UConn or UMass Amherst?

<p>I don’t think it’s going to make a whole lot of difference and any difference it might make overall will disappear in individuals situations. Go to the school you prefer. Do you prefer the college down type of environment that UMass enjoys in Amherst, or the State U out by itself as UConn is. Cousins have kids in UPenn, PItt, UDel, UMD, and they all got into all 4 school and made their picks totally by personal preference of the environment, not by rankings as really with that batch of school, it doesn’t matter much. Some had strong preferences. Those who didn’t just picked the way they felt that day and acknowledge they could have gone and been happy at any of them. </p>

<p>You will likely know more people and have degrees of connection with more from your home state. If that is important, and it can be an issue, stick with your state school. If you’d rather get a"away" a little, though distance is not the issue here,it 's the degrees of familiarity, go to the other.</p>

<p>I thought you said the cost is about the same. If there is a substantial cost difference, and you are stuck on which on, for goodness sakes, go with the one that will cost you less. Neither is worth a premium in cost beyond what is easily paid.</p>

<p>I recently found out that UConn’s costs are either higher than I thought or have risen for this year, and so they will be slightly higher than UMass (UMass will be about $23k and UConn will be about $29k I believe–based off of College Board’s data). Not sure about the FAFSA-based financial aid yet. My dad may call UConn later on and see if they can reevaluate our financial aid package. </p>

<p>And hey, if BU, Northeastern or BC accept me and give me financial aid (Emerson gave me a whopping total of $0), then all of this could change!!</p>

<p>UCONN is staggeringly high, I think it is around 41K for out of state. UMASS is only 34K I think. I know a few kids who wanted to go to UCONN because of the men’s basketball program but they are suspended from NCAA play so that stinks for them. That gave the university a ton of money…Northeastern is usually generous for their aid but who knows from year to year?</p>

<p>If Northeastern gave me enough money I would go there in a heartbeat. It’s my dream school, but I was discouraged by being deferred from early action. Who knows… apparently decisions should be coming out Thursday.</p>

<p>That being said, even if they are generous with their aid I may not be able to afford it because it is even higher than UConn. I’ll keep you guys updated :)</p>

<p>Do not hold out much hope for merit aid if you were deferred. If the school wanted to award merit aid then they would not likely have deferred you in the first place. The need based aid is still assessed as normal.</p>

<p>Yes, I know… that’s why I was discouraged by the deferral; I figured that out myself and I know I can’t go there without getting anything money.</p>

<p>Who knows about the need-based aid though.</p>

<p>Just as an FYI UMass OOS is about $36500. Worse yet is UVM at $47k for OOS.</p>

<p>Yeah, luckily I am in-state for UMass! I didn’t apply to UVM because it just isn’t really my style, and it’s a little too far away for me. I’ve heard it’s beautiful though.</p>

<p>Yes, we are instate for UMass too and my DS did not bother to apply to UVM either.</p>

<p>I heard that UVM is a matter of taste…a strange sort of school with an eclectic student body. We did not even consider it.</p>

<p>My son was deferred from his top choice (WPI) also. I am pretty sure it puts it out of reach even if he were accepted now. But on the other hand it is the one school we would be willing to assume a larger debt load for him to attend.</p>

<p>@ambreylouise I’m in the same boat, I live in MA and I was accepted to UMass and UConn, and I applied to BC, BU, and Northeastern. I had my heart set on either BU or Northeastern for awhile but their estimated aid packages are very poor and UMass and UConn are much more affordable…
Did you check out your UConn financial aid package today? I’m not sure if it’s just me, but UConn is giving me a lot more in scholarship and aid than UMass did.</p>

<p>UConn is basically giving me all loans except for my $15k merit scholarship; however, my dad filed our taxes and our EFC went down, so my financial aid package may change because it was originally based off of estimates. I’m probably going to be calling UConn around mid-April to see if they can reevaluate my package. </p>

<p>As for UMass, I don’t think they have given me my package yet. So far I have about $3200 from there in the form of John & Abigail Adams scholarship as well as a Dean’s scholarship.</p>

<p>If nothing works out with BU, Northeastern, or BC, I’m probably going to have to choose between UConn and UMass, hopefully after having contacted UConn and asking for potential increase in my FA package.</p>

<p>I received the $15,000 merit scholarship from UConn and the $2000 Dean’s scholarship from UMass too, and the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship. My UConn package is mostly loans as well, and I have a rough estimate on what I would be paying to UMass. It seems like the two colleges have very similar costs though, as UConn isn’t that much more expensive for an out-of-state student than UMass is for an in-state student. </p>

<p>I’ve heard that BU and Northeastern give crappy aid and few merit scholarships, and from the estimated financial aid letter Northeastern sent me, it’s way out of my cost range. </p>

<p>Have you visited UConn/UMass recently?</p>

<p>I went to the UMass open house and I thought it was really good–they gave us free food and were very hospitable about everything. But, at the same time, I realized how much I HATE the campus. Maybe it was because it was snowy and gray that day, but in my opinion the architecture and everything is really ugly.</p>

<p>I’m going to UConn for an open house on April 13th, and I have already toured there once. I think I remember it being much prettier than UMass, so we’ll see what I think the second time around.</p>

<p>I’ve decided that if UConn ends up only costing a little bit more than UMass and I like it a lot more, I’ll just go there–debt be damned. :P</p>

<p>When did you go to the UMass open house? I went on the 8th, and it was very helpful, and the food was SO good, they weren’t lying about that. Their campus is definitely an eyesore. It probably looks beautiful in the fall, but winter is the majority of the year, and having to look at that all winter isn’t very welcoming. </p>

<p>UConn definitely sounds like it has a nicer campus than UMass. My friend’s sister goes there, and my sister’s friend’s brother also went there and they both loved it a lot. UMass wasn’t even an option for them. I’ve also heard that UConn is being called a public ivy now…?</p>

<p>Ugh just thinking about all this college debt is making going to college scary /:</p>

<p>I went on the 3rd! But yeah, the food was definitely awesome and I loved that they gave us a lunch voucher.</p>

<p>UConn is the top public university in New England I believe, and it would probably look better on a resume than UMass would for jobs. Even if I go to UMass I will have debt, so why not have a little more and go to a college I like more?</p>

<p>According to my economics teacher, we will be graduating into a better job market than people graduating this year are (because the economy is recovering–slowly but surely), so that at least gives me hope! All we can really do is make smart and informed decisions about where to go to school and how many loans we take on, and work our tails off. So that’s basically my game plan.</p>

<p>That’s what my guidance counselor said about UConn too! And that UMass still kind of has the “ZooMass” reputation and that doesn’t always look good on a resume. </p>

<p>The only thing that I prefer about UMass was that I got into their honors college and I didn’t get into the one for UConn. But how important is an honors college really…</p>

<p>That’s a relief, unemployment on top of college loans after graduation is terrifying. What I liked so much about Northeastern was that they have the co-op program which could potentially mean job security. Their tuition is so expensive though, and room and board on top of that is just plain ridiculous.</p>

<p>Yeah, I also got into honors at UMass and not at UConn… but yeah, does it really matter? I think you can transfer into the honors college after a semester or something, and the classes at UConn are probably marginally better than those at UMass anyways. </p>

<p>I was pumped about the new honors dorms at UMass, but the regular dorms at UConn are probably just as nice.</p>

<p>I hear you about Northeastern–that was my top choice for so long until I realized it was financially impossible. After I was deferred I just kind of cast it out of my mind… I guess I should be hearing back this week.</p>