Amherst College Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at Amherst College accurate?

Tristan

Yes.

Chelsea

I think the reason it's hard for students on campus to have relationships isn't actually because we're bad at it, but because it's such a small school, so we have limited choices.

Terry

There are a lot of studious kids

Sasha

They are absolutely exaggerated. Amherst students are fairly typical of college students generally and liberal arts college students in particular. There is more diversity on campus than people give it credit for and people are more tolerant than you may hear. As for stereotypes about athletes, etc, they are just a misunderstanding. I think that people who don't play a sport hear that someone is a recruited athlete and automatically assume that person is far less intelligent when in fact even just from casual observation I would say athletes tend to be at least as smart and hardworking in school as the average Amherst student.

Rebecca

No, these stereotypes are not correct. Yes, the people who play sports here are smart, but they do not fit the "jock" stereotype. People who do and do not play sports mingle here much more than is thought

Alexander

Many of them are rich and preppy; many of them are not. There is no sense of exclusion from groups, however, based on one's background. The people who claim Amherst students aren't intellectually interesting are the ones who are not interesting. My friends come from every part of campus life (jocks, nerds, artists, intellectuals, etc), and nobody has ever turned away from a debate because they're uninterested. I find that most students are highly intelligent and will readily engage you in discussion on any number of topics. Those who say otherwise have simply cornered themselves in a minority niche of uninteresting people, and have made no effort to make other friends in the college community.

Red

Not at all. While we may be elitisit, we are not elitist about our background or to eachother, but instead elitist about our school. We are proud that we go to Amherst, and we do not like to keep it quiet. THe kids here are also extremely diverse, both racially and economically, thanks to our new, hip president Tony Marx (he is an icon on campus).

Brett

for the most part no

Dylan

Not really...part of the student body is made up of rich white kids, but Amherst works hard to attain not only racial but also socio-economic diversity. The financial aid is generous enough that it can be hard to tell that some students come from low-income backgrounds, because they don't necessarily have to work more while at Amherst.

Jack

The smart one is and the other two not really but some people are like that, but you'll find that at all places