Admission & Financial Aid Gaby Mikhail '25

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Hi! My name is Gaby Mikhail and I am currently a freshman at Amherst College. As someone that was in your place just last fall, trust me when I say I understand the stress you are under. There is so much that goes into determining what place you want to call home for the next four years. I hope that this blog makes that choice just a little bit easier... and if you while reading you decide that place is Amherst, welcome to the Mammoth crew!

A little bit about me... I am a prospective Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought (LJST) major and an Irvine, California native. I enjoy swimming, scuba diving, exploring museums and finding the best taco truck nearest me. I also dabble in screenwriting and short story writing in my limited free time. Please reach out if you have any questions, I am happy to talk your ear off about how amazing Amherst is. My email is gmikhail25@amherst.edu.

December 4, 2021

It is the end of the semester and tomorrow marks the beginning of reading week at Amherst. Reading week is the week before finals, where students are given time off to study and prepare for tests. As a humanities focused student, most of my finals are comprised of papers rather than tests and since everything is turned in online, I am actually leaving a week before most of my friends.

However, the break doesn’t mark a stop in classes necessarily. Amherst actually offers classes during our long January session. They are NOT required but simply an option open to students who want to fit some extra classes in their schedule

This year, these classes are offered online or in person. I will be taking a class called Legal Science Fiction, which I hope will help me better explore the LJST major. My class will meet everyday of the week from anywhere between 1.5-2.5 hours. While the fast pace of the courses offered over J-term can seem like a lot, it also allows students to explore subject areas they wouldn’t normally have the time to during the semester. I know that this is really a great for a lot of my friends who are interested in double majoring, have pre-med requirements or are simply looking to take less courses in the spring (if you take a J-term course, you are allowed to take 3 courses rather than 4 in the spring term - though you may also take a J-term course and 4 courses in the spring if you decide to do so). 

Of course, online J-term courses also do have the benefit of letting you study from the comfort of your own bed while getting a reprieve from college food. In my case it's also a nice break from the Massachusetts winter. However, while many J-term courses are online this year, there are also quite a few offered in person.

Though cold, the campus is still rumored to be a great place to be during J-term. Despite the flock of students leaving for home, all of the winter athletes stay on campus along with those taking in-person courses. It’s a great opportunity to get to know more people on campus and to take advantage of the lack of lines at Val and open seating at Frost.

Regardless of how you want to use it - to take an in-person course, play a sport, or chill on your couch back home - January term is a great thing to take advantage of during your time at Amherst.

November 18, 2021

Today is officially a week before Thanksgiving and everyone on campus seems quite eager for some very much needed R&R. With finals coming up and most of the semester officially behind us, it seems to have caught up with everyone that work is about to kick into high gear as we bring 2021 to a swift close. So, unfortunately, for most of us Thanksgiving is somewhere between a chance to see family and an extra reading week.

Thanksgiving also poses some challenges for those of us that are going out of state. As I’ve mentioned quite of few times on this blog, I am from California, so I thought I’d talk a little bit about traveling in and out of Amherst during the holidays.

Airports

The closest airport to us is Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. It is about an hour away by car and is the airport most students use when travelling. However, because it is a small airport, there tends to be layovers for cross country flights. The flights can also be on the pricey end if you are trying to minimize stops.

This Thanksgiving, I’m traveling out of Boston Logan, which is about 2 hours away. This is a slightly less popular options due to the commute.

Getting to the Airport

Amherst organizes shuttles during times that students are expected to be coming back and forth from the airport. However, there are not many shuttle times, so the more you can organize your flights around the shuttle, the easier it will be.

There are other optionsm, though! There are Peter Pan busses that run from Amherst to Boston Logan multiple times a day around Holidays that might be more convenient. Additionally, there are private shuttle services that operate specifically for the Amherst-Northampton area. What is important to note though is that Uber is not a reliable resource in Amherst. Catching an Uber to Bradley might be possible if you take the PVTA, the free bus service that runs around every 20 minutes, to Northampton, but trying to go from Amherst to Boston with Uber or Lyft is pretty much a no-go. It would also be quite pricey!

While travelling around the holidays may be slightly inconvenient, you get the hang of it very fast. Also, the long bus rides tend to be a great bonding experience with friends, which is always a plus.

And getting home for the holidays definitely makes it all worth it. Happy Holidays everyone and stay safe!

