How rural is Amherst?

ACKB12
Sun, 26 Sep 2010 08:38:45 +0000

While Amherst isn’t in immediate proximity to a major city, it still offers many of the perks of an urban area while in a small college town environment. There are bookstores nearby; one right in the center of town (Amherst Books) stocks all of the required reading for students, and I can think of at least one or two more in the town of Amherst itself (less than a 5 minute walk from campus).

The Hampshire Mall is located just up the road: 10 minutes by car or 20 minutes by bus. It has a little bit of everything: Target, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, WalMart, Trader Joe’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, clothing stores like Old Navy, American Eagle, a food court, a movie theater, a roller skating rink, and laser tag. A little bit further way (25 minutes by car, not sure how far by bus) is the Holyoke Mall which is a bonafide super-mall.

It is VERY easy to get around the Pioneer Valley without a car. I’m a junior at Amherst, and I’ve never had any problems getting where I want to go without one. The Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) is a public bus system that runs all through the area and is free for college students. According to our campus tours, it’s the largest free public bus system outside of Disney World. It’s quite simple to hop on the PVTA (there’s a stop on campus!) and ride to one of the other 5 Colleges, the mall, or anywhere else you want to go. If you need a car for some reason, we have a ZipCar program on campus where for a nominal hourly fee, you can rent a car. You’ll also find many upperclassmen with cars who will lend them to friends.

The 5 College Consortium (Amherst, UMass-Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith) really helps build a larger community around the College. Amherst is a great college town in part because of its proximity to UMass, just a mile up the road. The town is shared between the two schools so there are plenty of restaurants and events in town that cater to college students. Northampton, where Smith is located, is about a 15-20 minute drive away. It is larger than Amherst and boasts great restaurants and shopping. It’s also a fantastic music venue–the second largest booking city in New England, second to Boston–which means that some pretty famous acts will perform one night in Boston and come out to Northampton for a show the next day (and tickets are usually cheaper!).

The 5 Colleges attract a lot of prominent speakers and music groups to the area, and also provide a social outlet if students ever feel the need to break out of Amherst for a little while. Students can take classes at any of the colleges and students will often venture to other campuses to socialize on the weekends. This helps make the College feel much, much less isolated.

I don’t think of Amherst as cramped or confined at all, although I almost didn’t apply because I, too, was worried about it being too isolated. I love the small student body; while I definitely don’t know everyone on campus, I like knowing I can walk into the dining hall at any time and see friends. The school and 5 College consortium provide plenty to do, so between classes and extra-curriculars, I never find myself wishing I was in a big city. I like the small college town feel, and if I’m dying for a weekend away, it’s just two hours to Boston or three to NYC!

Good luck with your decision. If you have more questions about Amherst, please feel free to send me a private message.