Campus Life

Campus Life

Life at Amherst is Unexpected

From spike ball on the Quad to comedy improv to giant art installations, life on campus is packed with fun and enriching experiences.

Life at Amherst is Proud

Students show Purple Pride all year long—on fields and courts, at festivals, at performances, and always at the Homecoming bonfire.

Life at Amherst is Vibrant

All around campus, students find communities in which they become involved — spaces for dancing, chatting, creating — spaces that become like second homes.

Life at Amherst is Caring

From volunteering in local schools to harvesting vegetables on the campus farm, Amherst students find meaningful ways to make the world a better place.

Amherst students have many opportunities to enrich their educations through co-curricular and extracurricular activities. A student might go to hear a guest speaker in anthropology, take a karate class, sing in an a cappella concert, and help paint a house with Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity—all in a single week. Explore the many aspects of social life at Amherst and see which ones excite you the most.

Student Organizations

Students lead more than 100 autonomous organizations (known as Registered Student Organizations), including groups for activism, religious cultural affinity groups, intramural sports, arts clubs, a debate team, a radio station, and more.

Housing

97 percent of students live on campus, and housing is guaranteed for all four years. First-year students live in new or renovated residences on the Main Quad. Our Theme Houses offer learning-by-living opportunities.

Dining

The Amherst College dining experience is much more than great food. It is a community experience focused on great service, culinary expertise, and fresh, local and natural ingredients with a commitment to environmental and social responsibility.

Fitness & Recreation

Athletics are a vibrant part of life at Amherst, from recreation to intramurals to 27 NCAA Division III teams. Facilities include playing fields, a fitness center, a pool, courts, and an ice rink.

Our Beautiful Campus

Located adjacent to Amherst, a town of 35,000 people in the western part of the state, Amherst College has a scenic 1,000-acre campus and includes a 500-acre wildlife sanctuary. See a slideshow and more on our Visiting Amherst page.

Events

Amherst always has a full calendar with lots of community events — including fall and winter festivals, our internationally themed City Streets Festival, the formal but friendly Pindar Dinners, and much more.

Town Life