Amherst College

Academics

An open curriculum and a focus on undergraduates are the foundations of the Amherst College education, where approximately 1,850 students choose their own intellectual path from 41 majors, numerous research opportunities, and additional classes and resources available from other members of the Five College Consortium. It’s an “academically rigorous undergraduate education,” but there are multiple resource centers to foster awareness and help students “continue and worship our identities” as well, including the Center for International Student Engagement, Women’s and Gender Center, Multicultural Resource Center, Queer Resource Center, and Center for Diversity & Student Leadership. The “open curriculum offers the student a perfect level of curricular control over their own education,” and students can supplement this with “fully-funded field trips or interesting guest lecturers” and a “plethora of research opportunities for undergraduates.” Students still need to declare a major and fulfill the requirements, but they find the open curriculum “gives you so much space and freedom to take a variety of classes at this liberal arts college.”

Faculty at Amherst “always leave their door open” with “ridiculously extensive and lenient office hours,” and small class sizes further encourage “strong relationships with professors.” They “help you think of paper topics, read drafts, and give active feedback.” One student shares, “My professors have treated me like family—literally, I have been invited over for dinner…and academically and professionally pushed and helped to do my best.” Classes are mainly “small group discussions that require students to teach other students,” and students have the opportunity to engage in a variety of subjects with “different perspectives through collaboration.”

Student Body

The people on this “fairly diverse campus” are “a collection of different ethnicities, gender identities, sexual preferences, and various background lives.” Students find that “personalities and interests vary widely,” but believe “everyone at Amherst has a story” and “everyone has a space.” Amherst students are incredibly generous and “help each other because they want the best for one another.” Overall, people are “academically and intellectually engaged and curious,” and they “collaborate because they know that it’s the best way to learn.” The busy nature of the school and the “quite varied interests” of the student body naturally create peers who seek eclectic experiences: “No one is just a football player or a violinist; they are also a singer or an [on-campus organization’s] senator,” one student offers as an example.

Campus Life

The packed weekdays at Amherst follow a pretty standard formula: “Go to class. Work. Generally participate in at least one activity a day. Study. Socialize. Repeat.” That socializing takes many forms: “People see movies, bowl, and hike,” but they also just hang out in the campus center. They also fill their time “cooking, spending time in town or in neighboring towns or cities,” and going to recitals. Students here “are constantly moving and busy with packed schedules that encompass a variety of activities,” and when the weather cooperates, “people will be found lounging in the grassy quads, playing Frisbee, [and] going out to nearby towns or ponds [and] mini-beaches.” On the weekends, students attend “parties at night and events during the day, [including] sporting events.” Most who attend call the campus home—97 percent of those enrolled live on campus.