Amherst Government Major

The school is stereotyped to be very cliquey, preppy, wealthy, snobby, arrogant, and liberal.

I'd say that, to a large extent, the stereotypes listed above can be found in a very large chunk of the student body. I'd say the majority of the school doesn't fit that mold. However, there are enough arrogant, boarding school pedigreed Abercrombie and Fitch lovers to really stand out at such a small place.

I'd say the best thing about Amherst is all the intelligence that's constantly pervading the place. This makes it a lively source of great intellectual conversation and, over a four year stretch, a terrific education outside of the classroom. The professors and the individual attention they can provide are first rate as well.

The one thing I'd change is the political tolerance level. For all of Amherst's talk about tolerance and diversity, it is a viciously intolerant place when it comes to how it treats its small conservative minority.

When people hear that I go to Amherst, they usually say, "oh, UMass?". But it's okay because employers you'd care about and graduate schools have heard of Amherst. :)

I spent most of my time at college in my suite because hanging out with my roommates was a lot of fun. The library took up a lot of time too, especially when I actually wanted to get work done.

Amherst College isn't very connected to the town of Amherst in any meaningful sort of way. However, Pleasant St has its charm and offers a lot of good and decent-priced dining.

Amherst's administration is very laissez-faire. For example, there are no distribution requirements. That allows for great experimentation possibilities and allows students to dabble in a very of fields. For that reason, I greatly appreciated the administration's hands off approach.

The biggest recent controversy on campus was when a gay student was threatened at a party. The president of the school made a big fuss about it and there were several rallies, etc. However, the homophobic incident was a very isolated incident, for Amherst is a VERY flaming liberal institution. Conservatives like myself were faced with constant threats, intimidation, ostracization, and slander. However, the president of the school would never, for example, send out an e-mail dissuading students from harassing a well-known conservative student late at night.

There is a lot of school pride during basketball season because the school has made the D3 final four three years ago (winning a title one year). School pride is also prevalent whenever the football team plays hated rival Williams College.

I'd say Amherst is unusual for how unfriendly and socially awkward can be at times. Perhaps I say this because I grew up in California and in the South. However, I'm used to saying hello to acquaintances. At Amherst, it's very socially normal to stare at the floor when walking by acquaintances so as to avoid eye contact.

One experience I'll always remember at Amherst is sledding down Memorial Hill with trays stolen from the dining hall. It's a very fun ride and a regular student indulgence anytime there's been enough snow.

The most frequent student complaints are that the dining hall food is terrible and that it closes at a very early 7:30 pm. The health services are also considered inadequated and faulted for closing at 5pm.

To summarize the Amherst big picture: dorm-life bonding for four years (especially through freshman year with one's freshman roommate and friends made in freshman orientation) yields spectacular and fulfilling relationships with many wonderful people. There are lot of very warm and, simultaneously, very brilliant people to befriend here. Moreover, the academics are first rate and professors will give you access you could never get at a big research university. The school is also a gold mine for one's future. There are lot of fellowships/money going around. There's a strong alumni network. And a motivated student body provides positive peer pressure and advice for getting solid internships, grad school slots, and jobs after school. Furthermore, the Pioneer Valley provides a vast array of beautiful rivers, trails, etc. to enjoy. On the other hand, Amherst has its problems too. The school can be very cliquey. There are often schisms between groups--particular between non-athletes and athletes. Many facilities on campus are open way too little of the week. And the small size of the school and its relative geographic isolation can create a stifling bubble effect. Finally, though the school has many intellectuals, it can sometimes feel too pre-professional.

I'd say the best part about Amherst is its terrific academic life. Professors, though spectacular and often world-known in their field, know your name, classes are small and participation is often lively, there is a lot of opportunity to do independent work with close individual attention from an expert in the field, students often take conversation from class into the dining hall and dorm room (making the school a 24/7 learning experience), and though a small school, by virtue of the Five College Consortium, virtually every class one would want is available!

My department in particular, Political Science, was phenomenal. There's a good balance between political theory, international relations, constitutional law, history, political economy, etc. The professors are often extremely accomplished. Bill Taubman (specializes in Russia) is a Pulitzer Prize winner, Austin Sarat (constitutional law) is one of the five most cited public law experts in the country, Hadley Arkes (political theory) is the architect of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, Ronald Tiersky (European politics) was a State and Defense Department consultant. However, despite being so accomplished, the professor are accessible and phenomenal teachers as well. I've gotten to know several of my professors well outside of class.