October 8, 2021

I started with what every Pinterest list, college website and tour guide has ever warned against - I packed everything I owned. Three weeks into my stay at Amherst I can definitively say if you have a bedspread, your iPhone charger and your favorite sweatpants, you are well on your way to being packed for college.

If you decide to come to Amherst, you will end up spending your first year in one of the following spectacular housing accommodations:

Pratt

Williston

Appleton

North

James

Stearn

South (The best, but also oldest residence hall of them all!)

While all of these residence halls are cool, old-looking and have surprisingly great views, absolutely none of them have room for that entire record collection you were thinking about bringing, I promise you. On that note, here are the top five things I was happy I brought (or bought):

1. A Kettle

Even if you don’t drink tea, a kettle is super useful for dorm living. If you don’t want to take up precious desk space with a clunky Brita filter, a Kettle is great for storing water while also helping you maintain that all important college dietary essential: ramen.

2. Fan(s)

When I came from Southern California, I was fully prepared for the onslaught of rain, snow, hail and wind. I was armed with the thickest snow jacket I could find, a pair of Timberlands and the will to survive Sub-Arctic temperatures. Instead, I found deadly humidity, 80-degree weather and my broken aviators at the bottom of my backpack.

If you, too, come from a state without seasons, be warned:

There are more than one.

On that note, I also recommend cooling towels or ice packs if you are very heat sensitive. None of the freshman dorms have air conditioning, so come prepared!

3. Mattress Topper

You will find this one on many college lists, but if you specifically find a two-piece, down-covered mattress topper, it will go a long way to both keep you comfortable and warm in those colder months (which, in Massachusetts, is most of them).

4. Floor Pillows

Here at Amherst, it isn’t uncommon to congregate wherever floor space is available. My room has recently become a common meeting place among friends for one simple reason-floor pillows. Having comfortable seating is an easy way to get friends to gather for movie nights, study sessions or late-night chats around Insomnia Cookies or Antonio’s (the best pizza in town… or the world?).

5. Comfortable Shoes

Another lesser-known fact about Amherst is its size. It may seem small, but when you have five minutes to get from one side of campus to the other, you will regret wearing those fur lined Birkenstocks that looked cool in photos.

While helpful, still, none of these are a necessity. Instead, it has been those small things, my family photos and my favorite fuzzy socks that have made my dorm my own.

And together, with the friends I’ve made, I feel at home.

October 15, 2021

Some people have that moment. They walk onto a campus, they see a picture, or they talk to a student, and they just…know. Some people have it in freshman year of high school, some have it April 30 of senior year, or some, like me, never had it at all.

I was never 100% sure I was making the right choice. I had every statistic in the world. I had gone on every tour, sat in on classes, talked to professors, emailed students, and done just about everything else people tell you will help you get that “I just know” feeling. It never came.

Only now that I am here at Amherst can I say with certainty that I made the right choice, and even that has taken a few weeks.

When I was making my college decision, my financial position made me lucky enough to be able to decide between three great institutions. Ultimately, I was choosing between Amherst, a large UC in northern California, and another liberal arts college also located in western Massachusetts.

Here are the things that actually made my decision:

1. Student-Faculty Relationship

I always knew I wanted to have a close relationship with my professors and that a large UC couldn’t offer me that. However, it was still a struggle to give up a university with such a large name, where I had also received a scholarship. It was when I had a conversation with a faculty member at Amherst that I realized the value intimate intellectual discussions hold, which simply can’t exist in a 100+ person lecture.

2. The Open Curriculum

In high school, I took all the classes I knew colleges would want. I pushed myself with Honors Chemistry and AP Bio and AP Physics and AP Calculus, but that meant I never got the chance to take that extra English class I wanted, or journalism. I knew in college I didn’t want to be bound to subjects I had no interest in. I only have four years here and I want every class to be what I want to learn about, not simply another checked box.

3. The Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought (LJST) Major

I applied to universities as a Political Science major, unaware of any other departments that could house all of my interests. However, when I found the LJST department at Amherst, it was a near perfect fit. LJST focuses on legal questions through a variety of lenses and really has allowed me to focus on my interest in legal theory.

4. Amherst Coffee + Bar

This seems like the least important reason a person could possibly choose a college. However, during my college search I ended up visiting the town of Amherst and finding Amherst Coffee + Bar. Coming from Southern California, it was hard for me to imagine living without a Starbucks in walking distance (though there is one within a 10-minute bus ride). The other liberal arts college I was looking at seemed so far from what I had known that I couldn’t imagine ever feeling fully at home. So, when I found Amherst Coffee and took my first sip of the Chai Latte there, I knew that there was at least one place that felt like home at Amherst.

