Amherst College Visit Report by wrldtravlr

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - Small info session with admissions rep and student around the very table featured on NPR's "Behind the Scenes" feature about the process. Lots of good information and answered all ques

Campus Tour: Yes - Great tour guide; seems like we saw the entire campus, though Amherst does have 1000 acres. Good personal anecdotes, volunteered email address for further questions.

Classroom Visit: No - Summer Visit

---

Campus:

---

School was set to start in a few days, some students around. DS thought they seemed very friendly, cool, athletic, fun. The ones in the admissions office were all goofing around with each other.

---

Only experience was admissions rep who gave the talk, and the students at the admission office. All seemed extremely friendly, though admissions rep came across as a little bit elitist.

---

Gorgeous campus; looks just like the admissions literature; really, everything looked like a picture postcard. Beautiful mountain views.

---

See above. Everything looks absolutely beautiful.

---

Saw 2 2-person dorm rooms in Pratt. Inside the building looked like a Colorado ski lodge. The rooms were gigantic. Tour guide said it was a pretty average room; some were better, some were worse.

---

They have security, and I think they have chaperones if needed. Amherst doesn't look like an unsafe area, except maybe to watch out for those other college students.

---

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. The quintessential New England LAC.

---

Off-Campus:

---

Within walking distance of downtown Amherst.

---

A nice, laid-back downtown with restaurants, some odd shops (typewriter shop). There has to be more, but we didn't see anything but the town square area. It seemed ok, but kind of boring.

Campus Visit Notes for Amherst College

Visit Description:

Fairly small (compared to Ivies), intimate information session around a conference table. I thought it was interesting that some of the parents muscled their way to the conference table to sit with their kids, leaving other prospective students on the outer ring of chairs (for the parents), which made it a little more difficult to participate for them, as the information session was completely directed to the students at the table.

Admissions officer was somewhat elitist and academic, but nice, very much an ivory tower feeling. Hadn't gotten that vibe at any of the Ivies we visited. They push the consortium quite a bit, but I got the impression that Amherst is used by the other colleges much more than the Amherst students use the other colleges.

They do appear to have loads of money, and they are not afraid to spend it on their students.

Campus was beyond gorgeous; I bet they film lots of movies there. Freshman are not allowed to have cars. They only have 1 dining hall; I thought this was a negative, but the tour guide liked it because there it is the social gathering spot, and there is always someone to eat with. It would have been nice to see the town with all the Amherst and U-Mass students around, because I'm sure it was much, much different. DS liked the town, it didn't appeal much to me.

Hotel/Lodging Recommendations or Comments:

We stayed at the Clarion Hotel in Northampton, which was about 8 miles away. Very quiet, but there are closer hotels.

Dining/Restaurant Recommendations or Comments:

Dinner at Miss Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant, downtown; good food.

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

Easy parking right in front of admissions office.