I’m an in-state student. I just received my acceptance to UMASS. I got into the Computer Science program. I was disappointed about not getting into the Honors College. Does anyone know how they select people and if it correlates with CS? Also, was getting into UMASS for CS difficult?
Accepted to engineering. 1560 SAT, 800 math 2 , 800 biology, 4.4 gpa. Didn’t get into honors program. Moving on.
Getting into UMass Amherst for CS (or engineering, for the other poster) is difficult. You should be quite proud. It’s ranked #20 on the US News list of best undergraduate CS programs in the US. It is seriously difficult to get into.
Getting into their honors program doesn’t have the same criteria as getting into their CS major. Honors has an even more holistic (looking at the whole person) admissions process than the CS major does. Getting into honors is based on your high school academics, your major, your activities/involvement, demonstrated leadership abilities, your background, etc. So it’s not assessed in the same way, no. Although it’s not all about academics, the average GPA of people admitted to honors is a bit higher than the average for admission to CS; the SAT is about the same.
After a semester at UMass, you can apply to the honors college, if your UMass GPA is a 3.4 or higher. There is an essay. You can ask honors or your advisor about this once you get to campus.
@RoaringMice Thanks for the inputs and good insight. Slight correction that UMASS Amherst ranks #20 for BEST GRADUATE Computer Science Program actually.
I looked at the wrong sheet! Thanks for that. I think undergrad they were top 60; I need to check my files.
I believe they take just a few from each major. I know you are disappointed but you should actually be proud of your CS acceptance. These are incredibly difficult to come by these days. Congratulations on your acceptance!
thanks swimming papi
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I was wondering if you had to declare your major in order to be considered for the honors college. I did not declare my major and was not accepted into the honors college despite high credentials. I know someone who declared their major and was accepted into the honors college even though I had a higher gpa, sat, and equal activities/involvement.
Hi guys! Despite this being an old thread, my friends advised me that I should clarify some things on this as I personally reached out for an appeal. I was accepted EA OOS for a smaller major with a 1420 SAT, 4.0W GPA, and really strong “personality” to my application so was a little disappointed to not be accepted to CHC even though I knew it wasn’t guaranteed. This hasn’t changed my decision to attend UMass, but when I did a summer program there, we stayed in the CHC dorms and they were very nice so I appealed for reconsideration (if you didn’t know… yea you can do it but as I am about to explain, it literally isn’t worth your time).
I reached out to admission a week or so after getting my decision, expressing my interest in the honors college and restating the information from my application. I was flat-out told (by UMass) that appealing for re-review is essentially pointless and will go nowhere. As most people know, it’s super easy to get into the honors college after your first semester (was told 1/3 of on-campus students are considered “honors” but doesn’t seem right…) and the freshman admission is incredibly dependent on major. I am going to be 100% honest here as to what I have been told after pursuing this and I don’t want to upset anyone but… these are the facts.
If you apply in to a larger and less competitive major (with the exception of nursing), you’ll get into the honors college way easier. You can have a significantly lower SAT and lower GPA. In fact, there are certain majors (like mine) that are so tiny they generally refuse to consider students even if you are well above the average. It’s a strategy to get a more well-rounded freshman class and convince students with majors you can really study anywhere (like History, Education, Biology, etc.) to come to UMass.
I bet there are exceptions to this rule (I know someone will try to debunk this) but this is what I have been told after three months of pursuit and gathering information. However, I don’t plan to change my decision! The CHC dorms aren’t guaranteed for freshman and cost more $$$ (for me, this was a big decision factor as I was offered a lot of scholarship from UCONN and receive in state tuition, but want to attend UMass instead). I have also been told that the smaller majors get a lot of extra attention, so there’s a fear that putting them in the honors college will be a too “suffocating” environment and from attending events for my (very small) major, I can already see how this would be possible.
Anyway! Wanted to share. Don’t mean to start debate and please don’t grill me on this because I have really shared all my information. I hope, however, this can guide people in the future that apply to very specific and competitive majors (i.e. Neuroscience, Biochem Engineering, etc.) but aren’t sure if they want to study this for four years and think they may have a shot at the honors college to apply to something more broad (i.e. Biology or Chemistry). I wish everyone luck!
@Hope4414 Is it hard to get accepted into the Honors College for business (Isenberg)?
Good question! I also want to hear someones insight on this.
@CaptainRonnie Very much so, yes. Out of all my friends @ UMass, those who are in both Isenberg and the Honors College only did so by applying after their first college semester with a min. GPA of 3.6.
I can also tell you from going to accepted students events that the overall Isenberg average SAT/GPA for this year was a 1390 and a ~4.2, though I don’t remember the exact GPA requirement (I know it was over 4.0). This is a lot higher than the rest of the campus but I wouldn’t let this deter you as students who are not accepted to Isenberg their freshman year can be accepted under a second choice major (a lot of people choose Econ because a lot of the requirements are similar) or to an exploratory track.