Great! My son was wanting southwest but is in engineering so I was hoping it was there. I do think a lot of engineers live in Northeast.
My son isnāt an engineering/CS major but he didnāt want Southwest as it is more of the party area - that is how he ended up in Northeast. I think you can find students in all majors in all the residential areas. In Southwest youāll just need to walk a little more to get to class (they have two dining halls in that area as so many kids live there).
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Paid deposit back in Jan/Feb. As best we can tell, there has not been anything else that we need to be doing, correct? (other than destination days) Just want to make sure we didnāt miss anything!
Me too! Same question.
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I came to this forum with the intention of seeking advice for how to counsel S23, who as of Monday was firmly decided on UMass. Then, yesterday, I said, so should I go ahead and pay the deposit? he sighed long and loud and said he was going to go talk to his school counselor today, because heās having a lot of doubt and uncertainty. I think heās nervous about being so far away from home (we live in TX).
This sentiment, that where he thinks heāll be happiest and will thrive, is a really good point that I will remind him of as he approaches his final decision.
(And if anyone has any suggestions for anything else I can tell him in re: assuring him that he will be okay if he goes to school far from home, Iād appreciate the wisdom! This is our first time at this particular rodeo.)
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I absolutely agree with the sentiment, but I have two caveats. One is - no or minimal amount of debt for undergrad. And two, careful of a school that puts undue restrictions on kids switching majors. Since we know that more than 50% of students change their major at least once, you have to be careful not to put them in a situation where there are serious roadblocks to exploring.
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Thank you. We donāt anticipate accumulating debt for his undergrad (weāre still paying off my PhD!). He got pretty good merit and we plan to cash-flow the rest.
Does UMass restrict changing majors? This is not a topic that has come up for us.
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They are pretty flexible (S22 is a freshman). There are some impacted majors - like nursing (itās a tiny program) and Isenberg - where you canāt transfer in easily, but for most majors it isnāt a problem.
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Computer science is another one that you probably canāt switch into easily.
Engineering is another. But in general, outside of these impacted majors, UMass does not put unnecessary roadblocks to changing majors or doing minors. Other schools do, so I would just have your son keep an eye on that when narrowing down his choices.
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Actually, you can transfer into CS although spots are limited by number of available seats. Students must complete at least one pathway course and get a B or better and maintain a 3.0 gpa overall - there is a whole application process that is laid out on the CS page for UMass.
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We are attending Destination Day on Saturday. Any other Managerial Economics majors out there?
Regarding the changing of majors, there are a few majors that are tricky due to the high demand of the departments (Isenberg, Nursing, CompSci, Engineering), but they do have pathways to switch to those departments if you have good grades.
However, in the instance of Computer Science, anyone can minor in CompSci or take classes in the department. For many jobs, a minor is more than enough.
My son was accepted to Engineering as a Civil Engineering major, however, his acceptance letter clearly states that he can freely switch to any engineering major.
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I was just reading the UMass Amherst admissions by major page today for something else. A couple of notes on what you said:
The school is very clear that there is no path to switch into nursing, you must be admitted as a freshman nursing major. (They do have a couple of other programs that allow someone to get a nursing degree that are outside the normal process: RN to BSN program & second undergraduate major program.)
All engineering majors are admitted into the engineering school, and no one chooses their specific major until the end of freshman year.
We will be at Destination Day on Sunday. UMass is one of daughterās top two. I am relieved to hear there is some flexibility in majors since she currently loves all the basic natural sciences disciplines and it looking forward to exploring a little bit! I told her thatās what college is for!
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Hi. My daughter is coming from WA state! She needs to have a really good fit wherever she goes to college so for UMass to be in her top two is a big deal.
You can tell him that after a year of researching colleges like itās my full time job - research is my superpower - Iāve pretty much never heard a bad thing about UMass. At least where it matters like culture, quality, people, diversity, vibe, the surrounding area etc. People LOVE that school. I can think of maybe 4-5 other schools Iād put in that same category: schools that make a lot of people from all kinds of backgrounds and wishlists very happy to be there.
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Thatās correct- there is no path to switch majors into the traditional BSN program at UMASS Amherst.
The only complaint S24 had about UMass was that it ended up being too big for him to stay on his short list. He loved every other aspect of the campus! Super impressive school, hope your daughter loves it at admitted students day!!
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Also going to destination day on Saturday - UMass has become my D23s first choice - hoping this will help solidify things!
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Aw thanks! She really wants big! And itās not even THAT big actually 