Amherst College Top Questions

The campus is pretty intellectual. There isn't too much competition between students, which is nice. Most humanities classes are discussion. Everything is taught by professors, which is great. Most are eager to meet with students outside of class, and some try to take part in extra-curricular activities. There's no core curriculum at Amherst, which is amazing. It means that few people are taking classes that they aren't interested in, which is better for both students and faculty.

If one must decide on a single aspect of Amherst that sets it apart from its peers, it is on its academics. Famous for its lack of a core curriculum, Amherst students bear the freedom and responsibility to choose any class at any time. While I have seen some students abuse this privilege by taking only "gut" or easy courses, others truly take advantage of this by trying subjects that they would normally have been restricted from due to distribution requirements at similar schools. The school definitely fosters the image of producing humanities and social science majors--probably from the relative well-spokenness of Amherst students. However, the biology, neuroscience, and psychology departments are quite renowned. More so than just the actual subject matters, the professors themselves are one of the central reasons to attend Amherst. Not only are they accessible, but they actually enjoy student interaction. Additionally, you are never taught by TAs at Amherst.

The competition between students varies depending on class year. In my class year, there is not much competition between students, we tend to compete with ourselves. I think everyone has a sense of what they are able to accomplish and not meeting our own expectations is the biggest letdown.