Amherst vs. Williams vs. Dartmouth

Keilinger
Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:56:14 +0000

jennieling has pretty much summed it up. As someone who had the decision between Amherst and Dartmouth, you might also find one of my response posts from the Questions thread useful:

Congratulations! Getting into both is a huge accomplishment. I didn’t visit Dartmouth, but making the decision to go to Amherst was easy. You’re right that the schools have a lot of similarities, so picking apart their differences would seem to be helpful. Let’s start with some questions:


Where do you want to be? Amherst is in a town. Dartmouth is more rural. Both are pretty isolated, but Amherst is somewhat less so. I love city life but otherwise Amherst is a good compromise. I think it has the best of both worlds in that you have easy access to the Berkshires and the stunning nature trails on campus, but you still have four other colleges and an entire town to remind the students that other people (not students at your college) exist out there in the world. Finally, for what it’s worth, Amherst is a 45 minute car ride from the airport and Dartmouth is 3 hours.
Are you interested in business? Amherst has great placement into consulting, but Dartmouth also has Tuck. If you’re interested in business, there might be opportunities for undergrads at Tuck. Graduates of both colleges are incredibly well-prepared for business school, but if I knew I wanted to go into business, Tuck would be a plus.
How small? Amherst has 1,600 and Dartmouth has 6,000, including 2,000 graduate students. The small student body contributes to a strong sense of community at Amherst, though 6,000 doesn’t make a big school and gives you more new people to meet.
Frats? I was wary of Dartmouth’s reputation for having a misogynistic culture and I didn’t like the thought of hazing occurring on a yearly basis. Three underground fraternities exist at Amherst, but they’re not in most people’s consciousness. And while some people think of Amherst as misogynistic, my perception is that it’s only really apparent from time to time. I don’t know that there is a significant difference between the two schools, but I had heard many more stories about Dartmouth.
Do you like the D plan? Personally, I wanted to have the choice of taking a break and doing an internship during the winter. Yes, Dartmouth students can get spring/fall internships, but if you have the option of skipping out on a New Hampshire winter and doing internships abroad or on the West Coast… why not? It wasn’t as much of a deal-breaker as the location, but it was something I considered.
Open curriculum. Does it call to you? I love the freedom to explore at Amherst. It’s not just about scheduling classes, though. I really feel like I can chart my own course. I love that my friends are driven and smart, but aren’t obsessed with the next step in life. I love that the focus is always on stretching your ability to think. It sounds simple, but the College’s intense focus on this objective has changed how I approach everything. Amherst has had a way of making me intensely curious about things I have no knowledge of. You learn to look at issues from multiple perspectives, and yes, it makes you a far more valuable employee, but it also makes life more interesting when you have a habit of examining your assumptions and you’re able to follow your ideas down their paths. The lack of a pre-professional focus means this mindset is far easier to develop.


Dartmouth is an Ivy League, but the average person isn’t aware of either Amherst or Dartmouth. The type of person who applied to all 8 Ivy Leagues for the Ivy League name might know Dartmouth, but not Amherst. The bottom line is it doesn’t matter. To people who know both schools, and to hiring managers and grad school admission boards, they are equivalent in prestige. My recommendation is to ignore the pull of the Ivy League allure, because it doesn’t matter in terms of future prospects and it doesn’t matter in terms of the quality of education.

If you haven’t visited both schools already, you should do that. Ask about the majors you’re interested in at each school. Visiting was great for helping me a feel for campus life. I was thrilled to meet the people I met (professors, current students, prefrosh) at Amherst. There was impossibly strong sense of community. I liked the town but I learned that I couldn’t imagine living for four years in a place even more rural. If you’re lucky, you might just know a few hours after stepping foot on campus, as I did. Good luck!