If you ever want to find me, I am still there twice a week in a back booth drinking a chai latte and probably frantically finishing a reading.

In the end, it was a pretty great reason for choosing Amherst.

October 22, 2021

Have you ever done chemistry sets next to a pre-historic Mammoth skeleton? Or written an essay on petroleum politics next to priceless Assyrian artifacts?

Well, here at Amherst, we make the whole school our library. From day-long study sessions at Valentine (Val) Dining Hall to half an hour cramming in our state-of-the-art science building, you will find students making classrooms out of anywhere and everywhere.

Here are my top five study gems at Amherst and why:

5. The Octagon

Though buildings do formally close at night, it’s not unusual to see students using classrooms for study spaces. This semester I have a class, Thinking Law with Shakespeare, in the second floor of the Octagon. A bright yellow building on the far side of the college, the Octagon is fitted with beautiful crown molding, a winding staircase leading to balcony view and vintage chairs (which creak like they came with the school).

You can curl up against the bench seats in the corner and read for hours, which I have done on more than one occasion. The smell of the place takes you back to a time of paper and ink rather than keyboards and word documents. The round table is perfect for study sessions with friends but for me it is definitely a place of quiet grinding.

4. The Pratt Study Room

The newest (and, admittedly, nicest) freshman dorm is Charles Pratt where the writing center is housed. On the second floor there is separate study space with views of the rolling hills behind the Science Center and, if you get there early enough, you can spend all day studying with friends without any pesky intruders.

3. Science Center

As a non-STEM major, I don’t get to spend much class time in our brand-new Science Center. But I do spend quite a bit of my study time there. The first floor can get loud close to midterms/finals but if you look around you can find quite a few small gems. The basement level has comfy chairs and couches that look out into an atrium where chipmunks climb the trees and run through the soft grasses. On the second floor there is a small nook looking out onto the hills behind the science center and all throughout there are individual lounges for various departments.

2. Beneski

Our natural history museum that also houses our geology department, Beneski is definitely one of the more modern buildings on campus. The second floor has quite a few tables for individual or group studying and there is a large room with a 6-person table and couches, perfect for discussions. And, most importantly, you get a great view of our mascot.

1. In town

Though not technically on campus, my favorite place to do a whole day study binge is in town. The town of Amherst is a 5–10-minute walk from campus and has a bunch of great restaurants, coffee shops and a bookstore perfect for studying. If you read my last blog post you’ll know I am partial to Amherst Coffee + Bar but the town has tons of options perfect for getting away from distractions and grinding out that 5000 word paper you didn’t start until the day of.

At Amherst, we don’t just live the work-hard, play-hard model, we are constantly looking for ways to make ourselves more efficient and to maximize the limited hours in our days. That’s why its so important that our campus has a perfect study spot for everyone.

It’s just a matter of finding yours.

October 29, 2021

If you have ever gotten a brochure from Amherst, you will quickly pick up on one thing - our open curriculum. In fact, for many of you it is probably what drew you to the school in the first place. However, if you are at all like I was in my senior year of high school, you probably want to know what the open curriculum actually means when it comes to registration. So, here is a little bit about my registration experience at Amherst.

When you eventually decide to come to Amherst (a given), the first step toward registration will be getting assigned an advisor. Your advisor won’t necessarily be in your intended major (if you have one), but they will generally be who you turn to with questions about course selection. As professors, they are also a great resource if you have questions about the college in general or worries about classes.

During your first meeting with your adviser, you will discuss what courses you are interested in for the next semester. However, it is important to note that your first semester at Amherst you will only be registering for three courses rather than the traditional four.

Your fourth class will be a first-year seminar. Unlike every other class you will take at Amherst, you won’t register for your first-year seminar the traditional way. Instead, over the summer you will be asked to rank your preferences from a list of provided seminar courses. I, for example, am taking a first-year seminar called Progress? where we discuss a variety of readings from different subject areas (Hobbes’ Leviathan to the Letter from Birmingham Jail) and analyze what they tell us about how and whether or not the world is progressing. When you get assigned your first-year seminar, it is also the only class you can’t drop or change traditionally - which means you are likely stuck with what you get. The good news is that most people get one of their top choices for their seminar.

