<p>For those of you who are current students (or not), what are the pros and cons of attending UMass? It would be helpful if i knew both so i can make an informed decision.</p>
<p>I'm going to major in Economics with english as a minor.</p>
<p>Sadly, I am probably not going to tell you anything new or particularly informative.</p>
<p>However, from what I know, there is nothing particularly appealing or unappealing about the UMass-Amherst educational experience. It is a large state school with a somewhat average reputation and it is much cheaper than many privates, especially if you don’t qualify for need based aid. </p>
<p>If you are out of state and want to study econ at UMass, it would be a better deal for you to head to your own state school.</p>
<p>UMass has much better science and engineering programs than it has social science/economics programs, although this does not really matter for undergrad. You can get a good job or get into a good grad school if you do well at UMass.</p>
<p>There are very good professors at UMass, although the quality of the student body is probably less capable than, for example, Harvard or MIT. UMass conducts a decent amount of research and the professors and TA’s are quite accessible, although few students take advantage of the resources available.</p>
<p>Since UMass is part of a consortium, you can take classes at Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Hampshire, although you will have to take most of your courses at UMass and can’t make a simple excuse that the corresponding class at UMass sucks.</p>
<p>The social life, as far as I know, is basically Frats and Sororities and parties in the residence halls.</p>
<p>UMass can be great or terrible, depending on what you put into it. Amherst is a great town and so is Northampton. You can go to plays, movies, restaurants, concerts, etc. There are a ton of things to do. You will probably meet some stupid people. And some extremely bright people. I would suspect that you would be more likely to find extremely bright people at a state school like UMass than you would at a middle-of-the-road LAC. After all, bright people without money may well have to go to a state school. Any state you go to is going to have a fairly high percentage of locals, so if you like Massachusetts people, it’s a good place to be. Don’t forget that the level of elementary/high school education is far higher in Massachusetts than it is in many other states, such as California and Louisiana, so that may come into play. Taking classes at other members of the five colleges is great.</p>
<p>any other views on this? more feedback would be great. Like how are the dorms, classes, food?</p>
<p>Classes at any big school vary so much you can’t generalize. Food is good. There are dining halls scattered about campus and they offer a large variety of food, including stir fries cooked to order and the like. Dorms vary a lot too, with some areas being more social and others being quiet. Again, that’s the norm for a large school.</p>
<p>UMass suffers in reputation for being in the northeast and in Massachusetts in particular where we are almost literally overrun with private schools that cost an arm & a leg. (I know; I’ve paid those bills.) UMass is, in my opinion, of the same quality as the other large state schools, much like a Big 10 school. It’s hard for it to get “mindshare” when the private schools around Boston grab so much and are closer to the media. It also hurt the image - though not the reality of the school - that the state for political reasons refused to call Amherst the flagship until a few years ago during the Romney administration. For strange reasons, they tried to pretend the whole system was somehow even, when that was obviously not true. </p>
<p>The student body at any state school varies a lot in how well they’re prepared. That’s true at every school but I think it’s more pronounced at state schools because then 3 of 4 students (or more in some states) come from the state’s own schools. If you go to a good high school, then UMass - or its equivalent - will be easier for you. (As an example, one of my brothers struggled in a very tough high school program and then made phi beta kappa at our then state school in the Midwest. He also worked harder but he was ahead from the start.) </p>
<p>The Amherst area is picture postcard pretty and you can actually take classes at the other schools.</p>
<p>After going through an exhaustive search and select process with my son, he decided not to attend UMASS Amherst. A little background - we live in MA, my son was accepted to Commonwealth College and the Sports Management program. He was also accepted to UConn, U Maryland, Penn St, Syracuse (Newhouse School), U Miami and Tulane. He is a big time sports fan so school spirit is very important to him. He also wants to major in Broadcast Journalism with a slant to Sports Journalism. </p>
<p>He selected Penn St because he felt it has the best combination of Broadcast Journalism facilities/course offerings, crazy school spirit, best alumni network (450,000 strong) and a good price ($35K yr). </p>
<p>I have to say he really wanted UMASS to work out because the price was very reasonable (about $16K yr with his Adams Scholarship) and they have one of the best Sports Management programs in the country. We visited several times, he attended some sports management classes, we went to open houses and we went to a basketball game. All the experiences were positive but in the end and this sounds corny, he simply didnt feel the love and school spirit. </p>
<p>What he and I liked about UMASS.
