Which college should I pick between Dartmouth and Amherst (Not Umass Amherst) if I want to study AI?

[OHMomof2]

There is one AI course at Amherst but it’s not offered every semester and it’s only a 200 level course anyway. Machine Learning also at Amherst and Smith, more regularly at the latter.

@Coloradomama does that mean engineering classes cannot count for the Amherst College degree

Correct. Amherst doesn’t offer engineering thus engineering courses don’t count - neither would nursing courses, or business courses or anything else specific to a vocation/profession. It is possible certain engineering type courses would be accepted as electives (which at Amherst is everything outside the major). But exceptions cn be made. See this older page for info - https://waloinaz.people.amherst.edu/engineering.html

However, there is a certain flexibility of interpretation that makes this rule a bit less restrictive than it sounds.** If an Amherst College academic department will certify to the Registrar that a comparable course could, at least in principle, have been taught in that department, the Registrar will usually award credit for the course even if it’s taught in an engineering department.** The content of a great many undergraduate engineering courses is similar to that of science and math courses (although the emphasis and some of the techniques may differ), it is often the case that an undergraduate engineering course can be certified by some related Amherst College academic department. For example, fluid dynamics has (to my knowledge) never been taught in the physics department at Amherst College but is regularly taught in the UMass mechanical engineering department. However, since fluid dynamics could in principle be taught in the physics department, since it is physics broadly construed, the Amherst College physics department will usually approve it for Amherst credit. On the other hand, the Introduction to Engineering course taught in many UMass engineering departments will not be approved for Amherst College credit (the same it true for most business courses).

Also what about priority in crowded computer science classes at U Mass, is that a problem at U Mass right now? Can OP can get into CS classes at U Mass easily , as a cross registered student?.

That’s a very good question. I am not sure how priority works with 5C students vs UMass students. It’s clear CS majors get first whack, but CS majors from any of the 5 or just UMass? Not sure.

[ucbalumnus]

The social environments could also be different. For example, Dartmouth has a very heavy fraternity and sorority presence, while Amherst students are prohibited from joining them.

[merc81]

@Coloradomama

[Amherst] has only 4 CS professors

With one professor returning from leave, Amherst’s CS department appears to support six faculty.

https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/computer_science/faculty

[Mastadon]

UMass now offers good merit for out of state applicants. It is controversial among the locals.
https://www2.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/05/28/majority-merit-scholarship-money-umass-amherst-goes-out-state-students/H4gnC393OU4WehYfEBcpVM/story.html

[Mastadon]

@ucbalumnus

The social environments could also be different. For example, Dartmouth has a very heavy fraternity and sorority presence, while Amherst students are prohibited from joining them.

The “Animal House” environment at Dartmouth includes more than the Fraternities. They are embroiled in yet another scandal. It has been all over the papers on the East Coast. This was the final straw for me. I can no longer recommend Dartmouth, period.

The 72-page complaint, which seeks class-action status, describes an academic department where heavy drinking, misogyny, and sexual harassment were normalized. It says that the three professors — Todd F. Heatherton, William M. Kelley, and Paul J. Whalen — “leered at, groped, sexted,” and “intoxicated” students. One former student alleges she was raped by Kelley, and a current student alleges she was raped by Whalen. Dartmouth ended a Title IX investigation after the professors left, and, as far as the complainants could tell, did not attempt to examine how the abuse occurred or how it could be prevented it from happening again, according to the complaint.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Dartmouth-Allowed-3-Professors/245095

[lostaccount]

Amherst would be the nicer option.

[Mastadon]

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@coloradomama

Apparently, MIT no longer has the most advanced undergraduate curriculum in the greater Cambridge area.
Artificial Intelligence is one four “focus areas” at Tufts.
https://engineering.tufts.edu/cs/current-students/ba-and-bs/focus-area-AI.

Stanford also has a “track” for AI
https://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/Tracks.shtml

But, more importantly, UMass offers it as one of 10 “tracks” (I guess that drops MIT to number 3 in Massachusetts)
https://www.cics.umass.edu/ugrad-education/concentrations

[Mastadon]

@coloradomama

I expect that MIT will be catching up soon. They are planning on spending $1B to create an entire college of artificial intelligence. The build-out starts next fall.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/mit-college-artificial-intelligence.html

[Mastadon]

@ohiomomof2

Amherst college follows the strict definition of classical liberal arts education - as defined in the Yale Report of 1828 -no professional programs at the undergrad level. Computer Science is a sort of hybrid major. Amherst has a computer science department and at UMass Amherst, Computer Science is in a college of its own, not in the College of Engineering. I think that there is a strong possibility that computer science courses may not be covered by the rule you stated above, but it should be checked.

[OHMomof2]

@Mastadon didn’t see this since you tagged the wrong person

CS courses from elsewhere in the 5c are allowed. I know this firsthand.

However Machine Learning and AI are offered in Math/Statistics departments at some 5cs.