My daughter got admission into economics undergrad at UMass. Now we are considering which dorm options are better suited for freshman - No partying, good social life, proximity and study focused. Any recommendations?
Thanks!
She’ll like lower Central or OHill. Both areas tend to be on the quieter side and I"ve met plenty of nice people in both places
Do you have any suggestions for off-campus housing? I may be interested in renting at Sugarloaf Estates in Sunderland. Have you heard good or bad things about the complex?
@vanxious Don’t know too much about it, but I have some friends going there next year. They seem to be excited about the place and as far as I can tell, they don’t attract as much craziness as Puffton or the Townhouses
Did you look into the RAP housing? It’s open to freshmen only. There are limited spaces and registration started 5/22?
I agree with Violet1996, central and orchard hill are two great options. I lived in upper central during my sophomore year and it tended to be quiet, but people were very friendly. People I didn’t even know would invite me to hang out with them! If she ended up in lower central, that’s pretty close to more of the classroom buildings. However, if you end up on top of the hill, that’s another 5 minutes to get down (in my experience at least) but the buses help. Same can be said for orchard hill. Quiet and friendly, but farther. From my experience living on the hill, I think that the hill is overexaggerated. You get used to it and it is not bad at all! So I would definitely recommend central or OHill.
Northeast could be another good option.It’s closer to the science buildings and I’ve heard it’s pretty quiet (although depending on where, it may be too quiet.
If your daughter was accepted to the honors college, that is generally quiet and it’s right in the middle of campus (and of course study focused. I lived there my freshman year and I really miss that location!
I would not recommend southwest because it is loud and considered the “party” dorms (although that’s really because there’s so many people concentrated there, there’s really parties everywhere if you look).
When you say proximity, it really depends what you want to be in proximity to. I can say that northeast is close to science classes, and central is closer to humanities classes, but freshmen tend to have classes all over campus because of general education requirements. Plus sometimes classes are in funky places. Like I’ve had a “science” class in a humanities building and social science classes in a laboratory building. Southwest and honors are closest to the rec center. Southwest has the best dining halls (according to most people at least, I think they’re overrated). There’s another one in northeast and another one in central (and orchard hill is only a few min from either)