Dear Class of 2029 admits, congratulations! Although I’m no longer an applicant, I still look forward to college decision notification dates. As soon as Regular Decision acceptances came out last week, I began looking all over the place for Vietnamese students who might come to Amherst next year. I was so happy that two people I knew got admitted! After all, as the only international Vietnamese student in the Class of 2028, I really wish I could hang out with more people from my home country.
If you’re an admitted student in the United States, chances are you’re thinking about going to Be A Mammoth (BAM). I went to BAM two years ago, and it helped me so much in eventually pressing that “commit” button. Although there are no right ways to do BAM (Amherst literally lets you pick and choose whichever way you want to explore the campus, which I think is the best thing ever), there are certain things I did during BAM that really added to my experience. So here are some tips I have for maximizing your BAM experience!
1) Find your admissions dean
I luckily stumbled upon my admissions dean, Will, while trying to find my way to the Science Center. I still cannot forget the fact that he remembered my name (!), even though I was simply an admitted student and hadn’t committed to Amherst at that point. It was a good sign that at Amherst, people know you personally. I was very glad I found Will 🙂
2) Befriend another admitted student
During BAM, I explored the campus with another admitted student (I basically walked up and started talking to her when I saw her sitting by herself), and I was so glad I had someone to talk to while exploring Amherst! It’s nice to have someone who is in the same shoes as you to share your Amherst observations with and give each other advice. It can also make you feel less lonely if you don’t know anyone at Amherst.
3) Show up to on-campus events
I believe that your BAM itinerary probably doesn’t include all the events happening on campus, just those tailored to admitted students. However, don’t shy away from finding other interesting events happening on the days you visit and show up to them! I found out about an AI speaker event on my first day at BAM, came to it, and had a really good time.
Although the event itself wasn’t about Amherst, I ended up learning a lot about how my experience at Amherst would look like if I came here. I wanted to go to more events like these, and even now, I’m still blown away by just how many interesting lecture/speaker events Amherst offers every semester. Also, I met some upperclassmen at the event and was able to learn a thing or two about Amherst from them!
By the way, if you would like to find on-campus events, either check out the college calendar or Amherst Connect, an app that a group of Amherst students built to make it easier to discover events.
4) Stay after class to ask professors questions
A huge part of BAM is visiting actual Amherst classes to see what they are like. I think I went to five or six different classes, and they were all so interesting! However, the most memorable one for me was a Mathematics class because I had a question about the lecture and the professor answered me so enthusiastically. It was then that I knew I would get a top-notch education at Amherst, where professors are approachable and truly care about me. As a current student, I can tell you that the quality of teaching is unbelievably high. In fact, all nine professors I studied with this year are all really good!
Also, talking about classes, from what I noticed as a current student, most STEM classes are on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, whereas most Humanities classes are on Tuesday and Thursday. I hope this information can help you decide what classes to go to on what day.
5) Visit the Keefe Campus Center during lunch
My favorite memory from BAM was when I visited the Keefe Campus Center and stopped by CISE (Center for International Student Engagement), and all the students who were having lunch there welcomed me so wholeheartedly. As soon as I walked in and they noticed me, all of them said hi, asked me to introduce myself, and introduced themselves. It felt like home.
6) Ask difficult questions
During BAM, I asked a lot of people about things they disliked about Amherst. It’s not because I hated Amherst or anything (else why would I apply to it in the first place). It’s because I believed it was important to fully understand a school before committing to it. The replies I got ranged everywhere from “I absolutely love Amherst, no complaints” to “Don’t come here as a CS major.” It was very informative to hear different perspectives and see Amherst come to life as an actual school itself, not the one I’ve been staring at on the Internet all this time.
And that’s all my advice for you, for now! Of course, if you have any questions about Amherst, feel free to reach out to me at thuhoang28@amherst.edu. I believe that no matter where you end up, hopefully Amherst, you’ll shine! Good luck with choosing your home-to-be for the next four years (and hope you’ll be a Mammoth!)