Admissions

On applying: There are so many articles out there. Read them all. Don't write a resume-recap-essay. Do be unique. Yada yada yada...

On deciding: Amherst is the best college ever. Public schools will be like your HS all over again and Amherst is actually cheaper for me since I got great financial aid. Private universities, even the elite ones, are more diverse, but there are still tons of HUGE intro classes taught by grad school students. Liberal arts colleges have the diversity of elite private schools but have small class sizes. Within the liberal arts colleges, most are in the middle of nowhere (Williams, Middlebury), and then a 1200 student body might get too restricting. Amherst is in the Five College Consortium, so there are four other colleges nearby and always new people to meet. So basically, we rock. :)

If you come here (which you will): Go to everything during orientation. Avoid forming cliques early.

Make sure you do as much research as you can. Look at the types of classes and clubs the school offers and see if they interest you. I also suggest staying the night for a visit, that is what made me decide to stay.

Make sure you go to office hours! The professors are very receptive and will often help you organize your papers or tell you what they're looking for. It's an easy way to boost your grade, and make contacts for future letters of recommendation.
Go to Judie's and get the popover with apple butter sauce (it's delicious)
Make use of the career center, and the dean of students office - they're incredibly nice and helpful.
Try a club sport - it helps you meet people and get outside for some easy, relaxed exercise and it's a great way to get your mind off work for a little while.

Extremely competitive. Based on my short experience with the student body here, Amherst is looking for a student that will really fit into the Amherst way of life and thinking (I know that sounds vague, but let me be more clear).Amherst, as I stated earlier, is the type of school, due to the no-requirements system, that really puts faith into its students for creating their own perfect and personalized education. What this means, in terms of applicants, is that they really look for a student who did as much as they could with the resources and background they had. The overarching theme here seems to be that you must develop your skills in thinking, in interaction, and in community so that when you graduate, you can take on any profession with these fundamentals for success. This means they want students who are extremely engaged, intellectual and not all numbers. In other words, they're looking for incredible people, not necessarily just for incredible students. If you can define yourself and your character in a few lines in a resume, they will see that and it's not what they're looking for.

I also think a prospective student should acknowledge reality. Amherst traditionally loses accepted students to colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc., so if you fall in love with Amherst- consider applying early. It not only looks good for them (since their matriculation is higher, and especially if you're a particularly strong student), but it will give you a slight slight edge in terms of acceptance.

As I'm sure you've heard from other schools, make sure you take the most rigorous classes available to you. That and be involved in your school and community.

If you are looking for an academically challenging setting, but also enjoy sports and any other random activity or just plainly having fun, Amherst is the place for you. The amherst moto ought to be changed to Work Hard, Play hard.