Jamie

Amherst is a great place to go if you have a pretty eclectic personality and wide interests. I liked the fact that Amherst is small when I was a Freshmen but now I feel a little stifled by every familiar face I see. Good thing there are four other colleges around. Also, sometimes I wish Amherst was a little more caught up with the digital age.

The classes are pretty small and there's always a lot of class discussion going on. My only problem is that most of the time people talk just to hear themselves speak, so the discussions are not always informative or interesting, but when they are its great. If you're into learning from the professor Amherst isn't the place to be, most of the time I'm just hearing my fellow classmates talk. I'm an English major. The department is okay, I just wish there were more courses exploring media studies, multimedia and the like to reinforce what we learn in the class room. More classes with multimedia project components would be great. You'll hate the academics here like I mostly do if you're into more hands on, application stuff that improves your technical skills. Oh and the open curriculum is the best, it's the reason why I chose Amherst.

People here dress pretty casually in t-shirts and jeans for the most part. Although many are into the button up preppy look. So, I would say half and half. Most would say that Amherst is mostly liberal, but I would say that there are more moderate, conservative students here than many might think. What kind of student will feel out of place here? Well at a school where most people are into a lot of Indie things and shun things that are commercial in nature, if you are the opposite you might feel a little out of place. And might acquire a bit of a prejudice for all things literary and indie if you didn't have one already. (That was part truth, part exaggeration. Take it how you want to take it.)

To be honest the social life kind of sucks. People can be a little awkward. Probably because each person is so different in their makeups and goals in life. Which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. I say it makes for interesting conversation.

That everyone's white and rich.

Not at all.

I would say that I know many people who don't like it here for many different reasons. As a Freshmen I loved Amherst, but then the romantic feelings started to fade. Why? I started to develop an interest in multimedia and all things digital and Amherst just doesn't support it, which makes me wish I had gone to a university that's more up-to-date with the times. (Amherst will get a film and multimedia studies major in 2014 though.) The thing is: if you want to be a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher/professor, or go into a non-profit organization, guess what. . . Amherst is the place for you and you'll love it here!