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An Amherst Education Prepares You for the World
Our rigorous liberal-arts education empowers you to explore ideas freely, create novel connections, and advance knowledge for the greater good. Amherst fosters innovative and critical thinking and prizes curiosity, a foundation that prepares our students for fulfilling careers, service to society, and a lifetime of intellectual engagement.
Amherst Facts
More Facts80%
Percentage of Amherst alumni who report that they have attended graduate or professional school
86%
Percentage of Amherst courses that have fewer than 30 students
Meet Our Mammoths
Take Courses That Inspire You
Our approach to education is simple: Take courses that excite and inspire you. With no core educational requirements, you choose the courses that matter to you. Our open curriculum means your classes will be filled with inquisitive, engaged classmates who are committed to the topic.
AcademicsDistinctive Courses
Our open curriculum lets you choose among interesting classes taught by exceptional faculty.
- Arts
- Humanities
- Science & Math
- Social Sciences
Arts course in Art and the History of Art, Film and Media Studies, Music
Rhythm Beyond Music
Description
This studio-seminar course explores what rhythm means as it appears across disciplines including philosophy, ecology, neuroscience, and media theory.
Humanities course in Classics
Ancient Environmental Thought
Description
In the midst of climate change, threats of extinction, biotechnology, and advances in genetics, understanding Ancient Greek and Roman ideas about plants, animals, and human beings could help us better understand the human place in nature now.
Social Sciences course in Anthropology and Sociology
Anthropology and Science Fiction
Description
How can anthropology help us understand the cultural assumptions, empirical knowledge, and theories underlying science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, magical realism, and social science fiction?
Science & Math course in Physics
Unruly Matter: Flow, Instability, and Turbulence
Description
This course explores the physics of fluids as dynamical systems, with a focus on how smooth, orderly flows become unstable, nonlinear, and turbulent.
Humanities course in English, Film and Media Studies
True Crime: Unlearning Media
Description
Students will survey the origins of true crime alongside the recent boom in true-crime documentary films, series, and podcasts to understand what drives the voracious public appetite for crime stories.
Science & Math course in Economics
Development Economics
Description
Students will examine economic issues pertinent to developing countries, such as economic growth, structural change, education, health, migration, gender, institutions, aid, and industrial policy.
What Are Mammoths Made Of?
Every Amherst College student arrives with unique skills, insights, creativity, and passion. At Amherst, you’ll thrive individually, and you’ll make the herd stronger. So what exactly are Mammoths made of?
You’re curious about people, places, and everything else.
Our students lead with an inquisitive nature, exploring and embracing the unknown.
You pull things apart to find your own answers.
Amherst students start by knowing something. Then they brainstorm, make new connections, and put everything back together in surprising ways.
You care about the world and about each other.
Mammoths are a supportive bunch, whether forging a path or working together toward the greater good.
Faculty Spotlight
Jeffers Engelhardt, European Studies, Music, Film and Media Studies
Jeffers Engelhardt, Karen and Brian Conway ’80, P’18 Presidential Teaching Professor of Music, has published the book Music and Religion.
Faculty ProfileKatharine Sims, Environmental Studies and Economics
Katharine Sims, James T. Bartlett '59 Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, published a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Faculty ProfileNicholas Horton, Statistics and Data Science
Nicholas J. Horton, Beitzel Professor of Technology and Society (Statistics and Data Science), has been elected president of the American Statistical Association.
Faculty ProfileNews
Events
Keynote Conversation with Presidential Scholar Rhiannon Giddens
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Amherst Lecture in Philosophy
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
How to Defend Yourself
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Celebrating 50 Years of Coeducation
Beginning in 2026 and extending through 2027, we are celebrating one of our most meaningful milestones: the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Amherst. We’re marking five decades of the contributions of women students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We will honor the trailblazers who pushed coeducation forward, and the subsequent generations of women who added new chapters to the story of Amherst.
Learn about 50CO