@Rebecca1212 - that’s great news! You said it… Those darn kids… Seriously, I would consider all your options and rule nothing out… yet. Let’s be honest: they screwed up but remedied it in the best way possible. Acceptance undeclared is a great option and a $8k as a mea culpa. It must be hard after having to wait so long not to feel slighted but an acceptance is an acceptance. There are many on this board who would trade places with our sons in a heartbeat.
I wish we could go to the OH on 4/26 but DS has a conflict.
@SQBrit @Rebecca1212 congratulation to both of you, I think choosing umass Amherst to attend is a good decision, Umass is becoming one of the best universities in Mass with about 56% acceptance this year.
@SQBrit My son is also considering med school. When we started the process, he received a letter inviting him to apply to a school for free that had a bioengineering program. He is very strong in math so it interested him, so we explored colleges for both avenues. At this point, he is telling me is really wants to pursue medical school, and wants a pre med path, and not biomedical engineering.
We ruled out Stonybrook as we felt it was a depressing large campus, and he thought the students seemed nerdy. I didn’t get that sense but I was glad he ruled it out as there are a significant number of students who commute home on weekends, and it just didn’t seem like a place I would want him to spend four years.
Rollins is an extremely small school in Florida…so a completely different option. There would be small classes, and tons of opportunities for scientific research which he likes.
UConn would be far less expensive, but he likes the idea of leaving the state…and Amherst is a far better college town. He was waitlisted at Skidmore, and so that is still in the mix too.
Decisions, decisions…
How do you get Chancellor’s scholarship of $8,000 per year at UMass Amherst?
@SQBrit - congrats to those who have been admitted. thanks for asking…my D still waiting…spire status still under review…I just called admissions…I was told all letters will be mailed by Friday, 4/17. I asked if there were a lot of letters still waiting to go out and the response was “yes, there are…”…the wait is painful…
@sreya124 you get it if you are out of state and have strong stats.
@PAR403 - That is so CCCCCRRRRRAAAAZZZEEEEEE. They sound in a sorry state and your family is paying the price. If it makes you feel any better I do think they are reviewing the applications carefully and not rushing through them which may be a tempting option at this point. It is hard not to feel forgotten though. Are you in-state?
@canigoback - We also looked at Stonybrook and didn’t apply for reasons that I don’t remember now. I find the overlap /differences between the schools selected for our sons fascinating. We are pushing DS to apply to engineering as a major instead of premed as an insurance plan. This could backfire though. Also a liberal arts school didn’t seem a good fit for DS as he hates English and has less interest in the subjects that make these schools so appealing to many applicants. So that pointed to the large state schools/tech schools that offer engineering. However, to add to the challenge he wanted a balanced ratio of male/female students (doesn’t think his chances are thst great otherwise ;)) I challenge anyone to find - decent male/female ratio in the tech/engineering schools although some seem more imbalanced than others. If he sees tons of pretty girls on the Umass Amherst campus then it’s game over, lol.
Don’t you hate waitlists? Everyone it seems is still looking over their shoulder wondering if the “waitlist school” will pull the rug.
Decisions/choices if one is lucky to have them can be tough. I will inform everyone of our final decision and I would appreciate the same from my poster pals!
@SQBrit I liked the decisions so much more than the waiting! If it is of any help to your DS I can say, and my DS will agree, there are many many pretty girls at Umass and lots that were in the accepted students tour we did so more are incoming!..in addition to all the other academic things Umass had, that the other schools he was accepted at didn’t, I do think that the more even ratio of males/females gave him the final push! lol
I saw that you visited V Tech, we were supposed to go there last weekend as well but couldn’t make it, and was wondering what you thought of it since my other DS is going there. I am so hoping that it was as great as I have read about.
@SQBrit My DS hates English too lol. Skidmore has a strong science program, is building a new science building, and that’s where I attended. Rollins is in Florida, and he started out his search stating he wanted someplace warm, it happened to be the number 2 regional southern college so we added it to the list. Both of those schools have high female/ male ratios which is part of the attraction of course. UMass Amherst is 50/50 but Smith and Mount Holyoke are nearby lol…
@SQBrit Yes my D is in state…looking for pre-law/political science…who knows what will happen at this point.
