Amherst College Regular Decision Supplement to the QuestBridge Application

This supplement is to be completed by QuestBridge students who have submitted only the QuestBridge Application and not the Common Application or the Coalition Application.

Applicant Information

First Name*

Middle Name

Last Name*

Birthdate*

QuestBridge ID*

Email Address*

Mailing Address*

Country

Street

City

Region

Postal Code

Test-Optional Choice

Amherst College has adopted a test-optional pilot program for SAT/ACT testing for first-year applicants to the Class of 2027. The test-optional policy applies to all applicants – domestic and international – applying for first-year admission to the Class of 2027. At their own discretion, applicants may choose to submit SAT and/or ACT scores for consideration as part of the application review process, but SAT/ACT test scores are not required for admission.

Applicants who choose to have their standardized test scores considered in the review of their application may submit either self-reported or officially reported SAT/ACT scores at the application review and admission stage. Among those applicants who choose to submit self-reported scores, only those who are subsequently admitted and decide to attend Amherst will be required to submit official score reports confirming self-reported scores. For more information on the submission of SAT/ACT scores, see our Information about Standardized Testing.

As an applicant to Amherst, you must respond to the question below, indicating whether you do or do not want your SAT and/or ACT scores to be considered as part of the application review process. To provide as much flexibility as possible within the constraints of our overall admission process and timeline, however, we are also providing applicants with an opportunity to make a subsequent, one-time change to their initial test-optional choice through submission of another form available on their Application Status Portal (a secure online site personalized for each Amherst applicant). Regular Decision applicants must notify us of that change by Tuesday, January 3. Applicants are permitted to change their initial test-optional choice once and no change in testing plan choice will be permitted after January 3.

Do you want your standardized testing (SAT and/or ACT) to be considered in the evaluation of your application?*

Yes

What test scores do you want to be considered?*

Consider my SAT test scores only.

Consider my ACT test scores only.

Consider both my SAT and ACT test scores.

Gender Identity Information (Optional)

If you wish to share with us additional information about your gender identity, please complete the following fields:

Please indicate your gender identities:

Agender

Cisgender

Gender non-conforming

Genderqueer

Man

Non-binary

Trans / Transgender

Woman

Another gender identity

Prefer not to respond

Please specify another gender identity:

Pronouns

She/her

He/him

They/them

Another set of pronouns

Prefer not to respond

Please specify another set of pronouns:

Do you identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community?

Briefly describe the nature of your affiliation with the LGBTQ+ community. (Maximum: 75 words)

Religious Preference

Information about religious preference is used in our admission process to understand each applicant's full context, as part of our whole-person review process. Your responses will not be used for a discriminatory purpose.

If you wish to share information about your religious preference, please complete the following field. (To select more than one religious preference, hold down your "CTRL" key while clicking on desired choices.)

Religious Preference

Additional Information

At Amherst we know that identity is more than checkboxes. If you would like to share more about your identity, background, family, culture or community, please tell us more here. (Maximum: 175 words)

Have you applied to Amherst College in any previous year?*

Yes

If yes, what year?

Do you have any any relatives who are or were students at Amherst College?*

Yes

Name

Graduating Class

Relationship

Required Supplemental Writing

In addition to the essays you are writing as part of the QuestBridge application, Amherst requires a supplemental writing submission from all applicants. There are three options for satisfying Amherst's supplementary writing requirement: Option A, Option B or Option C. You may select only one of these options. Before deciding, carefully read the descriptions of all three options.

Option A
Please respond to one of the following quotations in an essay of not more than 300 words. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.

1.    “Rigorous reasoning is crucial in mathematics, and insight plays an important secondary role these days. In the natural sciences, I would say that the order of these two virtues is reversed. Rigor is, of course, very important. But the most important value is insight—insight into the workings of the world. It may be because there is another guarantor of correctness in the sciences, namely, the empirical evidence from observation and experiments.”
Kannan Jagannathan, Professor of Physics, Amherst College

2.    “Translation is the art of bridging cultures. It’s about interpreting the essence of a text, transporting its rhythms and becoming intimate with its meaning…Translation, however, doesn’t only occur across languages: mentally putting any idea into words is an act of translation; so is composing a symphony, doing business in the global market, understanding the roots of terrorism. No citizen, especially today, can exist in isolation – that is, untranslated.”
Ilan Stavans, Professor of Latin American and Latino Culture, Amherst College, Robert Croll ’16 and Cedric Duquene ’15, adapted from the original print version of “Interpreting Terras Irradient,” Amherst Magazine, Spring 2015.