I think Amherst's lack of distribution requirements and/or a core curriculum allows one to get breadth in a variety of disciplines outside of one's major. By virtue of the open curriculum, I was effectively able to triple minor. I took many courses in economics, philosophy, and music. Hence, I became very intimately familiar with textbook economic theory. Before school, I couldn't interpet the Wall Street Journal. Now I read it almost every morning with a great foundation for understanding. Before school, I'd never heard of Kant or Hume. Now, I've closely analyzed everyone from Plato and Aristotle to Kant, Hobbes and Locke to Rawls and Nussbaum. The journey through the Western philosophical tradition has made me reflect differently on many decisions, including career decisions. Finally, I didn't play instruments before school and now I'm a proficient guitarist. In many ways, the open curriculum let me quasi-quadruple major.

Though professors greatly contributed to my intellectual development, fellow students who also loved the material made me reflect on the material more closely and improve my understanding. These discussions ranged from debates with students over whether the US' hand in mediating the Israel-Palestinian dispute would be improved or not after the 1st gulf war, whether utilitarianism can be made compatible with our moral intuitions, whether allowing college students to sell stocks in themselves would made economic sense, and instructions on how to best voice a certain jazz chord on the guitar. These conversations were all spawned by coursework.

As you can expect from that explanation, many students at Amherst appreciate learning for its own sake. However, a very large portion of the school doesn't value its education outside the benefits it will yield in Wall Street, etc. The open curriculum allows students to pursue their vision of what a proper curriculum should be--pre-professional or an intellectual odyssey.

The school, though very painfully politically correct, is segregated in many ways. There is a "black hole" and few whites if any visit that part of the dining hall. There also seems to be a socioeconomic divide. Moreover, some LGBTs and Jews can self-segregated. Though I think the school is pretty religiously integrated. The biggest divide is between athletes and non-athletes. The athletes tend to be very wealthy, preppy, boarding school/prep school alums, white and not as intellectually curious. The non-athletes are widely divided between different sorts of groups. Though the groups might not interact, they have more in common with each other than with the athletes. Moreover, though divided, they'll be divided on lines such as major (for example, because science students have long labs together they tend to become close and self-segregate away from humanities majors) as opposed to socioeconomic status. I'd say the non-athletic part of the school is socioeconomically integrated. However, the preppy jocks constitute a plurality, though not a majority. (I'd estimate they constitute 30% of the school.) Hence, the very affluent seem prevalent

I'd say there's a little of everything at even a place like Amherst--hippies, jocks, intellectuals, pre-meds, can't be pinned down, etc. However, the student I feel would be most out of place at Amherst is one whose social network/identity is very tied to a non-white ethnicity/culture. I'm not white and I didn't feel out of place without my native ethnicity. However, I never grew up around people of my ethnicity, didn't listen to music from my parents' country, was always more attached to the Western intellectual tradition, etc. Hence, I never saw my identity as tied to race and hence didn't feel out of place at Amherst for that reason (though I did feel politically ostracized.) However, if a student grew in a large, for example, Korean-American community and is used to Korean food, Korean friends, greater interest in Korean soccer than MLB, etc. they might feel out of place. I had many Asian/Indian/Hispanic/Black friends who felt this way.

Most students, regardless of social group and whether they can actually be considered preppy, wear polos with American Eagle, Polo, and A&F labels. Different types of students often interact in the various extracurricular groups Amherst has to offer--a cappella groups, community services organizations, etc. Though the different social circles will often get along very well at the given meeting place, they'll rarely interact outside of that common activity. Amherst tends to be a very cliquey place.

Most Amherst students are (from most prevalent to less prevalent) from: New York, New England, and California. The average Amherst student is pretty political aware (though not that politically active). Amherst kids lean VERY left (though not as left as Swarthmore, Hampshire, Brown, etc.). Though a poll once found self-identified liberals to outnumber self-identified conservatives 6 to 1. Students frequently talk about how much they'll make one day. (Though not in an arrogant/I'm gonna make more than you sort of you; more in a, does money really matter? would I happy as a public defender making 50k? sort of way)

Here's my attempt to describe four typical tables at Amherst:
Table 1- the most plurality (though not majority) table- the preppy jock table. It's Sunday morning and this group has had a rowdy night of fornication the night before. The guys are all mountains and the women all look like they're out of an American Eagle catalogue. They discuss gossip about who hooked up with who, plot how to ditch class on Monday without a senile professor noticing, make plans for a keg party the next weekend, and discuss whether an incoming class of recruits will make the lacrosse team a contender.

Table 2- this is the Zu table. They live in alternative housing and prepare their own food. (Hence the tale isn't even in the dining hall.) They're pretty off-beat, don't care about sports, probably vegetarian, own a copy of the Communist Manifesto, haven't showered in at least 2 days, at least a few at the table have dreadlocks, and there a couple Physics-Philosohpy double majors. While they eat in their own dorm, they play some Frank Zappa and avant garde jazz in the background.

