Amherst vs. Williams vs. Dartmouth

jennieling
Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:25:13 +0000

Helpodad, your observations are interesting to me since we did not visit Dartmouth. We had heard that Greek life is very big there with a lot of drunkenness and hard partying (of course, that is present at every college, but we heard and read in multiple sources that it is big at Dartmouth and my son does not care for that. That does not conflict with your observation about much of the college adoring football and the big sports; often the Greek life and partying go hand in hand with ahtletics. That was one thing we loved about Amherst: there are student-athletes who care deeply about excelling at their sports, but there is no Greek life (or questionable a very minimal amount of “underground” Greek life, but still quite minimal). However, I would take issue with just a few things you said: 1)" Amherst seems like a small finishing school outside of the town’s center"----were you there? We visited, and Amherst is RIGHT in the heart of the town, on one of the main roads. Students can easily walk to the many downtown restaurants, stores, etc; 2) Amherst lacks “old-world appeal” and seems all polished and new—were you there? Yes, there are some newer buildings, but there are many old, traditional and beautiful red-brick building, gorgeous grounds and quads, old statues. It was this very “old-world appeal” that attracted my son (one of many things!) 3) Amherst lacks school spirit and tradition—that is NOT my impression. We “liked” the Amherst Facebook page last fall, and throughout this school year we have seen photos and videos of many spirited school activities, including a winter carnival, traying down snowy hills, a cappella singing (Amherst has 6 or 7 a cappella groups and has been called “The Singing College” for many, many years). I do, however, agree with your thoughts on the academics and Amherst’s open curriculum.