It is also important to mention that in your first semester, advisers really emphasize exploring the open curriculum. While they won’t ever force you to take one course or another, they are required to sign off on all of your intended courses prior to registration. So, if you had the intention of solely taking classes in a single department, do know that your adviser will probably not approve your classes for registration. However, that does not mean your schedule has to be highly diversified. All of my classes this semester are in the social sciences - I have one LJST class, one political science class, a psychology class and my first-year seminar. I also got all of my first-choice classes during registration.

While it might not always work out that you get your first choice, the advantage to a small school is that professors genuinely answer their emails. So, one easy way to get into a class you weren’t able to register for is shooting the professor an email or talking to them the first day of class.

Regardless of what classes you do take your first semester though, registration at Amherst is generally an exciting - though nowhere near perfect - process.

November 5, 2021

Now that October has faded away and we are staring down the barrel of winter, I thought it would be a good time to talk a little bit about what it is really like to go to college across the country and all that it involves: seasonal changes, homesickness, and adjusting to the new space.

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Seasonal Changes

Coming from Southern California, I knew that adapting to Massachusetts weather was going to be a struggle. I had seen pictures of gigantic snow drifts and heard about 4pm sunsets. I was prepared to suffer through it all so long as I could return to my 72-degree weather and palm trees by mid-December. What I didn’t expect, however, was how much I would come to enjoy the seasons here.

Fall at Amherst is truly beautiful and just a week into October, all of my East Coast friends would become tired of how often I stop to stare at the trees or make remarks like “wow that’s a lot of orange.” So, while the weather does have its downsides - I can’t say that I will ever love putting on multiple coats and a beanie just to leave the dorm - the beauty here does make it worth it.

Homesickness and Orientation

Another struggle that comes with the cross-country move is homesickness. While this is true for every first-year, from those moving internationally to just down the block, it can be harder hitting for those so far from home. The good news is that Amherst has a ton of things to distract you.

While Orientation week is not necessarily made up of the most stimulating activities (though your Orientation Leader might disagree), your first week at Amherst you have a built-in support system with your Orientation group. Though I kind of mocked the idea at first, some of my closest friends have come from my Orientation group and just having people to spend time with my first week made a giant difference in fending off homesickness.

Adapting to a Small Town

Finally, perhaps the largest facet of the cross-country move is adjusting to your new space. For me that meant moving from a more urban environment to the cozy town of Amherst. I expected to feel some sense of isolation, being without a car and so separated from any major city. However, adapting to the smaller town lifestyle came to me much easier than I had originally thought. While I still get annoyed at how long Uber Eats takes here, I quickly came to love my routine and the sense of community that is pretty impossible to find in Southern California.

Overall, I can say my cross-country move has been a lot smoother than I had thought. Since Amherst is so diverse, I am constantly meeting fellow Californians to bond with over missing Mexican food and complaining about traffic back home. So even when you do miss the weather back home or the food, there is always someone there to make you feel more at home.

November 12, 2021

At Amherst we spend a lot of time thinking about food.

“What’s for dinner?”

“Should I go for the stir fry or the pizza tonight?”

“Think the salad bar will have the pesto tortellini?”

But eventually, when eating another meal at Val sounds like the most boring thing that can be done, the conversation turns to the town.

There are quite a few restaurants you can choose from in Amherst. If you are from a city, you will have less options than normal - but don’t you worry - there will still be enough to fight with friends over.

Here are some of my top favorites:

1. Miss Saigon
2. Antonio’s
3. Taste of Thai
4. Bistro 63
5. Bueno y Sano

Amherst has a ton of options you can check out, but we also have access to the PVTA, a bus which connects us to surrounding towns such as Hadley, Northampton and Holyoke. Northampton in particular is a great area with tons going on. It is the town where Smith College is located and has a bunch of fantastic restaurants, coffee shops, and cheap bookstores.

If you are worried about being bored or lacking options because of the small surrounding town, Northampton is a really great place to explore. The PVTA opens a lot of doors for us and is entirely free.

Recently, I went with friends to a great Mediterranean restaurant called Amanouz Café in Northampton and then explored Raven Bookstore in town. It was tons of fun and super easy with the Transit app which gives all of the PVTA bus times and even maps out how long it will take you to get to the nearest bus stop.

At Amherst, you can make your circle as wide or as narrow as you’d like. If sticking to Val and the town of Amherst fits you well, you have a bunch of options at your disposal. But, if you want to widen your “culinary net,” it is most definitely possible here. We have food trucks on campus every Thursday, and with the PVTA bus, you aren’t limited by what’s in walking distance.