Amherst College

What are the graduation rates for students at Amherst College?

Amherst's reported six-year graduation rate is 94% for the applicable cohort of first-time, full-time students seeking a bachelor's degree. Its reported four-year rate is 75%. These measures follow entering cohorts over different lengths of time; they are not the share of all students, including transfers, who graduate in a particular calendar year.

The reported first-year retention rate is 97%, meaning most students in the measured first-time cohort returned the following year. Graduation and retention figures provide useful evidence about persistence, but they do not explain why individual students stay, leave, or take longer to finish. Transfers and students whose enrollment patterns differ from the federal cohort definition may have experiences not captured by these headline rates.

What is the earning potential for graduates at Amherst College?

Federal program-level earnings figures offer a limited view of income about one year after completing an Amherst degree. Among the reported fields, the one-year figure is $96,310 for computer science and $78,775 for economics; mathematics is reported at $64,970. These are field-specific measures, not a promised starting salary for every graduate.

College Scorecard program earnings are generally reported as medians for federally aided students in the measured completion cohort whose earnings can be matched to administrative records. A median divides the measured group into two halves; it is not the average or the highest observed salary. The figures may exclude graduates whose earnings cannot be measured in that system, and reporting rules can suppress results for small groups.

Timing is especially important at a liberal arts college. A one-year measure may not capture later career changes, graduate or professional study, unpaid training, or differences in where graduates live and work. For example, the reported one-year figure for biology is $24,621; interpreting it without considering postgraduate education or the measured population would be misleading. Students can use these data to frame questions about a major, but not to predict their own income.