Amherst vs. Dartmouth

haon
Sat, 19 Feb 2005 13:02:28 +0000

I’d go to Amherst over Dartmouth–
there are no frats, fewer people smoke (a surprisingly large number of people at Dmouth smoke), you’re going to have a TRUE liberal arts college experience, and you won’t run into anyone going to Amherst largely because it is an Ivy.

On the subject of drinking at Colleges…I think you should be concerned about Dartmouth, but none of the other schools. Everyone doesn’t participate in mid-week drinking at Dartmouth, but it’s certainly commonplace. This is not the case at Amherst or Williams. At Amherst, Thursday and Saturday are big parties nights and people will often also party on Fridays. At Williams, Friday and Saturday are the bigger party nights, but people do party on Thursdays (although it’s a significant minority of students).

Drinking’s somewhat of a problem at ALL colleges in this country (in the sense that a significant portion of college-aged students are drinking underage, often in an irresponsible and potentially dangerous manner). Is drinking more of a problem at Williams than Amherst? Probably not. I think for that reason it’s all the more commendable that the Williams trustees are taking a more active roll in promoting a healthier drinking culture at Williams.