- Every personal encounter we had with school staff was positive. The people who work at UMASS are very friendly and seem to really care about the students.<br>
- The Sports Management program is first rate. We met some professors and we were both very impressed.<br>
- The food is great, at least the times we ate in the cafeterias.
- The location is terrific. Amherst is a quintessential New England college town.
- ComCol is a solid honors program. </p>
<p>What we didnt like about UMASS
- The journalism program didnt include broadcast and the journalism dept didnt compare well to the other schools he got accepted to.
- School spirit seemed to be lacking. Its hard to explain and probably subjective but we got the feeling that kids at UMASS like their school but they are not passionate about their school. They are not bleeding the school colors.<br>
*My son and I talked for hours about this. This goes hand in hand with school spirit but UMASS has not figured out how to make their football and basketball programs top notch like UCONN down the street. This probably bugged my son the most. The teams are good but will never excel because the politicians in MA have not made this a #1 priority. They havent figured out that a nationally recognized sports team can actually propel a schools overall reputation. It becomes a draw and everything goes up in the stats including academics, school spirit and alumni giving. Look at what the state of Connecticut has done with UCONN. The state of MA is double the size and resources of Ct but Ct figured out the formula 20 years ago. This is one reason why UCONN is claiming to be the best public universities in New England. - The architecture and general upkeep of the facilities got to us after a while. Many of the buildings have the poured concrete early 70s look. While the setting is pretty, the campus has gotten somewhat seedy looking - at least the days we were there. Simple things like crumbling steps and lots of cigarette butts on the ground outside of buildings made a negative impression on us. I know this is superficial and picky but its all part of the due diligence process. </p>
<p>In the end, its a personal and financial decision and very much boils down to the quality of the major your kid is interested in pursuing. For my son, it was love at first site of Beaver Stadium, the broadcast facilities and the bronze statues of Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lion. Of course some kids could care less about these things. He didnt love UCONN or Syracuse either for various reasons although they are very reputable. U MD was the most comparable to Penn St but in the end he just wanted to wear a Penn State sweatshirt and be a Nittany Lion. </p>
<p>I hope this helps and sorry for rambling.</p>
<p>I attend UMass and I am a sport management major. I love it here, but the only thing I really dislike about UMass is the lack of school spirit. We have really decent sports teams but the majority of students don’t care. Hockey games draw the best crowds and games against BC and BU always are packed and sell out. (They turn students away sometimes!) If they lose though, student attendance at the next game is usually very much less.</p>
<p>Great post and thanks! </p>
<p>If your son wants to go into sports broadcasting, Penn State or Syracuse are better choices. And for a sports lover or someone who really wants school spirit, Penn State is a very good choice. Penn State is the main focus of an area that is known for loyalty and you buy into that when you’re in State College, particularly during football season.</p>
<p>It’s interesting you note UConn’s using basketball to make people believe the school is better. I’m always amazed that people in this era of media saturation so easily fall for blatant marketing. Does admitting a bunch of athletically able, academically inferior very tall men make the school better? Obviously not, but that’s what advertising does. </p>
<p>(BTW, Connecticut graduates, according to the Globe, 22% of its male black players and 33% of its male white players. I don’t know the women’s rates. It’s a basketball factory that generates nothing much for all but a few players. As you may be able to tell, while I love sports, I have little respect for the way the programs are run. I’m also turned off by the way sports teams often constitute a huge percentage of the entire black male enrollment. Look at UCLA, where there’s a handful of non-athlete black males. Same could be said of many schools. It’s a disgrace, particularly when you consider how few have professional careers, the graduation rates and the low quality of class schedules designed to keep them in school, not educate them for life. No wonder many refer to the system as a plantation.)</p>
<p>Like I said, my son and I talked for hours about how a top notch sports program can have a major impact on a school. Look at what this has done for UNC or Florida. I agree there is a ton of marketing hype and it shouldn’t be this way but students and alumni will naturally swell with pride when their teams are in the national spotlight. When the pride is there, more students are drawn to the school (increasing selectivity) and more alumni open their wallets.<br>