Side note - After I called admissions this morning and was told that letters will continue to be mailed through this week with the last ones going out Friday, I received an email from them stating something different “Thank you for your email. On Monday (4/14/15) afternoon, our office mailed out the last of the decisions for Regular Decision, on-time applicants. SPIRE accounts will update soon.”
Can you say that the system is broken?
@PAR403 - Your calm manner is admirable. If your daughter shares your way of handling uncertainty she will be just fine. Yes, I would say the system is broken. However 41k applicants is an amazing number. I compared that number to Virginia Tech which is a slightly larger school and they received 22.5k.
I really think Umass needs to opt out of the Common Ap. It is clear they can’t handle this volume. Unfortunately the Common Ap is a classic example of the law of unintended consequences. People are applying to more and more schools “to get in somewhere”. This results in crazy yield projections and long waitlists.
I hope you and your daughter receive good news soon.
@canigoback - funny you should mention Mt Holyoke - they offer a dual BA/BSc major in a liberal arts/engineering degree in a 5 year period co jointly with Umass. Example: physics/mechanical eng. or chemistry/chemical eng. Looked pretty interesting. The degree starts at Mt Holyoke and in the 3rd-5th year ends at UMass.
@BLJ123 - I’m not sure what I thought of Virginia tech. It was a brutal weekend, spent on 4 flights to end at Roanoke. To give you an idea of how small the last plane was, it had propellers and sitting in seat 9c put you at the VERY back of the plane!! I had a bad cold and spent the trip suffering DS’s non-committal responses. The highlight of the trip was listening to this novice driver critique my skills with a rental car on the unfamiliar roads of Virginia, culminating in his solemn pronouncement: “you are the worst driver ever”.
What I like about VT: the motto “that I may serve”. Thst is important to me. The school seems upright and sound with an emphasis on clean fun. It did not seem too big and the limestone building complemented each other. The food is championed as the best in the country.
Not sure about: we attended on a Sunday and saw very few students. where were they? Blacksburg seemed small but we only drove through it once. The engineering programs seemed competitive and hard! In hindsight wish we could have stayed a second day to learn more about engineering that was offered on day 2. Highlight of trip: DS saying “this place is awesome”. Lowlight: leaving me early to sit in the car and wait while I got a cup of coffee to call husband to complain. What I was hoping for was a cross between a Tom Brady happy dance and a St Paul road to Damascus reaction. Did not get it. Famous last exchange “so, what do you think?” Reply, “I’m not sure…”
We learnt that the best way to visit from MA is a direct flight to Charlotte and then a rental car to VT - a lovely scenic drive which takes about 3hours. If you have any specific questions, please let me know.
Ok - my D is no longer in the last to hear club…acceptance letter in mail…thanks to all for the support. FINALLY wait is over. Ya-hoo. Good luck to all - wherever the kids land, they’ll all do great. 
@PAR403 - Awesome news! Officially no longer in the last to hear club! Well done to your daughter.
@SQBrit LOL! Love those novice drivers…never knew that I was doing it “wrong” all these many many years! I did notice that the airport situation was a bit tricky by the location. We would be driving, it seems to be basically a straight shot down rte 81, we are in NYS. After this winter I kept telling DS that it is so much warmer in Virginia and Mom will gladly come visit any time! We just didn’t get the chance to get there so the NSO this summer will be our first visit. That DS has the guaranteed transfer option to BU next year so if he doesn’t love it he has a really great option.
Glad to hear that all those that have been waiting are finally hearing back from Umass. That DS is really looking forward to getting there. Both schools have different orientation and move in days so we got lucky on that but will be doing a lot of driving this summer.
Can’t wait to hear where your DS decides to go
Hello all, I have been lurking in the background reading and getting inspiration from you all. My daughters spire account finally changed to wait list last week and got a letter too. My question is kind of weird, here it goes…
Do you remember if the wait listed letter that had to be returned back has the students id number or Name? I do not recall having seen any thing. I just got my daughter to sign it as she had just returned from Robotics that night and mailed it out!! She does not remember either. I am now worried, how will they know who they got it from just by the signature?
Thanks and your answer might give me peace of mind that I did not do anything wrong :D.
@ddsmomboston I just checked my daughters waitlist letter and it did already have her name and spire id already on it. No need to worry!
same here, i actually took a picture of the letter with my phone before sending it - the spire id is on it