Amherst College Top Questions

Many of the students (about 1/3) are athletes, so that is their main extracurricular. However, there are plenty of groups on campus for non-athletes (and athletes as well), and most students participate in multiple activities/groups. Popular groups include the school newspaper, investment club, one of the many singing groups, radio, and a variety of other opportunities...

To be honest the social life kind of sucks. People can be a little awkward. Probably because each person is so different in their makeups and goals in life. Which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. I say it makes for interesting conversation.

I met my closest friends through my sports team and in my dorm. You really meet your core friends in your freshman dorm. Since there is no greek life, the sports teams tend to create the party scene, but the parties are always open to everyone. The pressure to drink is not that strong because people do not put the pressure on you to drink if you don't feel like it. If I'm awake at 2 am on a tuesday, which i usually am, I'm in the common room hanging out with a few other people from my dorm.

Guest lectures are really good and informative, and high-profile ones get lots of crowd. A capella performances are very popular. 2am on a Tuesday, definitely working or trying to work while chatting and fooling around with friends. Frats exist off-campus, but they are not all that....noticeable or significant, or that's how they seem to me. There is definitely a significant minority of people who do not drink regularly. I respect their choice and most Amherst kids do.

A cappella groups are really big here. Partying is a big deal but it's certainly not the only choice on a Saturday night. There are frats but they're kind of underground. Hooking up is totally standard, unfortunately for the monogamously minded.

A Cappella, and singing in general in choirs/glee clubs/etc are HUGE at Amherst. However, there are many other things students to do. There's a new Center for Community Engagement for students interested in community services, several tutoring groups for helping local poor high school/middle school students, a very vibrant jazz scene (many jazz bands/ensembles), several NCAA athletic teams obviously (30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the school competes here), intramural basketball is quite popular, a zillion publications (literary reviews, humor magazines, journals of punditry), an outing club to kayak/hike/ski/climb through the great outdoors around here, a popular improv comedy group, religious groups (ie Hillel with Friday Night Shabbat), cultural groups (ie German House with its popular weekly coffee), and so much more a student can do here. I was involved with a magazine called the Indicator as co-editor-in-chief. We collected submissions of Maureen Dowd-esque 800-1600 words opinion pieces to print in the campus journal of social and political thought. The bi-weekly publication also had a popular humor section in the back with cartoons, mock advertisments, etc. Students in dorms tend to leave their doors open. Amherst is a pretty trusting place. Basketball is extremely popular at Amherst because of the great success of the team. Football is somewhat popular. Other sports aren't that well attended. We get speakers on topics as diverse as physics, philosophy, geology, fine arts, and religion. We've had CIA directors and Supreme Court justice. A speaker can be found just about every day so most talks aren't that well attended. However, controversial speakers (ie John Bolton and Ann Coulter) can drew several hundred students. There are a few students very involved and in love with theater at Amherst. However, at the singing college, there is generally little interest in theater here. The casual dating scene is, unlike at a big university, pretty non-existent at Amherst. There is a very vibrant hookup scene, especially within the athletic community. Moreover, there are a few very close relationship (I have a few friends who are engaged!). Basically, people at Amherst are either basically married or basically "f***-buddies". There's little in between. It'd be somewhat socially out of place here to ask someone out to a Friday night movie. I met most of my closest friends through freshman orientation/freshman housing. And I'd say that's how most friends here meet. However, I met other close friends through random occurrences such as meeting through a mutual acquaintance or a sports economics class. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday I'm either studying or having a late-night conversation with my roommates about anything ranging from women to philosophy over some late night beers. There are many annual traditions. There's a spring concert, spring carnival, spring formal, homecoming game, luau party, "Hollywood" party, the "endless summer" party, Crossett Christmas, and, of course, D3 March Madness. I'd say most people party here on Friday and Saturday exclusively. The more adventurous do Thursday too. And, for seniors, Wednesday is bar night. Frats/sororities don't have many brothers/sisters. (They're all underground) However, for the people who join them, they can provide a community and great relationships (and, of course, hazing). The standard Amherst Saturday is crowding into a Triangle/Social Dorm party with hundreds of other drunk kids, finding the keg, getting the last drops of bad Natty Ice, and coming back either disappointed (for not hooking up) or disappointed the next morning (for having a great morning, but hangover and awkward week coming up). However, though drinking is dominant here, there is a substance free scene here. Plus, there are always plays/concerts/poetry jams/etc. on the weekends. Amherst Cinema, a great artsy theater, is walking distance, and, for me at least, often a great weekend excursion. Most people tend to stick to all the stuff to do on-campus. However, Northampton is a cute little town that's only 45 min away, Boston's only 2 hr away and NY's only 3 hrs away and can provide great relief. For me, the great nature of the Pioneer Valley was my escape from Amherst. The Connecticut provides great kayaking/canoeing opportunites, the Deerfield is a great place to tube, and there are many great places around here to rock climb/ski/hike.

All Amherst parties are open to the entire campus. You will never be turned away from a party. There is a fair amount drinking at parties, but you never pressure to do anything you don't want to do. There are large college-sponsered parties that get the whole campus together. Athletic teams are very inclusive set up a lot of the parties. The vast majority of the campus drinks, and goes out between 1 and 3 time per week. There is not a big drug scene at Amherst. For sober fun their are tons of options. Movies on big screens, video games in dorms, exciting sports, theater, dance, music shows all the time, a good campus center, and a fun town. Girls seeking guys have it real good at Amherst, with a high proportion of good-looking, athletic, smart, confident males. Males can find pretty, fun, confident girls at Amherst, Holyoke, and Smith. There is dating on campus as well as random hook-ups.

Freshman year everyone leaves their doors open and talks to everyone on their hall. Often the kids in your hall freshman year will be some of your closest friends for the next four years. After Freshman year people are certainly social, and you definitely make more friends, but things are a little less open. There are always parties going on on the weekends and often during the week, but I would hardly say that Amherst is a big party school. Most kids go out may two or three times a week and the level of drinking varies from student to student.

There are no fraternities at Amherst anymore. Rumors of underground fraternities exist, but anyone caught anyone found to be in a fraternity is in big trouble. That said, many students go out to drink and party a lot. The amount of partying varies: some people go out once every weekend, others even less, but some start parying on Wednesday and go on til Sunday. There are some social circles which do not drink, and the substance free dorms form really tight communities. As far as the dating thing, it depends. Some people are looking for relationships, others aren't. There are plenty of drunken hook-ups at/after parties, but there are also a fair number of actual relationships as well. The 5-college area (Amherst, UMass, Hampshire, Smith, Mt. Holyoke) provides plenty of events, including some really great theatrical performances and concerts. (including Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, Fat Joe, Evanescence, and Third Eye Blind among others this past year) Some athletic events are also very popular, and UMass almost made the NCAA tournament this year. Any Amherst-Williams game is a big event, since the two schools have one of the oldest rivalries in the nation. We HATE Williams up in here.

Ultimate Frisbee is the coolest group on campus. Best people you'll ever meet.