Amherst College

Image from Wikimedia Commons
David Emmerman, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Amherst College is an elite liberal arts college in western Massachusetts. Amherst touts its history (over 200 years old), diversity, rigor, and excellent financial aid. They have no general education requirements, so many students double major. Thirty-two percent of Amherst students participate in their Division III athletics programs.

Affordability: Amherst meets 100% of demonstrated need without student loans. In theory, Amherst is affordable for any student admitted. However, they do not offer merit aid. Higher income students will pay full price, which is high. According to NCES data, most students do not take out loans (11% of freshman borrowed an average of $8,944 in 2020-21).

Rankings:

#2 liberal arts colleges, U.S. News
#14 colleges and universities, CollegeSimply
#11 best liberal arts colleges, Niche

Popular Majors (NCES):

Econometrics
Computer Science
Math
Political Science
English
Psychology
Biology

Students, Admissions, enrollment, graduation rates (NCES):

1,971 undergraduate students
9% acceptance rate
42% enrolled
92% graduation rate