Amherst or Cornell

momof3sons
Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:03:32 +0000

eron,
It is usually hard for parents of international applicants to look beyond the “Ivy League.” I can tell you that my older S (now a senior in college) went to an independent high school in NY which is considered to be one of the finest in this country. He was at the top of his class in that high school, and when he was looking at colleges he resisted the temptation to only look at Ivy League schools and instead focused on the small LAC’s such as Amherst and Swarthmore. The director of college counseling at his high school told him that he would not get a finer UNDERGRADUATE education anywhere in the country than he would at Amherst and Swarthmore. Try not to be swayed by what you perceive to be “prestige.” The questions are what type of atmosphere you would be best suited to learn in and what you hope to do after college.