Middlebury vs. Amherst

urbanslaughter
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:22:54 +0000

I always laugh when I see comments about the relative prestige of liberal arts colleges. Having lived in several different regions of the US and in a couple other countries I think I can offer a different perspective on this. Within the US, whether you went to Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, Grinnell or Bates does NOT seem to matter in terms of prestige. No one outside of the Northeast, top graduate schools, or some job placement organizations really knows the top LACs. The people who really matter know these schools, but they’re HIGHLY unlikely to see any difference between Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, or even Bates (not to pick on Bates - it’s a fine school, but commonly viewed as “less prestigious” than the other three). Outside of the Northeast, Top graduate schools or job placement organizations, unless you went to HYP or some big state school with great athletics (Ohio State, Florida, UNC) people are likely to look at you blankly when you tell them where you went to school. So I wouldn’t base a lot on perceived relative prestige between Midd and Amherst. You’re going to spend a fortune either way. That should not be the determining factor for the next four years.