3.    “Creating an environment that allows students to build lasting friendships, including those that cut across seemingly entrenched societal and political boundaries…requires candor about the inevitable tensions, as well as about the wonderful opportunities, that diversity and inclusiveness create.”
Carolyn "Biddy" Martin, 19th President of Amherst College, from Letter to Amherst College Alumni and Families, December 28, 2015.

4.    “Difficulty need not foreshadow despair or defeat. Rather achievement can be all the more satisfying because of obstacles surmounted.”
Attributed to William Hastie, Amherst Class of 1925, the first African-American to serve as a judge for the United States Court of Appeal.

Option B
Please submit a graded paper from your junior or senior year that best represents your writing skills and analytical abilities. We are particularly interested in your ability to construct a tightly reasoned, persuasive argument that calls upon literary, sociological or historical evidence. You should NOT submit a laboratory report, journal entry, creative writing sample or in-class essay.

Option C
If you were an applicant to Amherst's Diversity Open House (A2A) weekend program, you may use your A2A application essay in satisfaction of our Supplemental Writing requirement. If you would like to do so, please select Option C; we will then transfer your previously received A2A essay to your Regular Decision application file. However, if you would prefer not to use your A2A essay for this purpose and you want to submit a different writing supplement, select either Option A or Option B. [Please note that Option C is available only to students who were applicants to Amherst's A2A program.]

After reading the above descriptions of Option A, Option B and Option C, please indicate which writing option you have selected for completion:

Option A

Option B

Option C

Instructions for Submission of Supplemental Writing

If you have selected Option A (essay) or Option B (paper), you must submit your supplemental writing by the Regular Decision deadline of January 3, in one of the following ways: upload below, scan and email, fax, or mail.

Upload:

Scan & Email: Scan your document and send as an attachment by email to admission@amherst.edu with a subject line that includes your full name and the notation "QB-RD Supplemental Writing." Be sure to put your name and date of birth at the top of your document so that we can accurately match it to your application.

Fax: Fax your document to (413) 542-2040. Be sure to put your name and date of birth at the top of your document so that we can accurately match it to your application.

Mail: Mail your document to Office of Admission, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst MA 01002-5000. Be sure to put your name and date of birth at the top of your document so that we can accurately match it to your application.

Optional Research Supplement

Have you engaged in research in the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences or humanities that was undertaken independently of your high school curriculum?

Yes

Please provide a brief description of the research project (50-75 words maximum):

Where, when and under whose mentorship did you conduct this research? (Provide mentor's name, title and institutional affiliation.)

If your research has been submitted to any national competition (e.g., Siemens, Intel) and/or accepted for professional publication, please provide additional details:

Optional Arts Supplement

Students who have talents or accomplishments in the areas of music, dance, theater or visual arts may submit supplementary arts materials for review by Amherst faculty for consideration as part of the admission process. Arts supplements should be submitted online through the designated section of your Application Status Portal, a secure online site personalized for each Amherst applicant. For more information on arts supplement requirements and submission, please review our Special Information for Arts Supplements webpage.

Are you considering submitting an arts supplement to Amherst?

Yes.

No.

Possibly, I'm not sure yet.

Regular Decision Supplement Submission

When you are ready to submit your completed Regular Decision Supplement, use the "Submit" button below.

Agnostic
Anglican (Episcopal)
Assemblies of God
Atheist
Bahá'í
Baptist
Buddhist
Caodaiist
Cheondoist
Christian (Nondenominational)
Christian Scientist
Church of Christ
Church of World Messianity
Confucianist
Congregationalist (UCC)
Disciples of Christ
Eastern Orthodox
Evangelical Covenant Church
Friend (Quaker)
Hindu
Jain
Jehovah's Witness
Jewish
Latter-day Saint (Mormon)
Lutheran
Mennonite
Methodist
Moravian
Muist
Muslim
None
Oriental Orthodoxy
Other
Other - Christian
Pentecostal
Presbyterian
Rastafari
Reformed
Roman Catholic
Scientology
Seicho-no-Ie-ist
Seventh Day Adventist
Shintoist
Sikh
Taoist
Tenrikyoist
Unitarian Universalist (UU)
Wiccan (Pagan)
Yazidi