<p>I am going to attend UMass Amherst this fall but I get a little nervous. I am an Asian and I am from a very small high school. I have been in the U.S. for almost 4 years but I moved to many states and ended up in MA. Its very hard to make friends in my high school. So, how are people at UMass like? How about student diversity? I know that it might be a random question but yea I am a little worried.</p>
<p>Just about everybody will be starting over with new friends come freshman year. There will be plenty of people from all kinds of backgrounds. One of the benefits of going to a larger school like UMass is because the student body is huge and by extension, socially diverse. As far as Asians/Asian Americans go, more of them are choosing to apply/enroll than before. My experience which is probably a little dated suggests that you try and live in Northeast. A lot of Asians/Asian Americans live(d) there. As for making friends, join clubs, find some friendly looking people to sit next to in class and reach out to your roommate and hallmates and you should be fine. People aren’t going to bite. There are literally thousands of people your age many of whom want to make new friends all living in a concentrated area.</p>
<p>Making friends will never be easier.</p>
<p>Students who self-identify as “white, non-hispanic” made up 68% of last year’s freshman class.</p>
<p>Asian was 7.7%, Hispanic was 4.9%, African-american 2.9%.</p>
<p>See section B2:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.umass.edu/oapa/publications/cds/common_data_set.pdf[/url]”>http://www.umass.edu/oapa/publications/cds/common_data_set.pdf</a></p>