Its a very interesting dynamic and it just bugs the heck out of us that the powers to be in MA havent figured it out. Again, dont get me wrong UMASS is a great school and a great value for the $. My son summed it up best “Dad, if UMASS had a football and basketball program like UCONN, I would attend UMASS in a heartbeat”. How many other top notch students in MA have gone to school elsewhere because of this??</p>
<p>Have to disagree in part. UNC has always been considered one of the better schools in the South. It didn’t have a lot of competition, outside of Duke, for years but it was real academic choice 30-40 years ago. Florida’s profile is high in TV sports but the big changes in the school are because Florida has exploded in people and thus is drawing a different student than in the past. Florida the state has - until recently - has been generating more and more resources than before and they put money into their colleges. A better example might be Central Florida, which is trying to use sports to create a reputation for a school that isn’t considered good in the state. </p>
<p>Some schools have brought back football to attract the relatively more scarce male applicants, but major college football is an expensive proposition. I used to be familiar with the finances of a football power’s program and the numbers aren’t that pretty, even though they went to bowl games and sold out their big stadium. There are a lot of ancillary costs - from tutors to study lounges for athletes to different food, etc. - associated with big time athletics, particularly football because of the number of players. The most you could say was that a very successful program sort of maybe kind of actually broke even for the university when all the cost was included - and that does not include capital expenses, such as a new practice field, stadium renovations, etc. If you added those in, the program was a loser. And that was for a very successful big name program.</p>
<p>UMass isn’t in Boston and investment in sports there a) wouldn’t draw the media attention from the writers / stations based in Boston and b) won’t get political support for a variety of reasons from the politicians connected to private schools, from BC across the board. It’s different if the school is THE school in your state. Only MA has so many name brand private universities.</p>
<p>UConn has the better academic reputation… I’d choose UConn over UMass in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>UMass pro: A+ academics</p>
<p>UMass con: Not EVERYONE knows it.</p>
<p>To argue for CaptainKarl’s POV, here is an excerpt that shows how athletics can be used to build a school. In this case, UConn used basketball to get more funding from the state:</p>
<p>"And that is exactly what has happened in the past decade to UConn, once an unglamorous, middle-of-the-pack university marooned in the hills of eastern Connecticut. Under Dr. Hartley, who was president from 1990 to 1996, UConn basketball players became lobbyists, traveling to Hartford to tell lawmakers about how difficult it was to recruit athletes when the library was swathed in plastic sheeting to keep the bricks from falling. </p>
<p>Some professors criticized Dr. Hartley for his aggressive promotion of sports, but it worked. In 1995, the year the women’s team was the national champion, the legislature voted to give the university $100 million a year for 10 years for construction and renovation. The Senate President pro tem, Kevin B. Sullivan, said the basketball dominance was a crucial factor in winning his colleagues’ support for the huge financing program, known as UConn 2000. "</p>
<p>Speaking as a parent, the main thing that makes UConn attractive is their program designed to give students entering without a major a chance to explore different possibilities. How much this is really different from what other schools have, we don’t yet know, but we plan to go to the April 18 visit day. That said, my son really wants to go to UMass at this point, and it’s our State school, so it’s where he almost surely will end up. We’re trying to get him to investigate the other more-or-less affordable schools he got into though–UNH, UConn, and UVM. Unfortunately, UConn was behind the others in non-loan financial help, so it’s probably not a real option anyway. We’re not sure whether his going to UMass with a number of HS chums is a net plus or minus.</p>
<p>I don’t think academic reputation is really a major factor here.</p>
<p>Having been admitted to many schools such as RPI, WPI, UMass, Case Western, and Northeaster, I would not call any of them prestigious — even CMU, where I was waitlisted. </p>
<p>I think only MIT, Stanford, HYP, the Ivies and a few others like UCB and UVA have prestige, although they are largely built upon thier large endowments and consequently low student/professor ratios and also established grad programs and high undergrad selectivity. </p>
