Best of Amherst College

Some Great, Some Need Work

Overall, Amherst looks like what a small, old, prestigious New England college ought to look like. The vistas of the Holyoke Range you get when looking out over the War Memorial are unparalleled. Most buildings, particularly those on the freshman quad, are very quaint and charming. As a rule, the facilities here are great, but I'll mention a few exceptions:

Keefe, the campus center is poorly designed--no one really uses it, other than to check their mail. When I visited friends at schools, their student centers seemed much more vibrant and vital (Columbia really stuck out in this regard).

The library is pretty bad 1950s architecture, as is the current science center, though it's about to be replaced by something a lot better.

All the athletic facilities are nice and well-maintained, though the weight room is really too small for a school with so many athletes. It gets really crowded at around 5 p.m.

Val (short for Valentine), our dining hall, has improved recently, but still gets really crowded at certain times of day, and has odd hours (dinner is served from 4:30-7:30; doesn't really make sense for college students).

Professor Willing to Reach Out

The major advantage of Amherst College is that the population is so small; this leaves more than enough resources for students to get extra help from professors and other tutoring services. I found that my professors were always excited to engage in conversation outside of the classroom setting, and it really enriched my college experience.

Labs Tend to Get Crowded at Night Time and Final Week

Despite the many students using the computer, it generally does not feel like that there is not enough school computers. Besides, since free wifi is available all over the campus, students don't necessarily need to use the school computer all the time.