We went to admitted students day. The school did a great job. It does sound like they were caught off guard by the number of applications and increased quality of candidates. The change in dynamics threw them a bit. We are in state and I like the direction of the school. My daughter will have a tough choice to make by 5/1.
It’s understandable that they had a lot of applications but so have many others school. It’s April and decisions are suppose to be made about what college to attend not still wait for a college decision. Amherst is a top choice for someone like me who is instate and college tuition will be a struggle. I’m waiting and probably be waiting for even longer don’t think they will even have them done by next week. If schools who get supplements and more applications can do decisions faster that’s a shame. And the number of applications doesn’t help explain the inconsistency of how the decisions are the being sent. Email spire or postal. No set date no set method still waiting and getting very frustrated and tired. Schools have asked for tax information and they are far and want in person papers as well depending on Amherst so won’t have to travel to those schools but again making it very hard.
I told the kid I help to forget about Amherst. He need to accept one of the five schools that have admitted him before April 15 so that he can get all enrollment paper work done before his summer plan starts.
He loves Amherst but cannot wait that long.
I don’t understand why students need to decide this week or even next week. Mine is deciding between two schools (one is UMASS) and won’t decide until after we visit Maryland for admitted students day there. It’s better to know earlier, but making a decision before you have to is not necessary.
Students decide early because:
- They will have housing priority.
- They need to do other things in the summer.
- International students need to have paperwork early to apply for visa.
@coolweather I understand your points, but they all should not take preference over choice of college with the exception of some school that limits choice of housing. If you think you might be forced into a position where you might have to decide early because of summer plans or housing, the best strategy is to apply for Early Action, which is very easy for schools that take the common application. In any case, I wish the best of luck to all who are still waiting and hope you don’t have to lose out on a school of choice but for a housing decision at another school.
@ljberkow Everyone’s situation is different but I think the majority of the frustration among students and parents is that UMASS communicated that decisions will be released in mid march. From what I understand this is the 2nd year where the majority of the decisions are being released in April. It would have been much better for UMASS to say mid April to set the right expectation. In my son’s case, UMASS is his first choice and Purdue is #2. I would prefer to get the UMASS decision before I spend $1000 for a trip to Purdue. I’m sure other’s have similar issues. I we knew that the decisions will be in April, I would have highly recommended an early action submittal and I think we owe it future students to warn them that its probably better to apply EA if you want a decision prior to April. Just my 2 cents.
@ljberkow my son also decided between Umass and UMD. We are in state for UMD, he wanted to go OOS and Umass was his choice. Then we went to admitted student day at UMD. He chose and already committed to UMD for CS. He recieved his decision from Umass in Dec(admitted to CS) he applied EA. He was deferred from Umich EA and still waiting for a decision from them, so there are other schools who haven’t finished releasing RD. Luckily he already decided not to attend there. Good luck to all.
We’ll be in College Park in two weeks for the 4/16 admitted students day. After that, a one week decision process will have to do. Housing and start dates aren’t an issue. I’m a big fan of UMASS Spring Orientation event. I know their admissions process isn’t perfect, but the school does many things well. She’s very undecided.
My son loved Umass and the admitted student day was awesome, he was thrilled and it was his first choice. UMD impressed him most with the CS presentation along with new CS building, campus. He did really like both schools though. Your daughter has a tough choice to make, but either way she’ll be at a great school.
I agree with you so much. Shame on them. These kids are stressed enough and need time to decide where to go after ALL decisions are in. My son applied to 13 school. Got in to all and has heard from all but UMASS. I think umass might be his choice if he knew and it is making him very uptight. If we were to do it again, EA is the only way.
I’ve known since I applied that I’d go to UMass if I got in, so I applied EA but got deferred. Still waiting after applying back in October. So I understand what you guys are saying, but applying EA doesn’t ensure that you’ll get a decision earlier than 2 weeks before decision day.
I checked the UMass website, and it seems to be the only other accepted students day is April 10th. Is this true? I really hope it’s not, because like someone said earlier people last year were waiting until April 17th for a response.
I actually just sent admissions that very question yesterday. Waiting for a response. This group of kids deserve an accepted student day just like all the others. Not their fault the decision is so late.
That was smart. Let us know what they say, @Frustratedmum
All concerned: I 100% understand, my student was waitlisted at #1 choice, and is still waiting for an answer from UMASS, after getting into many really great schools with generous merit money (some from schools even more difficult to get into than both of the aforementioned, according to College Data, US News, Princeton review, etc, which is all we really have to go by). Some of this is hard to make sense of and often seems to defy logic, so I totally understand all the angst. What helps me a lot, and is helping my student a lot, is to remind ourselves that these are ‘first-world problems’. I don’t mean to sound like a bleeding heart or mean to minimize our angst, or anyone’s frustration, but at least we do know we will all get final answers eventually and before May 1st from all of these colleges. We will all weather through no matter what the outcome because we are resilient, and I’ll take ‘first-world problems’ in comparison to ‘third-world problems’, as these are survivable and will be in the ‘rear-view mirror’ of life soon enough. Good luck to all with getting your first choices if you were waitlisted anywhere, or deferred, and certainly within the next few weeks all will be finalized. If you were waitlisted anywhere you may have to wait just a few weeks longer, but a few more weeks after all of the school years invested are worth it if you get your 1st choice in the end. If not, it’s 100% ok and worse case you can go to your second choice for a year and transfer if you still have that strong desire. I know that’s not optimal, but it’s an option if you are that passionate about your 1st choice. Hang tough everyone…WE ARE GREAT PEOPLE WITH GREAT STUDENTS WHO ARE STRONGER THAN THIS PROCESS!
I believe EA/ED is the new RD. My daughter applied to 4 schools EA and heard back with 3 Acceptances and 1 deferral. One school was RD as they did not have a EA for the Med school program (only ED). There were a lot of students attending the accepted student days (from EA/ED) at the 3 schools, it makes me believe that most students/families are applying ED or EA and seems to be record numbers.
Admitted open house is on April 10th. After that date, I read you can attend a Minuteman for a Day tour/info session which run almost daily between April 16th until April 23rd. I hope you all hear soon!
Does anyone know anyone who has been rejected yet? I don’t see much of that here on this board…wondering if that all comes last and if Spire gets updated if it is a rejection as well 
It’s extremely difficult to be an out of state student, such as myself, and not receive a decision before April 1. I have already gone on college trips to schools where I have been admitted, but I have a couple more to visit and it is a serious inconvenience to not hear from UMass in a timely manner. If accepted, I will have to inevitably miss school and pay thousands of dollars for a rushed trip. I understand they were obviously overwhelmed with applications (as there seems to be no other explanation for the late replies), but I feel terrible for fellow students who are not able to make their decisions because of how long this process is taking, and are therefore losing out on the best housing universities have to offer. There is no excuse for a school to have not let Early Decision students know whether they are admitted or not, as well as Regular Decision applicants at this point in the year. For applicants like me who are considering several universities, and already have a limited timeline to process needed housing documents, etc., it’s simply unacceptable. Every students wants the best housing possible, and frankly, UMass is slowing down my decision process, which is extremely frustrating.