<p>Why do parents and/or students at UMass Amherst or UMass Dartmouth insist on telling people they go to Amherst and Dartmouth? Uhhh -no you don't. Amherst is an extremely elite liberal arts college and Dartmouth is IVY LEAGUE. UMass Amherst and UMass Dartmouth are fine schools in their own right and those of you who engage in this practice doing a huge disservice to yourselves and your school by trying to "spin" the schools' names. By claiming to attend Dartmouth or Amherst, you are saying either 1. I am too stupid to know the difference between my large public university and an elite private school or 2. you, the listener/reader, are too stupid to know the difference. Both scenarios denegerate the value of your school. Be proud of your university and stop trying to disguise where you go.</p>
<p>Who are these people?? I live in MA and nobody does that. We can tell and know the difference.</p>
<p>Same here. I live in MA, my son goes to UMass Amherst, and Iâve never heard anyone do that.</p>
<p>I have had at least 5 different people do that. For example, at a party this past Christmas, I saw the mother of my daughterâs classmate whom I hadnât seen in a while. I asked her what D was doing and she said D was attending Dartmouth. Naturally my response was âwow - thatâs greatâ, especially since very few graduates from our high school attend Ivy League schools - usually no more than one or two a year. I learned later that the daughter was at UMass Dartmouth. Example two, I ask my co-worker is her daughter enjoying Salem State - Response was no, she is thinking of transfering to Dartmough next year. Again, my response was Wow. Again, find out later she meant UMass Dartmouth. Last week, I asked my SILâs mother where her grandaughter will be going to school next year - answer: Amherst. Really? to study nursing? I didnât know Amherst had a nursing program? Oh, I meant UMass Amherst. There are other instances and I just found it bizarre.</p>
<p>Actually seems to be the other way around for me - I mention UMA, people automatically respond - âOh, so youâre looking at Amherst?â</p>
<p>I know they know what school iâm talking about (theyâre too lazy to say the âUMassâ bit, I guess), but if someone else was involved in the conversation it could be seriously confusing, especially if theyâre not from around here.</p>
<p>Another pet peeve of mine is when people post in here asking for chances about non-state colleges. Perhaps I am misinterpreting the âState Forumsâ, but I was always under the impression that this forum is for UMass/other public state Uâs and not school such as BC, etc.</p>
<p>I find that people drop the Amherst, Dartmouth, ect. and refer to the school as UMass. It ends up making you question which one. When I heard someone had decided to attend UMass my next question was which one.</p>
<p>Alternatively, no one around here knows a UMass outside of the zoo. Maybe Lowell but I tell people iâm looking at UMass Dartmouth and they go, âwhat?â</p>
<p>Thatâs what people at my school do, I agree it is rather annoying</p>
<p>I also feel like people tend to confuse BU and BC.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Meh, not really because one is a lot more religious than the other. My dad said that âback in the dayâ, only âsuper-Catholic kidsâ would even THINK about going to BC. Itâs gotten a lot better though.</p>
<p>As a little kid I was confused because my godfather (in the âoh heâs really close to usâ sense and the literal âyes heâs a preacherâ sense) went to BU and I canât remember if he was studying something related to religion or not, so ;~;âŠas a kid it made sense that a preacher would study religion.</p>
<p>Next time they try to pass off UMass for Amhertz or Dartmoor, pepper spray them in the face. Some peeps will only learn the hard way</p>
<p>Thatâs funny. Why else do you think people would? Ego.</p>
<p>Want to hear something about ego? I have an aunt who is a die-hard Limbaugh fanatic who insists only âlosersâ go to state-funded colleges and calls them freeloaders. (Hers is largely a racist argument too about affirmative action and immigrants.) Iâve gotten into arguments with her because she calls herself such a patriot but in denigrating state schools, she also basically denigrates veterans, a lot of whom go to state-funded colleges on the G.I. Bill and are really struggling to turn their lives around with college and a job.</p>
<p>Her counter-argument is basically that the public university system is a free-for-all mess that allows anyone (including â much to her chagrin â people who are not white) to go to school on the taxpayer dime, and that FAFSA is a welfare program for blacks who canât read and only know how to write graffiti. :(</p>
<p>She uses the âAmherstâ and âDartmouthâ terms too, but deliberately (and knowingly, as in she knows the difference between UMass and the others) as a dig against my mother, who got her bachelorâs from UMD (nee S.M.U.) and who this aunt, for whatever reason, has never gotten along with.</p>
<p>My mom is the nicest, most down-to-earth person you will ever meet and used to well up when her own sister (who doesnât even HAVE a degree from anywhere!) would say âloserâ right to her face. I have a sibling who goes to UMD, and this aunt called up my grandmother after he graduated HS to ask where he was going to school. Her response about âDartmouthâ was basically âyou mean UMass Dartmouth, right? Well, I wouldnât expect anything else.â :(</p>
<p>Please donât think Iâm trolling â there are actually people out there like this and Iâve been humiliated by one of them, who happens to be a âbloodâ relative. 
The most ironic thing is that her own ex-husband has a business degree from a state school that he used the G.I. Bill to pay for. He moved up well enough in his job that they could afford to move to the kind of community where you canât even hang clotheslines because it diminishes property values. Now she feels justified in getting her nose out of joint. Well, maybe whoever the person is that wrote about pepper spray could pop her a good one and put that nose back into place. :)</p>
<p>I need 15 postsâŠ</p>
<p>this is quite annoying!</p>
<p>good luck on Amherst!
/////////////////////////
////////////////////////</p>
<p>jerjfnref kerjfnkrejf rkefjnfr
ththt ththth ththt</p>
<p>Your head is so far up your snob-hole that it prevents you from actually âlisteningâ to whatâs being said.</p>