Table 3- the pre-med table. They are all stressed out about their upcoming organic chemistry exam and discussing where to meet in order to share notes. A few of these kids are trying to juggle their studies with reporting for the Amherst Student. Another few have a Christian Fellowship meeting that night. It's a safe bet that most of these students live in substance free housing and hence did not spend the night before at the DKE champagne party.

Table 4- the ethnic table. The Hispanic and Black students sit here. Their FUBU or Sean John looks a little out of place amidst the sea of American Eagle and Polo. Moreover, the skipped the weekend's Guster concert to go see an underground rapper at a nearby school. A Black Studies professor, Professor Ferguson, joins them as he usually does and leads a discussion on the social construction of race.

A Cappella, and singing in general in choirs/glee clubs/etc are HUGE at Amherst. However, there are many other things students to do. There's a new Center for Community Engagement for students interested in community services, several tutoring groups for helping local poor high school/middle school students, a very vibrant jazz scene (many jazz bands/ensembles), several NCAA athletic teams obviously (30% of the school competes here), intramural basketball is quite popular, a zillion publications (literary reviews, humor magazines, journals of punditry), an outing club to kayak/hike/ski/climb through the great outdoors around here, a popular improv comedy group, religious groups (ie Hillel with Friday Night Shabbat), cultural groups (ie German House with its popular weekly coffee), and so much more a student can do here.

I was involved with a magazine called the Indicator as co-editor-in-chief. We collected submissions of Maureen Dowd-esque 800-1600 words opinion pieces to print in the campus journal of social and political thought. The bi-weekly publication also had a popular humor section in the back with cartoons, mock advertisments, etc.

Students in dorms tend to leave their doors open. Amherst is a pretty trusting place. Basketball is extremely popular at Amherst because of the great success of the team. Football is somewhat popular. Other sports aren't that well attended. We get speakers on topics as diverse as physics, philosophy, geology, fine arts, and religion. We've had CIA directors and Supreme Court justice. A speaker can be found just about every day so most talks aren't that well attended. However, controversial speakers (ie John Bolton and Ann Coulter) can drew several hundred students. There are a few students very involved and in love with theater at Amherst. However, at the singing college, there is generally little interest in theater here.

The casual dating scene is, unlike at a big university, pretty non-existent at Amherst. There is a very vibrant hookup scene, especially within the athletic community. Moreover, there are a few very close relationship (I have a few friends who are engaged!). Basically, people at Amherst are either basically married or basically "f***-buddies". There's little in between. It'd be somewhat socially out of place here to ask someone out to a Friday night movie.

I met most of my closest friends through freshman orientation/freshman housing. And I'd say that's how most friends here meet. However, I met other close friends through random occurrences such as meeting through a mutual acquaintance or a sports economics class.

If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday I'm either studying or having a late-night conversation with my roommates about anything ranging from women to philosophy over some late night beers.

There are many annual traditions. There's a spring concert, spring carnival, spring formal, homecoming game, luau party, "Hollywood" party, the "endless summer" party, Crossett Christmas, and, of course, D3 March Madness.

I'd say most people party here on Friday and Saturday exclusively. The more adventurous do Thursday too. And, for seniors, Wednesday is bar night.

Frats/sororities don't have many brothers/sisters. (They're all underground) However, for the people who join them, they can provide a community and great relationships (and, of course, hazing).

The standard Amherst Saturday is crowding into a Triangle/Social Dorm party with hundreds of other drunk kids, finding the keg, getting the last drops of bad Natty Ice, and coming back either disappointed (for not hooking up) or disappointed the next morning (for having a great morning, but hangover and awkward week coming up). However, though drinking is dominant here, there is a substance free scene here. Plus, there are always plays/concerts/poetry jams/etc. on the weekends. Amherst Cinema, a great artsy theater, is walking distance, and, for me at least, often a great weekend excursion.

Most people tend to stick to all the stuff to do on-campus. However, Northampton is a cute little town that's only 45 min away, Boston's only 2 hr away and NY's only 3 hrs away and can provide great relief. For me, the great nature of the Pioneer Valley was my escape from Amherst. The Connecticut provides great kayaking/canoeing opportunites, the Deerfield is a great place to tube, and there are many great places around here to rock climb/ski/hike.

Amherst is a terrific place where one can intellectually grow, get a top fellowship/job/grad school seat/etc, and make great friends. Imagine a day of reading Kant in your dorm room, playing video games with your best friend, going to the Connecticut River to kayak, and catching a showing of a Godard movie on the big screen. This after a day of hearing a CIA director talk, eating lunch with your Pulitzer Prize winning professor, seeing your friends put on a great a cappella show, and getting hammered at the after party.

Unfortunately, social cliquey-ness, a stifling bubble, a large contingent of pre-professional grade grubbers, a contingent of athletes who, frankly, don't deserve to be at Amherst, and weak dining services can make the place occassionally painful. Did I mention how stuck in their groups and bubbles many Amherst people can be???