<p>UMass has poor financial aid and it’s kind of become the “poor man’s school” in MA. While ther schools like UCB and UCLA have increased tuition and consequently financial aid, UMass decides to keep it at 18,000. While I believe public education should not be expensive, I think either the state needs to increase funding by taxes or that there needs to be some other way that the school gets money to build good facilities and to hire and retain top-notch faculty.</p>
<p>Fortunately, most employers and graduate programs do not care very much about prestige outside of consulting and finance and the degrees earned by top students at any state school have academic reputation, although some, like UCB, UVA, UMich, and UCLA stand out among this crowd. I hope UMass can somehow manage to do the same some day.</p>
<p>One way that UMass can attract more top students would be to have real honors programs with seperate applications like UT-Austin’s Plan II, Turing Scholars, etc.</p>
<p>That way, they can find UMass to be something more than just a safety in terms of finance and selectivity and can also find rewarding programs where they can have more focused courses with thier academic peers.</p>
<p>That being said, I think that the way UMass’s commonwealth college is structured is somewhat flawed because it depends on class rank and SAT, rather than measuring a student’s interest and other factors like UT-Austin does. </p>
<p>I think the idea behind the honors programs at large state schools is to provide a SSLAC environment for top students, and I feel that UMass is somehow lacking in that aspect by providing a scattered mix of “extra seminars and lectures” rather than providing alternative or additional courses.</p>
<p>However, I think the current program does a great job in forcing students to write up a thesis, which really encourages students to become more prepared for Grad School.</p>
<p>Sorry for multiple posts, but just another comment about UMass.</p>
<p>I think that the John and Abigail Adams scholarships are flawed in a fundamental way because they simply favor students in wealthy towns (where students are more prepared for these tests) and UMass does not provide many scholarships to recognize outstanding talent or personal circumstances. </p>
<p>The scholarship is, in my opinion, a publicity stunt that punishes students in poorer towns and transfer students and tries to merit the political system of standardized tests (MCAS) that are not designed to test an individual’s preparedness for college (like the SAT supposedly does) but rather whether or not the school prepared them in basic material.</p>
<p>If UMass is to rise nationally, I think that some of these flaws must be addressed</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem with the Adams or Koplik set-up; they’re political creations and can’t be perfect.</p>
<p>I would like to see them put more emphasis on Commonwealth College, but I can understand why politics limits them. It was only a few years ago, after all, that the state recognized the obvious, that Amherst is the main campus of the state system. The state should put proportionately more resources into the flagship because that’s an investment which pays. </p>
<p>But UMass suffers mostly, IMHO, from where it is, which is in MA and not in Boston. The Boston area has 250,000 college students, 4 major universities, 2 colleges that could be considered universities by size and a host of others. Most of the political people, media people, etc. have ties to those schools and they have the big mindshare. Put UMass in another state and it would be the focus of the state’s efforts and would generate much more attention and thus would be perceived as being better. </p>
<p>Perception and reality are not the same in colleges. For example, Michigan - subject in another thread - like any state school is mostly in-state Michigan. The public schools in Michigan are certainly no better than MA’s and one can argue they’re worse - I know a fair amount about the subject. </p>
<p>Public schools will have a spectrum, both of raw intelligence and of quality of preparation. A kid from a good school district in any public school has an advantage coming in because he or she is better prepared.</p>
<p>does anyone know where i can find statistics on job placement for UMASS graduates? </p>
<p>Also does anyone know where i can find a list of what graduate/law schools UMASS graduates have been accepted to?</p>
<p>This is a link to a survey about the educational quality at UMass: <a href=“Assessment, Survey, and Effectiveness Research (ASER) : Assessment, Survey, and Effectiveness Research (ASER) : UMass Amherst”>Assessment, Survey, and Effectiveness Research (ASER) : Assessment, Survey, and Effectiveness Research (ASER) : UMass Amherst;
<p>For the job placement, I have a link ((which I lost, but will post if I find)). As for graduate/law placement, I will try to find info.</p>