Great point!
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We are from Austin (TX) too, and Amherst is one of the school my son wanting to apply to (2024).
We have never traveled to the East Coast, so wondering what difference between the surrounding area, if comparing to Austin, Dallas, or SA?
I thought most college towns look the same? Maybe East Coast is just not as hot?
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I live in the greatest of all college towns â Lawrence, Kansas â and have been to many, many campuses in the Midwest (and also several times to Austin). My daughter is a sophomore at UMass, so weâve been to Amherst a half dozen times.
Amherst does not look like a college town in the way you probably think - it is different than typical Midwest college towns. The cities of Amherst/Hadley/Northampton do not make up a large metropolitan area, especially in comparison to Austin, Dallas or San Antonio. The drive to Boston is between 1.5 to 2 hours (depending upon route and traffic), so it really is less urban than you might imagine. The campus is great, there are real hills in western Mass, it is a fun place.
Downtown Amherst is not really comparable to Austin (or even Lawrence) . . . it is quaint and there are good places to eat, but it is smaller and I wouldnât say there is a lot of shopping. We do like to go to downtown Northampton - where there is some shopping. My daughter loves Amherst; she goes downtown every Saturday to get breakfast and coffee with friends.
Great thing about being on the east coast is fewer kids worry about having a car (my daughter does not, and only one of her friends does). My kid is adept at using the bus system and goes regularly to Northampton and other places â theyâve even taken the bus to Boston a couple times.
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I went to UMass in the 90s and still go out there for games and alumni events. Amherst is a lovely town with lots of different foods, music spots, shops etc. Hadley and Northampton are towns nearby that are similar. We used to take the free buses out to Northampton for the fun shops. I lived in Sunderland when I got my apartment and was right across the street from a tobacco farm. Deerfield is just past there and is home to a Yankee Candle flagship store. I would pay for the bus tickets to Springfield where I would transfer to the bus to Boston so I could go home on the weekend if I needed to. My grandmother was nearby in Chicopee so sometimes I would take the bus to Holyoke and she would meet me. The area has a fun vibe, but probably way more low key than the cities you mention.
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Well, there are a lot of reasons UT wasnât on the list. One is that I did my BA and PhD at UT and worked there as staff for a while and know way too much about how the sausage gets made to want my kid to go there. Also, thereâs the whole top 10% rule, which is really top 6% these days, and while my kid is above average, he isnât top 10%.
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Ah I see. So it is not as urban as we had thought it would be. But he thinks it will be fine.
Didnât know the East Coast bus system is that good. We only knows how convenience the NYC subway system is. With a good bus system, I think he could go out and still have fun without problem.
Thx MRichards74 and Kerrie_W.
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Think more along the line of Kerrville or Fredericksburg with a campus just on the edge. It is rural, plenty of farmland. Umass Lowell would be comparable to SA and UMass Boston like AustinâŠBoston is one of the best cities ever! We probably would have applied to MIT but when last yearâs salutitorian didnât get accepted (his grades, SAT, EC were off the charts, and charming) we just decided to save our application fee money.
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We are in state, submitted in September. Some state schools actually treat the in state students like the taxpayers they are and let them know ahead of time but not UMass. So annoying and while it is a great school on many things it is a behemoth that moves slowly, has random rules (somehow regular students needed to wear masks and were punished for not wearing them BUT the hockey team was allowed not to wear them, RAs that are unionized(! -and not much help!).
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I absolutely agree with this! I see many state schools that reserve most of their merit and FA money for instate kids. It seems in Mass, however, that much of the merit money goes to OOS kids. I have a son who attend UNC Chapel Hill and it was a given that he would get zero merit money as that was reserved for their own tax paying kids.
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the bus system in the Pioneer Valley is free to students and good within that region. Northampton is the most happening place, besides the UMass campus. Getting to/from Boston is a pain. D at Smith College has done that exactly one time in 2 years-- for a concert.
Her advice to my younger twins was not overthink location as youâll be so busy with academics and campus activities that it doesnât really matter where you are. Just love the campus and the people.
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Got in Out of state Early Action, Honors College. $16k per year scholarship
3.87 IB program.
Interested in the Destination day for my college Feb 18, but more interested in meeting with CHC folks to see the dorms / classrooms and hopefully sit in on some classes the day before. Reaching out to try and make that happen. Fingers crossed.
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Love UNC Chapel Hill and your son must be very smart to get in there as an OOS student - from what I have heard they also admit in state students who are a lot less qualified that the OOS as well as giving them a lot less or no merit.
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if you arrange this please consider posting your impressions afterward. We are in CA and cannot make it out there. Doing virtual event with CHC but not dorms, classes, etc.
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We visited UMASS when my D22 was admitted last year and loved it!!! It is now top of the list for my S24. My D22 ultimately chose UW Seattle and is extremely happy there. She is microbiology not CS. Last year CS OOS acceptances were 3% for UW and 30% at UMASS. So tough for CS- which is what my S24 wants. I canât tell you how hard it was for D22 to say no to UMASS- she would have been very happy there. The one thing I learned last year is that each student had good choices at the end of the tortuous admission cycle and almost all of them are very, very happy.
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I was showing UWâs admittance by major webpage to my son just today and that 3% for CS is rough. (He applied for psychology, which doesnât seem to be as tight.) Looking forward to checking out UMass, and excited to see what he chooses once we have all the information!
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No, as long as she gets good grades in her classes, sheâll be fine to go on for her Masters or Doctorate.
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So . . . is the consensus that the next (final?) wave come out next week?
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I was hoping today. I thought I read previously they sent out decisions on Thursday.
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They just posted some random message on Twitter about âfall foliageâ. Seriously? All people want to know is when the decisions are coming out.
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Iâm pretty sure the last wave was on a Thursday.
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