Holy Cross or UMass Amherst?

<p>Hi Guys,
Out of the schools I got into my final decision is probably between UMass and Holy Cross. I want to be a Biology major at both. Holy Cross is really expensive, but I've heard its a great place. UMass would be much cheaper for me, but I don't know if I want to go to a really big school. What should I do?</p>

<p>I’m a Holy Cross graduate and father of a recent grad as well, so I’m obviously biased, but I think any objective observer would tell you that, academically, Holy Cross is probably several levels above UMass. They are vastly different schools, a large, comprehensive state school versus a small, highly selective, academically challenging liberal arts college. At HC you’d have small classes all taught by professors. I don’t know about UMass, but I’d guess that it has a lot of very large classes and may have teaching assistants handling many of the classes. Holy Cross is well known for the sciences and has recently opened a new science complex. With its size, UMass no doubt has some features not available at HC.</p>

<p>Have you had the opportunity to visit both campuses? I always advise that students make the campus visit to get a feel for where they would best fit in. You can really tell a lot in that area by walking around, seeing the buildings and the campus layout, and seeing the student body.</p>

<p>When you heard that Holy Cross “is a great place” you heard correctly. It has an extremely high level of student satisfaction and its alums, like myself, retain a tremendous sense of loyalty after graduation. </p>

<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>

<p>butterfly811 – Have you received your financial aid offers from both schools? Holy Cross is quite generous when it comes to FA for students whose family income is less than 90K or so. Of course, if your EFC is $40K you aren’t going to be offered all that much.</p>

<p>Financial aid aside, I would definitely say Holy Cross, unless you don’t want to go to a small school. </p>

<p>With financial aid, I applied to both HC and UMass Amherst and actually had to pay less for HC. I would wait until the financial aid packages come out before you make your decision. although hudsonvalley51 is right about the EFC. If you have a super high EFC, it may be more inexpensive to go to UMass Amherst.</p>

<p>Thanks. I really want to go to HC because it is basically everything I want in a college: small, not far from home, welcoming, and I would get a really good education because I got into the pre-med program as a bio major. I haven’t received the FA from HC yet, but I think its going to be quite high (probably 15,000 higher than UMass a year). Is it worth the money to go to HC?</p>

<p>“Is it worth the money to go to HC?” Yes, absolutely yes.</p>

<p>I also got into the pre-med program and bio major! It’s an opportunity that I cannot pass up, especially with their AMAZING pre-med program. In my honest opinion, I could not be better set up for med school at any other college. I got a full financial aid package and all I have to pay for is books and lab fees (:</p>

<p>If I had to pay an extra $15,000 to go to Holy Cross, or even $30,000 I absolutely would. In the long run, when you are a doctor it will most definitely be worth it.</p>