What do Amherst grads do after graduation?

<p>I’ve been accepted and am thinking of majoring in Political Science, Economics, History, English or a combination thereof. What kind of job or graduate school opportunities might I have upon graduation? Thanks.</p>

<p>yea...i'd like to know this too, if anyone has any stats :)</p>

<p>Amherst</a> College > Admission > After Amherst</p>

<p>Lots of people every year get into top grad schools or jobs at top firms.</p>

<p>Here's Wikipedia:</a>
[quote]
Although a small college, Amherst has many accomplished alumni, including Nobel, Crafoord Prize and Lasker Award laureates, MacArthur Fellowship and Pulitzer Prize winners, National Medal of Science and National Book Award recipients, and Academy, Tony, and Emmy Award winners; a U.S. President, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, three Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives, a U.S. Poet Laureate, legal architect of Brown v Board of Education, and inventor of the blood bank; leaders in science, religion, politics, the Peace Corps, medicine, law, education, communications, and business; as well as acclaimed actors, architects, artists, astronauts, engineers, human rights activists, inventors, musicians, philanthropists, and writers.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I've looked on their site extensively before, but haven't found any stats. If a current or former student would be willing to share what he/she knows from experience, it would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Catfish and I are both current students. I know quite a few kids who are going to work for big-name finance firms in New York like JP morgan. Many are going to grad school or medical school or law school. Some are taking a year off and then going to school and just doing random stuff for a year (like live in a foreign country and practice a language). Some are going to teach in inner-city schools. </p>

<p>Med, Finance, Law + other are the main four
other is usually like working for a non-profit or teaching or something like that</p>

<p>CRD456 has it right. I would just clarify that "Finance" includes both IBanking and management consulting.</p>

<p>Thank you for the replies. I have 1 more question though: does it matter what your major is when looking for a good job from Amherst? I'd like to go to law school upon graduation, but don't have the money so I will need to work for awhile b4 I attend an graduate school. I also won't be able to afford to work for a non-profit or take a year off. I'm currently trying to convince my parents that I can just as easily get a job after graduating from Amherst with a degree in poli sci. as I can with a degree in finance from a place like Wharton.</p>

<p>Hmm, I questioned I wondered myself in the not too distant past. Wharton is really tough to turn down if you are sure you want to go into finance. Yet, I would caution that you should be pretty sure you want to do finance and be aware of the atmosphere of Wharton. One of the things I like about Amherst is the laid-back atmosphere. The only pressure on me is pressure that I put on myself. There is no cutthroat atmosphere that exists here that I've heard about from a few people I know at Wharton. I would say that Wharton will have more opportunities for you in finance. However, if you do well here (or at Wharton or Brown or Williams or etc), you will have good job opportunities. I think a benefit of Amherst (or any LAC or non-business) is that you can major in history or polysci and leave options open if you want to go to law school later on, but also could get a finance job if you did well here. It would be harder I would imagine to go to law school after going to Wharton and working in finance for a few years. Most kids who do that usually go get their MBA after a few years working.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. I only used Wharton as an example because its supposed to be the best of the business world as Amherst is the best of the liberal arts world. I was waitlisted at Wharton, so I won't be going there any time soon, but it looks like I will be coming to Amherst, and hopefully my parents will get over the fact that I'm not becoming an accountant any time in the near future.</p>

<p>Also, don't feel the need to major in poli sci because you want to go to law school. Law school admissions is much much more dependent on your GPA and LSAT scores than your major. It's best that you major in something that you like so you are more likely to do well.</p>

<p>Amherst's pre-med guide is very vague when it speaks of medical school acceptances from Amherst. I would've assumed as long as you do reasonably well at Amherst you would get into a high quality medical school but the guide makes it seem not so. Can you provide any insight into Amherst as a pre-med school CRD or Catfish?</p>

<p>This might be a little off-topic, but someone wrote that they didn't think they could afford to work for a non-profit. Amherst has very generous programs for those kinds of summer jobs/internships. If you take an unpaid internship for a registered non-profit, the college will compensate you with money for housing, food, travel, and a stipend. More info here: <a href="https://cms.amherst.edu/academiclife/cce/citizen_summer_program%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://cms.amherst.edu/academiclife/cce/citizen_summer_program&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Do those finance jobs you guys are talking about require you to have connections in order to get them? I mean, my parents are far from wealthy and have no connections with elite people or anything like that.</p>

<p>create your own path. anything mass produced is of limited value, anyway. a friend, who majored in math, went into the peace corps in africa (to teach) after graduation and after his return decided to become an accountant and passed the c.p.a exam. now he's is a partner in a regional c.p.a. firm and extremely happy with the balance he has achieved in life. the moral of this story--- he was a nimble thinker and had the confidence to navigate anything put in front of him. this is what a good liberal arts education can provide. wealth and connections are secondary. relying on one's self to succeed is primary. good luck.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Do those finance jobs you guys are talking about require you to have connections in order to get them? I mean, my parents are far from wealthy and have no connections with elite people or anything like that.

[/quote]

Amherst is that connection. Certainly it wouldn't hurt if your uncle is the CEO of Goldman Sachs, but it's not necessary by any means.</p>

<p>"relying on one's self to succeed is primary." </p>

<p>Morandi - great insight, but that is the truth - plain and simple. I am a parent of a junior and that is all I am trying to make sure my D get's in her education - the preparation to be able to rely on one's self to be independent & successful.</p>

<p>Amherst or any other strong LA program should be able to do that very well. I always believe that the benefits of a strong liberal arts education works in the background of your mind in ways that you don't even realize!</p>

<p>Great comment !</p>