you!
First off, congratulations!!
Current student here, and I’m here to talk food. You will hear people complaining about the food all the time, but I think we are just too spoiled as Amherst students. There is only one actual dining hall (nicknamed Val), so lines can get very long and seats hard to find at peak hours. The food isn’t world-class, but IMO it’s very decent for college dining. Haters gonna hate. Fast facts: The main entrees have a roughly two-week rotation. So while there’s decent variety overall, you have few entree options per meal. There are vegetarian/vegan/allergy-sensitive options. Salad bar greens are locally grown, sometimes straight from our own Book and Plow Farm. The dining staff try their best, but cultural foods (Asian cuisine etc.) can be pretty butchered at times. It is what it is.
Schwemms café is a late-night snack shack that’s great for study breaks and hangouts, but be prepared to empty your AC Dollars for those mozzarella sticks (it’s something like 5 sticks for $6). During the day Schwemms is also the location for Grab-n-Go, a necessity for students who have classes back-to-back around lunchtime but also a worthwhile visit if Val sucks that day. There are other cafés in Frost Library and the new science building if you want to get coffee, snacks, and other foodstuffs.
If you have friends at UMass, take advantage of their many guest swipes (15 per semester) and have a meal with them at Berkshire and Hampshire halls (Berkshire was (still is?) one of the nation’s top college dining halls).
If you plan to dine out at some point, Amherst town has a great variety restaurants, and Northampton right across the Connecticut River has an even wider selection.
I can go on and on. Please let me know if you have any specific questions, regarding food or other topics.
I’m shocked. State U down the street is voted best campus eats in the country a couple of years running and elite, expensive Amherst College serves mundane fare? Shocked, I tell you. Shocked!
OTOH, I understand that the old frat houses now provide single room housing for seniors. Is that true?
The Emily Dickinson museum is must-visit. So is seeing the film, “Wild Nights with Emily”, featuring SNL’s Molly Shannon. It gives a whole new meaning to her poetry, which was written right there in Amherst.
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@Bill Marsh yep, that’s how things are. I think Val’s offerings are generally quite delicious compared to the food I’ve had at other colleges. Lack of variety seems to be the main complaint people have. If the daily lunch entreé happens to be horrible, you don’t have a ton of other options. In fact, Grab-n-Go regularly has better sandwiches/rolls than whatever Val is serving. This isn’t an issue at UMass. Not everything is amazing at Berk, but I can simply avoid the unappetizing entrees and go for the others.
I will say, though, good Val days are goooood. Chicken tenders lunch and wings night are always massive hits. Their salmon is surprisingly fantastic. Clam chowder and mushroom brie are my favorite soups there. Thai grilled beef and Kalbi ribs are hit-or-miss depending on who you ask, but I love them. Sometimes the (non-salmon) fish and cooked veggies provide pleasant surprises, and you can never go wrong with salad. Once in a blue moon we get prime rib and lobster rolls. The daily special pizzas are quirky but phenomenal. Aside: people rave about Antonio’s downtown. I think their pizza is great and worth a try just for the novelty experience, but it’s waaay overpriced when you can have some nice, all-you-can-eat pizza on campus.
Frats are in such distant memory that I don’t even know which buildings are old frat houses. Maybe what you say is true 20 years ago, but today no dorm is specifically reserved for seniors. Incidentally, the residence halls King and Wieland contain only singles and mostly house seniors. Housing selection is a weird lottery system where seniors get priority, so they usually call dibs on these two newer buildings (built circa 2004) with nice interiors and spacious rooms.
All seniors and many juniors can easily get single room housing. Sometimes sophomores also get lucky in the room draw process. Even first-years have a shot if you file for special accommodations (medical conditions, etc). All dorms have heat in the winter, but the Greenway dorms are the only ones with air conditioning. September heat waves can be pretty brutal everywhere else.
The old frat houses are now either theme houses or regular dorms. D lived in one her final year and it was a beautiful single, but there were also some doubles in there. She lived in a different one the summer she stayed on campus for an internship, and that one was also beautiful. She actually had a single all 4 years except the first two they were “two room doubles” which meant her roomie walked through to access her side. They’re (still) good friends so no biggie.
I loved Val food every single time I ate there but I didn’t eat it everyday. Plenty of local stuff used and there were great healthy delicious things in addition to pizza, burgers, fries etc. If you take a class at UMass (or Smith, etc) anywhere near lunchtime you get to eat a meal there.
I don’t know if it’s lesser known or not but my D got a lot of help with summer (and winter) internships and her job search. She went to the career center first semester and got set up for Amherst Select, brought in her resume for help, all that.
She graduated last year.