Oftentimes, many people choose not to come to Amherst because of the location. Though the school is located only an hour and a half away from Boston, it can be inconvenient to travel outside of the college and Western Massachusetts, especially since a large number of Amherst students don’t own a car. However, the great part of being a student at Amherst is the access to the Five College Consortium, which consists of Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, known as UMass Amherst.
So far, I have only visited Mount Holyoke and Smith, but I plan on visiting Hampshire and UMass eventually. Since Amherst and UMass share downtown Amherst, I often see UMass students whenever I head into town. However, I find that most people at Amherst who have friends at the five colleges usually have friends at either Mount Holyoke or Smith. All five colleges are accessible from Amherst by the free PVTA, which is great since the colleges often host events that are open to the whole consortium. One event that Amherst hosted that drew a lot of students from the five colleges was the Sidney Gish concert that took place in the Powerhouse. The vast majority of students that attended seemed to be from outside of Amherst College. Similarly, last October, UMass had a concert in which NIKI performed, and many of my Amherst friends attended. I attended an event hosted at Mount Holyoke by a local bookstore in which Franny Choi discussed her new poetry book with the local and renowned author Ocean Vuong. There’s also a Five College dance community email blast that sends information about dance events and tryouts happening across the consortium. I have a friend who is very involved in the dance community at Amherst and has been part of performances at Mount Holyoke.
Other than attending events and meeting other students invested in liberal arts education, the five colleges are a great academic resource as students can reserve resources across all five colleges through the respective library systems. For example, if UMass has a book that I would like to read, I can place a reservation and access it through the Amherst College Frost Library system. Additionally, students can register for classes at any of the colleges in the consortium. I have a friend who took a history class at Smith last semester. Unfortunately, taking a class at one of the other colleges outside of Amherst means that students have to figure out technical issues in terms of traveling and timing. Classes aren’t the only educational resource the five college offers. One of my friends also visited the museum at Mount Holyoke on a class field trip, and as I mentioned in my post about museums, the Eric Carle Museum at Hampshire College is a place that many people love to visit.
There are tons of benefits to accessing the five college consortium as an Amherst college student, and I look forward to being able to explore more of what this system has to offer.