@AmyIzzy
My son has only applied to Umass Amherst (without visiting). Is it too remote location wise? my son also prefers a more urban location so just trying to get info on umass Amherst. He hasn’t applied to Umass Boston.
Fantastic! Great to have many affordable options!
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Those emails probably do have an incredibly wide distribution, but there are a decent number of applicants who for whatever reason (applied ED elsewhere, looking for Big Merit Aid™) would only be able to apply RD (especially to places that only offer ED and not EA)—so I don’t think it’s 100% a cynical ploy.
It is in a small town in western Massachusetts. There are quite a few colleges around, but I would not describe it in any way as urban. It is over an hour to Worcester (which is a city) and closer to 2 hours to Boston.
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Thank you
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The town of Amherst is great though! Lots of stores and restaurants. It’s not urban, but it’s a very nice “destination” type town with lots to offer, not a boring suburb or anything like that.
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And Northampton is not far away. That area, with the 5 college consortium, is a fun place to go to college.
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True! No one posts, “Here I am eating alone in the dining hall because I have no friends yet.”
Or:
“Here is a photo of socks. My roommate has the smelliest socks in the entire United States of America.”
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The marketing is odd sometimes. D23 keeps getting personalized emails from Notre Dame and she couldn’t get into Notre Dame on her best day. S25 is getting emails from Havard and Williams…I’m surprised those schools need to advertise at all. I mean why is Harvard emailing sophomores? Seems odd.
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Yes! Like another poster here, my 23 received a personal note that referenced the essay. Very detailed handwritten note. Small school, of course.
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Yes, mine did too, from Hope College, and also a handwritten card referencing her essay from Creighton. Both were very nice and gave us warm fuzzies.
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Thank you
We actually never visited UMASS Amherst. The description that others provided sounds spot on based on what we’ve heard. My son did some research and asked friends who visited UMASS Amherst and decided it was both too big and not close enough to an urban area and did not put it on his list. UMASS Boston isn’t right in the hustle and bustle of Boston but appears to be an easy bus ride (or maybe T ride?) away so that one stayed on the list after our visit. I know that UMASS Amherst is considered the elite, most popular one but my son is all about fit and didn’t think that was the vibe he wanted. I’d encourage you to look into UMASS Boston if your son is hoping for more of an urban setting.
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It’s right there in Amherst, a quintessential college town (and Amherst college just down the road). Northampton is right there, along with Smith, Hampshire, Holyoke all on the 5 college consortium bus line that loops through the schools.
It is NOT urban, but it’s lively.
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Thanks @AmyIzzy and @blueberriesforsal
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No doubt he is also “full bright” - but for future reference, he is a “Fulbright” scholar 
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UMass Amherst is a flagship university - certainly worth applying. The university itself is a small city.
My daughter definitely prefers urban settings, but somehow did like Amherst and the vibe and campus at UMass enough to apply - after all, there IS a “Trader Joe’s” (but couldn’t warm up to Amherst College).
I wouldn’t consider it urban at all - but with the big university, one doesn’t get a “rural” feel and there is enough of a little town to find places to hang out off-campus.
(She got a nice merit offer, but ultimately picked the 212 area code over Amherst, MA.)
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Interesting there are so many UMass post today. Our college counselor (who had previously approved my son’s college list) unexpectedly said we needed another safety. A bit of a shock so late in the game! In any case he suggested Union College which I don’t think is a good fit (too small, too upstate, too fratty) and I think we will instead add UMass Amherst to the list. My son liked the small bustling town and is already applying to Amherst so this makes sense I guess… Or maybe next week brings good ED news and we can ignore all of this.
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Schools do this? I love it! No one in this house has experienced such a thing!
Thanks, I was in a rush when I typed it and thought it didn’t look right but no time to double check. Lol.
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