| mistofolis- I hope you will have a chance to visit before making a decision, whether that's next spring after you've been admitted to both, or sooner. There are some differences that may only appear in an in person visit.
My S fully expected to prefer Amherst over Williams for a number of reasons prior to visiting, and I expected him to also. He liked the 5-college consortium and especially the idea of two women's colleges nearby. Upon visiting and talking to people at Amherst, he felt the consortium would be less of a draw for him than he had orginally thought it would be. The tourguide at Amherst said it was kind of a pain to take the bus to the other campuses, even though it was free. I know people who've gone to Amherst and have taken full advantage of the consortium and found it a really valuable addition to the experience, but my S felt that the logistics (like added complications in scheduling classes) might discourage him from taking advantage of it based on what the tourguide said. You will know yourself and how likely you'd be to take advantage of the consortium.
I think the choice is largely a matter of personal preference, and a lot of it boils down to a general "feel" of the campus and the school, something that is hard to capture through statistics and basic information about the schools. |