My Son got accepted for CS honors in Lowell and got scholarship also. He could not got accepted for his first choice in Umass Amherst and got accepted for Math major. He is only interested in CS career. We have a choice to go to UML or We can take admission in UMA and apply for internal transfer. after first semester GPA. He is already learning JAVA(AP CS) in his high school and AP Math in lexington High school, which are one of the prerequisite for applying for internal transfer process in UMA
our choice is only U mass colleges, because of in-state fee. The problem is ranking gape is very high between 2.
Please suggest
Thanks!
I’m no expert, but here is my two cents: don’t get too hung up on the rankings especially given your son’s intended major. The job market for some majors may be more dependent on the perceived prestige of the college, for example, law or some business majors such as finance. The STEM job market is probably more egalitarian in hiring. I’m assuming CS is in relatively high demand particularly around Boston these days. I say congrats on the scholarship, take the $$, and forget about trying to internally transfer at UMASS Amherst, which may be very difficult anyway. I think your son coming out of the UMASS Lowell CS Honor program will be an attractive candidate to employers especially if he lines up internships/ work experiences during his college years.
Thank you very much for your opinion.
Did he get into the honors program at Lowell?
I mean no disrespect with the questions that I’m asking.
Do you know if the reason he did not get into UMASS Amherst CS because his grades or test scores were less competitive than the students that they did admit, or if the reason that he didn’t get in because he applied after the early action date, and the CS department used up all of the slots.
In other words, how competitive would he be in the pool of UMASS-Amherst students studying CS?
That’s the question that you have to answer before taking the risk of matriculating at UMASS-Amherst and forgoing the opportunities at Lowell. How much is the difference in cost of attendance with the two scholarships.
UMASS-Lowell is ok. It has mostly a local rather than national following. Many companies in the area hire these students. CS is really a rapidly growing field.
I don’t think your read on the difference in rankings is wrong though. UMASS-Amherst is much more competitive and has a national following.
Another option, maybe a less risky one, is to matriculate at UMASS-Lowell and apply to transfer to Amherst CS later.
Ans to MYOS1634- yes, my son got in CS honors program at Lowell.
Answer to classicRockerdad- As per UMA admission office, He did not get into UMA because, UMA CS is highly competitive, 200 student out of 3000 around got selected. his GPA and test score is good, ACT super scoring -32, weighted GPA- 3.8. but still He could not get in. We came here 3 years before from India. My son does not have much CS related courses done. He is in the process of doing it. may be that is also the reason.
Early action applied UMA. on time. eligible for in-state fee, in UML and UMA both. getting scholarship is not a bigger factor for decision, because it not making much difference in fee. main decision factor is, UMA vs UML in our situation, as per my primary question. Thanks a lot.
Then I’d stick with Lowell. Their Honors program is decent and provides a lot of support and fellowship (he’d be able to live in Honors Housing, have honors perks…) and CS majors find good internships regardless of where they attend college, provided they are good at what they study. They’re expected to spend a lot of time “self teaching” and practicing on their own in addition to what they learn in class, participating in Hackathons, etc.
There’s a real risk he might not get into CS at UMass.
Be careful: in Massachusetts, tuition is not too high, but (required) fees are very high.
Have you received the financial aid/scholarship package from both?
Have you visited both, has your son done an overnight at both? (He should qualify for overnights at both, check his “admitted student” portal. His HS should let him go with no penalty).
Their environment is very different.
What’s your budget?
Would you qualify for financial aid at private colleges? With these stats, he can apply to Dickinson (better than Lowell overall, better than UMass A overall, but less good than UMass A for CS specifically) → run the NPC to see if it’d be affordable.
https://npc.collegeboard.org/student/app/dickinson
He’d also qualify for merit at WPI, an EXCELLENT university for CS.
https://www.wpi.edu/sites/all/themes/wpi/scripts/gtm/net-price-calculator/npc.html
Marist has an EXCELLENT school of CS/Informatics and a special partnership with IBM.
https://www.marist.edu/admission/undergraduate/fin-aid/net-price-calculator
Champlain is known for its CS and CS related programs. Very different vibe from UMass Lowell.
https://champlain.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx
UMass Lowell is well known in the Boston area for computer science, and the students in CS at Lowell get good jobs in the Boston/eastern New England area. Also no problem getting into grad schools, if he does well at Lowell. If he got into the CS major at Lowell, and he’s also honors there, AND they gave him a scholarship? He should go to Lowell.
There is no guarantee that, if he goes to UMass Amherst, he’ll be able to get into their CS major. He might, but there is a risk. Lowell is a sure thing.
If he wants to, after a year at Lowell, if he’s done very well at Lowell, he can apply for an interchange transfer to UMass Amherst. But he might find that he likes the opportunities Lowell is giving him, and if that scholarship is renewable from one year to the next, it would be a fine idea to stay at Lowell. Just know that there is the “interchange transfer” program within the UMass system. He can start off in CS at Lowell. Take the math and CS classes needed for a CS major there. Do well in all his classes, then apply to transfer to UMass Amherst at the end of his first or second year at Lowell. He’ll apply directly to the CS major at UMass Amherst. If he gets in, he can go to UMass Amherst. If he doesn’t get into the CS major, he can stay at Lowell and live a happy life.
@Pallavi27 Take a look at the UMass Lowell CS website (career planning and placement) to see what type of jobs the kids are getting. If you don’t see it, I’d call the school. My gut is that the kids do just fine…there is such a need for CS talent around Boston. (We are in the Boston suburbs.) Lowell has come a long way…if you thing it can get him to where he wants to go and he thinks he’ll be happy there then I think you have your answer. Best of luck! And congrats to your son!