Hello, I would like to ask the pros and cons of both.
They are both around the same aid.
I have AP credits and dual enrollment creds as well.
UF will accept most of the creds, Amherst none.
Which would you pick and why?
Is this a serious question? I don’t think there are 2 schools that could be more dissimilar. Small vs. Gigantic. Liberal Arts vs. National University. Warm weather vs. not so warm. D1 vs. D3. and on and on. One thing I know about small LA schools is, if you are not an athlete, you will be in the 10% of the school that isn’t. This can be difficult, socially.
@hastalavista ; Yes it is a very, very serious question!
I am neither an athlete, nor am I interested in games, etc.
Amherst is tiny, tiny, tiny. It is classic New England small town, but is in the middle of nowhere. With 30,000+ students, UF must be the size of a small city. Since you are not an athlete, I would be concerned about you and the other 8 students at Amherst that are not. At UF, you will blend in nicely with the 29,580 students that are not athletes.
OMG.
Dont worry about not being an athlete! Amherst is one of the highest rated, best LAC colleges in the country! It is NOT known as an Athletic Powerhouse! And its sports programs are not why really smart, very accomplished students apply there! They go there for the great educational opportunities. Unless you absolutely HATE cold weather, pick Amherst, instead of U of F! You will be far ahead when the times comes to apply for a job, internship or graduate school.
Amherst. If you don’t like it, it will be easy to transfer to UF from there. It will be very hard to go the other way.
If you can afford Amherst and like the LAC environment, I’d go there in a heartbeat.
Like hastalavista said these are two very different schools.
What do you want? What major, clubs, etc? Amherst excels in the liberal arts, but it doesn’t have an engineering or business program. You’ll need to list what’s important to you…
Money aside, this is a no brainer. Amherst is one of the finest undergrad institutions in the world. Go there.
(And know how much it pains me to write that–I’m a Williams alum)
OP: The University of Florida is a perfectly decent, huge, public, flagship university; its admissions standards are not especially selective (46.6 accepted) and its stature is respected, but nothing extraordinary (ranked #48 by U S News). On the other hand, Amherst is a LAC jewel, one of the very finest in the world (ranked #2, with a 14.3 percent acceptance rate). It would be easy to elaborate concerning Amherst’s amazing qualities, but I’ll leave that for others.
Normally, comparison of institutions like these immediately evolves into the major cost differential and ceaseless, unresolvable debate regarding “is it worth the debt?”. However, your initial post implies that – for you – they will essentially be equally affordable. If that is true, please do two things:
a) Beginning now, never let a day go by without – privately and in your own way – thanking the endowment/scholarship donors whose charitable generosity made Amherst’s costs as affordable as the U of F’s for you.
b) Immediately accept Amherst’s offer; it is a truly superb, life-altering benefit and you are so incredible fortunate (presuming you intend to major in one – or more – of the many liberal arts disciplines).
Good luck and CONGRATULATIONS.
We’re missing some serious information such as affordability, feel (did you ever visit?), major you’re interested in, and what you personally desire. @sofritachipotle Please fill in the blanks for us.
He says both awarded the same aid, and presumably unless he desires to study engineering, agriculture, or meteorology, Amherst will be fine for his course of study. Even if there are some curricular deficiencies, UMass is a mile away. Go to Amherst.
@hastalavista that’s true for a small minority of tuition dependent, struggling liberal arts colleges. That’s not true at all for Amherst which does not hurt for applicants from across the world.
@hastalavista (re post #4): “Since you are not an athlete, I would be concerned about you and the other 8 students at Amherst that are not. At UF, you will blend in nicely with the 29,580 students that are not athletes.”
You plainly could not be more incorrect. To suggest that only a handful of students at Amherst are not intercollegiate athletes is beyond misleading, it’s absurd. If one doesn’t have a clue regarding the facts, one might be both wise and helpful simply not to post wildly erroneous information.
Update to you all. I decided on Amherst College 
wise choice!
Congrats! I’m sure you will love it, but as someone above said, if you don’t you could always transfer to UF or similar school.
Congrats!
Congratulations! It’s truly the superior choice in your situation - you’ll get a world-class education at a bargain price.
And thanks for updating us.
I fail to see how this was a “superior choice”. The OP had in excess of over 40 AP/Dual Enrollment credits and had he/she elected to go to UF, could have completed his/her undergraduate degree in 2.5 years or less and possibly, moving on to a graduate program at one of the “elite” graduate programs in the country. UF is a much more diverse university, when compared to the more homogeneous LAC, such as Amherst. There is this perception that attending a prestigious undergraduate university is a golden ticket to career success. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I thought the OP want to study Chemical Engineering and applied to MIT, Georgia Tech and a few other engineering-related programs? Why Amherst?