Is NYU or Amherst better for a liberal arts education?

Amherst is the better choice for the kind of liberal arts education you described. It is a small residential liberal arts college built around broad exploration, close faculty interaction, and discussion-heavy classes, while NYU is a large research university where the experience can vary a lot by school and program. If your priority is seminars, intellectual range, and a campus culture centered on undergraduate learning, Amherst aligns more directly with that model.

One major difference is structure and scale. Amherst’s open curriculum gives students unusual freedom to explore across fields without a core requirement system, and that flexibility is central to its academic culture rather than just one option within a larger university. Because the college is small and almost entirely undergraduate-focused, classroom discussion and direct access to professors are not side benefits, they are part of the design.

The teaching environment is also distinct. Amherst is known for seminar-style courses, writing-intensive work, and faculty attention to undergraduate thinking and participation. At NYU, you can absolutely find excellent discussion-based classes, especially in the humanities and social sciences, but the overall environment is less uniformly intimate because the university is much larger and spread across multiple schools with different academic cultures.

The broader college experience matters here too. Amherst offers a classic residential liberal arts setting where students live and learn in a tightly connected academic community. NYU’s strength is different: it offers the resources, energy, and professional access of a major city university, which can be exciting but usually feels less centered on the traditional liberal arts college experience.