College profile
Amherst College
MA · Private nonprofit · Small city · 12,727 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Built for the AI economy. About 1 in 9 degrees here is already in AI, computer science, or data fields. This campus is leaning into the shift, not waiting for it.
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 94% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 4% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 46% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- The 8× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$87,640/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$23,367/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~8× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Highly selectiveHighly selective reach for nearly every applicant.
Best for
- Strong academic profiles — students here cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Students drawn to Social Sciences or Biological & Biomedical Sciences (the two biggest majors)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1360, or ACT below 31, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
- High cost — full price is ~$87,640/yr without aid, and aid-receiving families still average ~$23,367/yr — verify the major's earnings track record before committing
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
38% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 17% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Amherst College actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Amherst College's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Amherst College's own published aid policy · 2026-27
"Our financial aid meets your 100% of your full calculated need - there is no gap or unmet need in your financial aid offer."
Income thresholds assume typical assets — and this college uses the CSS Profile, which can count home equity and business value the federal form ignores. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$426K ahead at full price +$683K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Amherst College
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Amherst College actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Amherst College's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $142,680 |
| Economics. | $141,730 |
| Mathematics. | $124,324 |
| History. | $103,601 |
| Research and Experimental Psychology. | $69,204 |
| Area Studies. | $68,618 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | $65,195 |
| Political Science and Government. | $63,754 |
| Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics. | $60,212 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to Amherst College
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Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Amherst College?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
100 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Amherst College on it. Between them they printed 317 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Amherst College, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 88 more
Published, but not ranked — these schools name Amherst College on a list of where their graduates enrolled whose class years we cannot read ("Since 2023", or no class year printed), so their totals are shown rather than divided: St Andrew'S School (5, Since 2023); Pierrepont School (4, not stated).
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
6 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Amherst College on it. Between them they printed 27 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Amherst College, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 104 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantAmherst College is a private nonprofit four-year college in MA. It admitted 10% of applicants (12,727 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1360–1550, ACT 31–35. 38% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 17% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $23,367 a year on average with aid, $87,640 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $77,644 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $682,972 ahead with aid, $425,880 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($142,680); Economics ($141,730); Mathematics ($124,324).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 46% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Aid pledge published by the college for 2026-27: aid packages carry no loans; the college meets full demonstrated need.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Amherst College: 100, 317 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Blair Academy (3.0 per class year, 3 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); The Williston Northampton School (3.0 per class year, 3 over 1 class year, Class of 2026 / Classes of 2022-2025, counted column "Class of 2026 Matriculation List"); Punahou School (2.8 per class year, 11 over 4 class years, the past four years (2022 – 2025)). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/amherst-college.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Amherst College: 6, 27 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often The Chapin School (3.2 per class year, 16 over 5 class years, 2022-2026, counted column "Admitted"); Archbishop Mitty High School (2.0 per class year, 2 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); National Cathedral School (1.0 per class year, 3 over 3 class years, 2023-2025). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/amherst-college.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/amherst-college.json