@smartalic34
It’s sort of like the old joke “How do you describe a spiral staircase without using your hands?” [Answer: You can, but, it’s not worth the effort."
Similarly, most elite colleges have a stereotype or trope you can point to with ease. But, for some odd reason, with Amherst, it is almost impossible to do so without using its USNews ranking as a reference point. It’s become an extremely important part of their identity, as demonstrated by this fairly recent post from a first-year Lord Jeff:
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http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/amherst-college/1770876-share-your-thoughts-a-discussion-on-amhersts-future-p1.html