| Full-time undergraduate program |
The town of Amherst is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and
UMASS-Amherst. Together with Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges (both all
female and located about 20 minutes from Amherst), these schools make up
the "Five College" program. This means that you can take classes at or
access the facilities of any of the other four schools. It also means
that the entire area is saturated with students and the various
businesses that support them. The town of Amherst is cute and "college-
y" with a large town commo and many shops, bars and restaurants of every
kind. A good free bus system provides transport among the five
colleges, as well as to Northampton, a funky/hippie town about 10 miles
north of Amherst.
Though abundant off-campus housing is available and cheap, the quality
of campus facilities keeps 98% of students living in the dorms. these
range from more instituional, standard dormitories (mostly for freshmen,
all of whome lvie on the main quad of the College), to apartment-like
modern dorms, and refurbished old fraternity houses, complete with
libraries and fireplaces. A few fraternities still exist off-campus
(they were banned by the College in 1983 after it became coed), and they
are options as well. Wherever you live, you'll have access to the
excellent, just-reonvated athletic facilities, as well as the campus
center (with coffee shop), and the dining hall (only one for the entire
campus, but the food is generally varied and pretty good).
Atheltics are a big deal, given the college's size. 27 varsity teams are
fielded, with over 30% of students playing a sport. For the weekend
warrior, 80% of students participate in some phys ed activity, whether
it's a class to elarn golf, an entry into the intramural flag football
tourney, or a spot on the intensive club teams (rugby and crew among
them). For eveyr team, the rivalry with Williams provides the buiggest
game each season, with the fotball game vs. the "Ephs" drawing 8,000
plus alumni, as well as national TV coverage.
The campus is a mix of styles, with the stately, new-england academic
style pervading. It is beuatiful for walking, as is the adjacent
wildlife sanctuary, and crime is nonexistent.
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