Why Did You Choose Amherst College?

Fall 2022

We asked some of our Mammoths (including President Michael A. Elliott, a graduate from the class of 1992!) why they chose Amherst College.


The Culture of the Liberal Arts

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Student bloggers, 2014

It’s a culture of intellectual exuberance. To us, a liberal arts education—an Amherst education—is rooted in habits, practices and skills that are at once timeless and urgently needed: effective communication, strong writing ability, insightful problem-solving, creativity and analytical thinking.

This is an education that allows you to be flexible and nimble, to change and adapt to new information. In a world that is endlessly renewing itself, this is an education that is endlessly relevant.

Are you ready to meet us? Read our student blogs and faculty profiles, and meet our student tour guides and diversity interns.

Knowing Amherst A–Z

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Amherst College Viewbook: Click to view PDF

The first thing to know about Amherst is that it will prepare you not only for your professional life but also for life-long learning. Our offerings are vast and exhilarating. Here is a small sampling of what you’ll find at the College. 

Academics is the essential starting point. Learn about our open curriculum, advising and more.

After Amherst you will continue to thrive.

Amherst, Massachusetts, home of Amherst College, is a vibrant town in the beautiful Pioneer Valley.

The Book Tree is a hollow tree in the Wildlife Sanctuary in which students place poems, love letters and pages from novels.

Campus Community Events occur in fall, winter and spring. Food, games, and activities!

Diversity is a foundational part of Amherst. By almost any measure, we're one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in the country.

Enrollment statistics can tell you a lot about the first-year class.

Frost Library offers more than 1.4 million volumes, a talented and friendly staff and a café, plus many study spaces. It's named after poet Robert Frost.

Johnson Chapel is one of the original three buildings on campus. It hosts Opening Convocation and other ceremonies, as well as many speakers, from David Brooks to Rachel Maddow, Bill McKibben to Antonin Scalia, Dan Brown ’86 to Jonathan Kozol.

Valentine Dining Hall offers delicious dietary options, with food sourced from local farms, including our very own Book & Plow Farm.

We love new words: zastrugi (which you will see on campus), zarzuela (which you will
hear and taste on campus), and zoetic, as in vital, or living. As in being a student at Amherst. As in Amherst.

Want more? See Amherst Facts.