As a junior in high school, I've recently been looking at colleges. I've been looking for a school with an English Major preferably with a focused in creative writing. So this Christmas break my parents handed me the Fisk College Guide and said to look and report back, ASAP. Their pushing and prodding paid off and this past spring break my father and I went down to Massachusetts to look at three colleges: Bard which was actually in New York, University of Massachusetts Amherst and Amherst College. At all three of these schools I took their tour and visited an English class. So here are my impressions.
Bard is a small Liberal Arts college of thirteen-hundred students. As one student said, everyone knows everyone else at least by face if not by name. Walking around the large campus, you'll see a variety of buildings ranging from old farm houses with stone bottoms to their new ultra-modern performing arts building. As I took the campus tour and looked around, I saw tons of bikes. The one thing that struck me as odd though, was that almost none of them were locked up. No one was even keeping an eye on them. My tour guide said there is a very low crime rate at Bard, so people don't worry about their belongings being stolen. But he did say your bike might be borrowed for an hour if someone is late for class and needs to get there in a hurry. However, the campus is pretty spread out so driving might be nice once that cold New England Winter hits. Especially if you want to go somewhere on the weekend since it's a rural community.
Academically, Bard is one tough cookie. Its work load is extremely rigorous, developed to bring the best out of its students. Yet while the classes are hard, the only class you have to take is the Freshman Seminar. After that you choose your own classes to fulfill the requirements. I actually sat in on one of the English classes called Innovated Contemporary Fiction. Sitting in on this class I found that it was very similar to AP Language and Composition offered at high schools... only in more of a seminar structure. I sat off to the side while the class actually sat in a circle around a large table. I observed the teachers acting more like guides than didactic instructors. The only down side of the class was that it was two hours of sitting on very hard wooden chairs. By the end of the class I had to shift about every ten minutes.
Before I visited Bard, I thought it was the perfect school for me. However, I left not really liking it. One of the main things that turned me away was its small size. Thirteen-hundred people is really not that many, even if it means that most of my classes would only have thirteen people in them. Also, Bard came off as kind of snotty. To me, they seemed to have an "if-you're-not-already-accepted-we-really-don't-care" kind of attitude. Also when it came to students' opinions on current events, they were almost all uniformly left of left. While I don't mind their views, I would like to have more diversity of opinion at the school I go to. If you would like to know more about Bard, you can check it out at www.bard.edu .
University of Massachusetts Amherst was easily my favorite college on this trip. UMass has roughly 26,000 students on its campus, yet somehow it doesn't seem to be that large. It has five residence halls you can stay at for all four years. Also, UMass is part of a five college consortium with other elite colleges around Amherst such as Amherst College, Smith, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke. Through this program, it's possible to take classes from any of theses other colleges for no additional charge. You can also go to any of the events held at the colleges. As for transportation, there is a free bus that goes between the colleges. UMass, is a large campus and many kids drive. ((However this is not a must. There is a free campus bus that comes around every ten minutes. As to getting out side of Amherst there's a Peter Pan bus that comes into campus for which you can buy tickets.))
Academically, UMass offers a wide range possibility. This is nice especially for incoming freshmen or prospective students who aren't really sure what they want to major in. They offer a variety of majors ranging from Engineering to English. While classes aren't as small as some private schools, they aren't all large either. While some of the lectures may have a hundred students in them, the more focused classes usually have only 35 or so students in them. One of the classes I visited had no more than fifteen students. As for the faculty and staff, they are very friendly and approachable. I visited a class while I was at Umass and it was very different from the one at Bard. For one it was shorter, and secondly they included me in the class and discussion.
As for my opinion on UMass, I really liked it. It was large and had plenty of opportunity and choices, a lot more than many smaller colleges can offer. Also it was part of the five college consortium, which would allow me to take classes at other colleges that UMass didn't have to offer. Most importantly, though, was that UMass really made me feel welcome. They had a really good program set up for prospective students. I was able to take a tour, visit a class, a have an interview with student representatives. In short, they really made it feel like they wanted me there. For more information you can check them out at: www.umass.edu/umhome/index.html
Amherst College is another small Liberal Arts school with only 1600 students. The campus matches the student body size and is very centralized to the Freshmen Quad. You can have a car but it is really unnecessary. Amherst is presently under construction that will be going on for a few years. Amherst, like UMass is also part of the five college consortium. Amherst College is located just out of downtown Amherst, a major college town, and about five to ten minutes from UMass.
Academically, Amherst is structured so that its students can get exactly what they want. This means that if you never want to take another math class in your life and your major doesn't require you to, then no more math. The teachers at Amherst are very welcoming. I visited Fiction Writing II which was taught by Ms. Newman. Originally I had planned to just sit in the corner and observe but instead she invited me to sit at their little round table and participate in their free write. So I was given a spice, which was that day's prompt, and wrote about what ever came to mind. Afterwards, we read them aloud. The end result... I was extremely jealous of their skills. During the rest of the class, the students went over each others' papers giving the author feedback and suggestions.
As for my impression about Amherst, I liked it. It was a nice small Liberal Arts school with access to other schools. Also the campus was gorgeous and the people were friendly. As for making me feel welcomed, they did. If you would like more information about Amherst College you can check out their website at: www.amhert.edu .
The college search
