AMHERST COLLEGE

AMHERST COLLEGE

Introduction Amherst

The Freshman Quad at Amherst, flanked by plain-faced brick dorms and the clock tower of Johnson Chapel, is the hub of this small college located in the Pioneer Valley. Whether those on its shady lawn are reading, playing Frisbee, strumming guitars, throwing snowballs, walking to class, or trudging from the gym to the dining hall, Amherst students appears to be experiencing the quintessential New England liberal arts education. However, to get a fuller picture of life at "The Fairest College," all visitors have to do is turn to see the church less Sterns Steeple, the yellow Campus Centered, the tile-green string course of the computer center or the view of the Hollyhock Range from Memorial Hill and they'll see that Amherst provides the excellent education it is known for-and then some. An Amherst education is founded on the ideals of a liberal arts curriculum and is layered in diversity of though, expression and character.

Amherst has a reputation as one of the country's best colleges academically. But academics alone are not what makes so many people apply or why students who are there like it so much or shy alumni still come back every year for Homecoming. It's the balance of academics and the social aspects; it's the people you meet and the conversations you have.

Amherst provides its students with a solid education in all disciplines, but its strength and energy come from its liberal arts philosophy-an Amherst student learns how to listen, think, analyze and question. An Amherst student learns not only how to formulate ideas, but how to express and defend them. An Amherst education does not end in the classroom; students learn as much from the background and diversity of their classmates as they do from their top-notch professors.

Amherst, with an enrollment of approximately 1,600, is small. Everyone, eventually, knows everyone else. This familiarity truly makes Amherst not just an academic institution, but a community. Not only do students form close friendship with each other, but professors, coaches, administrators, and staff take an active interest in students. It is not unusual to see someone from the Dean's Office rooting on the sideline of a field hockey game. It is not uncommon to hear a cafeteria employee inquires about a student's latest all-niter. It is not strange for a student to drop into the Office of the Dean of Students to chat or to have dinner at a professor's house. Amherst students don't just attend class and head straight for the library; they live, work, and play at Amherst, and it quickly becomes their second home.

Amherst is not perfect. Occasionally, an Amherst student, like anyone else anywhere else, will have a bad day (or two). The college has both formal and informal supports systems. The Dean of Students Office, the Counseling Center, peer and disciplinary advocates, and the resident counselors, coaches, professors, and friends from a network to help students in many different ways at many different levels.

Amherst students are aware of the college's imperfections, but the difference between Amherst and other academic institutions is that Amherst students do not just sit and grumble-Amherst students take action and Amherst administrators listen. The college paper sometimes seems entirely made off Op-Ed letters. Students often meet with Dean of Students Ben Libber or other administrators including President Anthony W. Marx, and represent student opinion on committees. In the past few years' student concerns about issues of academic and personal responsibility led to the formation of an honor code. As in many other instances, these changes and actions were rooted in student opinion and executed by their peers. Amherst is a community and its students recognize their responsibility toward making it their own.

You first realize it when you go home for vacation that first time. You been thinking about Amherst differently-it's not just your school, it's your space, it's where you are starting to build your own life. When you first catch a glimpse of the campus on your way back from break, you feel in some way as if you are returning home.

The Amherst experience is different for every individual and every class, but in each case it is a solid education, made rich by its emphasis on thought and expression and made deep by the people who are the "College on the Hill."

ACADEMIC LIFE

Amherst has no core curriculum, giving students the freedom to construct their own course of study. Although there are requirements in each major, the only general required course is the First Year Seminar, an interdisciplinary course taken by all freshmen in their first semester. The lack of a core follows in the true liberal arts philosophy of the school.  Students can take classes in a wide range of disciplines: an art history major can take physics class, a premedical student can major in English, and a psychology major can double in music. So while the bulk of a student’s studies may be in one subject, he or she has the luxury of being able to dabble in another discipline, often stumbling across a passion for art, science, philosophy, or language that might have been otherwise undiscovered.

Athletics

Amherst is an athletic college. While not everybody is a member of a varsity team, most students take part in some athletic pastime, whether it is a workout in the gym or a walk through the beautiful bird sanctuary. Amherst may be small, but its teams are mighty, regularly making it to the ECAC, NESCAC, and NCAA tournaments. Not only does Amherst offer a strong varsity program, but it also offers club and intramural teams as well. The women’s and men’s rugby clubs are among the best in the Northeast. Other club teams are the ski team, men’s volleyball, water polo, tae kwan do, and Ultimate Frisbee.

Students also participate in school activities on other levels. Many students serve in the students’ government, others sit on committees, while others act as liaisons between the administration and students. The peer advocates, disciplinary advocates, and resident counselors play an active role in student life. Indeed, central to the character of Amherst social life is the residential aspect of the school. Students get to know each other well through common classes, interests, and living situations. And often how you know someone will overlap. Your next-door neighbor can be in your chem. Lab, your teammate can also be a member of your magazine staff, your RC may be in your English class. Amherst students get to know each other on many levels in many environments.

FINANCIAL AID

Amherst makes its need-blind admission policy a priority. Indeed, the recent Amherst College campaign raised $35 million toward continuing need-blind admission. Those in the Development Office estimate that Amherst ranks among a dozen or so institutions that admit students without regard to financial need, and more important, maintain the aid for all four years. Currently, fifty-two percent of students in the freshman class receive financial aid; the average amount offered is $32,982, there are plenty of jobs available on campus even if you aren’t in a work-study program. Although many jobs are posted, many are obtained from word of mouth, and the new Student Employment Office helps provide a central source for job posting. Students work in Valentine and the library, as well as in the Keefe Campus Center and administrative offices, physical plant, and custodial shop. Not only do students earn spending money, but they are given the chance to get to know the staff of the college as well as the ins and outs of running the school.

GRADUATES

Amherst graduates are an interesting bunch. They can be found in many professions in many parts of the globe. You read their manes in newspapers, you randomly run into them in restaurants, you meet them at Homecoming. Amherst grads all seem to have taken their education and run with it, though not in the same direction.

Amherst does have a strong on-campus recruiting program for banking, consulting, and other careers, as well as a strong network in the nonprofit, education, and publishing fields. Amherst grads find what they are looking for many are gainfully employed, many are in graduate school, and many are pursuing fellowships and grants. Whatever they are doing, Amherst grads are not sitting still; they are active and energetic, armed with their Amherst education and their enthusiasm for learning at all levels.

The Amherst alumni are deeply connected to the school, contributing to its strong processional network as well as in the school’s large endowment. About two-thirds of Amherst grads give to the school, the highest percent nationally. And when asked in a survey if they’d do it all over again, approximately ninety-two percent said they’d choose Amherst again.

The Amherst experience is one that is taken with you past graduation and built upon; the school, for many, is the bedrock of graduates’ professional skills and personal outlooks.