<p>Hello,
I am new to CC, and hoping to get some answers.</p>
<p>I was accepted into both Rutgers and UMass Amherst for Microbiology (as well as 5 other schools), but I'm hoping to get a clear answer between the differences and which is better.</p>
<p>First, my situation:
I live in Mass. and was accepted into Rutgers, and recieved a scholarship for $10,000 which puts it in a contender range. As long as I keep above a 3.0 average each year, my scholarship remains and I can continue for my 4 years. It is about 5 hours away from where I live, and I admire its proximity to NYC.
I was also accepted into UMass Amherst, and of course it is a lot closer and cheaper, but I do not want to see all of my high school friends (a LOT got in), and UMass has a notorious reputation of being a party school.</p>
<p>The Microbiology department at Rutgers is fairly new, and has about 50 undergrads, compared to the larger one at UMass which has about 175. I think UMass' program is older, but I'm not sure if the age/size difference is a huge deal. With less people comes more attention on you, but the classes are also somewhat different. Rutgers focuses more on the' School of Environmental and Biological Sciences focuses more on the environment, whereas the one at UMass focuses more on medicine.</p>
<p>I'm not sure which program would suit me better. Feel free to ask me questions and give suggestions. It would really help.</p>
<p>Thanks,
~X</p>