If y’all don’t mind sharing, for those that got into honors what was your sat or act score? Really worried, hoping natural sciences come out soon!
Did all Isenberg go out today? I haven’t heard anything. should I assume I wasn’t accepted? 
Accepted to CS and CHC yesterday with Duke scholarship! In state, got the email at 11:16 AM. SAT: 1540: 800 M/740 R
@abcd24680 I sent you a message
S got accepted into Isenberg today. 1280 SAT, 3.95 GPA UW, 4.0+ W, top ten of his class, number of EC’s, National Honor, Key Club, varsity soccer, band etc. In-state.
I’ll repost my conversation with admissions for you biting your nails, but relax for now, they’ll be doing more admissions for the next several weeks and it’s done in random batches, so don’t stress yet.
UMass-Amherst admissions demystified a bit.
I toured UMass today with my son today and was able to talk with one of the admissions people at some length and got some insight into the process.
They have about 19,000 this year applying via early admissions.
Weighted GPA for admission will be 3.9W for most majors and the competitive ones (C.S., engineering, business) is a 4.0W. Nursing of course is a 4.0W+ since they have about 2,000 applicants for 64 spots.
Avg SAT 1280 for most majors, 1320 for the most competitive majors.
They have a surprisingly small staff to process this huge number, about a baker’s dozen full-time admissions people with five additional staff brought in to help. So 18 people have to go through 19,000 applications. Each person goes through about 40 per day. Quick math means it takes about 5-6 weeks to go through them all. You get about ten minutes to impress. That’s why good essays are important, if you’re on the bubble it can make or break you. Of course they also look at your extracurriculars as well in deciding. It’s holistic, but pretty competitive.
They process them in batches in no particular order. Probably so there’s no “How come engineering always go first?” complaints. There’s probably other rationale too, for example perhaps some Dean’s are a little slower than others in determining the guidelines for admission to their schools for this year’s incoming class. But for whatever reason that’s how they do it. So don’t read anything into how the notifications come out. Because someone else got notified at this point and you didn’t means nothing.
The only thing they purposely do is wait to release the bad news until after Christmas so they don’t rain on the holiday.
The same process is repeated for the normal deadline.
So that’s it. They are hard at work going through the applications and by mid-January you’ll know if you made it. So be patient and good luck!
My Son was accepted this morning to Isenberg School of Management. His acceptance letter does not show a
major, only “admitted to Isenberg School of Management” under the Major paragraph. He’s hoping for finance. Is this normal?
Thanks.
Hmm… that seems slightly strange to me as if the school wanted to wait until after the holiday to release deferrals/denials then wouldn’t that just add more work to them and also just leave it so they have a pile of bad news? I don’t mean to sound rude I’m just skeptical.
Wait so you’re saying is that some students who applied to a certain major such as the isenberg may find out other dates even though a bunch have already gotten their acceptance email today (for EA)? And also after the winter break there are no more acceptances?? @UMLalum
Thanks for answering if you do
@Cali05: what were your son’s stats?
Congrats to him!
Thank you. OOS, 1380 sat, 3.87 UW/ 4.1W.
Accepted into Isenberg School as an instate applicant 
Unfortunately did not seem to get any scholarships or get into the Honors College. Still grateful to be accepted no doubt!
SAT 1350
GPA Unweighted 3.7
It seems most everyone here has applied for CS xD
Got into Isenberg! Instate
SAT: 1190(superscored)
GPA: 4.49
Top like 5 percent of class
Lots of xtrac. All that good stuff.
In reading all of these posts some of the GPA’s vs SAT scores are really confusing. I know what my SAT score is and I know what my GPA is. In my high school there are only 95 kids in my grade but I don’t understand how some can have a 4.0 GPA and score in the low 1200’s on the SAT. My friend has a 3.7 UW on a 4.0 scale (my high school doesn’t weight) and she scored a 1450 on the SAT and is barely in the top 20% of our class. Some of the bragging here by parents seems a bit like a fantasy land to me…just saying.
Some people are just bad test takers. This is why colleges consider SAT’s as well as grades. Just as some may have high GPAs and score low on the SAT, some have low GPAs and score high on the SATs. As for parents bragging, thats what parents do. It doesnt matter how good or bad their child is on your scale, if theyre proud of their kid thry may brsg about it. No harm done.
Some high schools are not as good as others, and some people take calculus while others take business math. The only constant way to compare is the SAT. I know some people are not good test takers, myself included, but bragging your kid has a 3.9 gpa and an 1180 on the SAT is kind of a joke isn’t it? I mean if you are able to get a 3.9 doesn’t that mean you are a good test taker at least sometimes? Most of the time? I just think there are some rude awakenings in the future.
And something is fishy with the way Umass reports this information. If the class of 2021 had an average SAT score is 1283 and the average gpa 3.89 what kind of creative math are they using? This is BS if you ask me! If you are able to master all of the information the high school is teaching but still not able to master the SAT then something is wrong with the picture. http://www.umass.edu/admissions/facts-and-figures/student-body-and-admissions-statistics
@payasugo These GPA’s you are looking at are weighted. UMass adds points for AP and accelerated classes. They stated this during the admissions tour. I don’t remember exact amount, but I’m sure if you looked hard enough you would come across it.
@payasugo I did the work for you;)
In order to calculate a weighted GPA, individuals must convert each final grade earned in
high school level academic courses to a 4-point grading scale (where A = 4.0; B =
3.0; C = 2.0; D = 1.0 and F = 0.0). A chart is provided with these materials so that letter or
numeric grades may be converted. Further, the level of each course must be identified (for
example, Honors or Advanced Placement). Full-year Honors level and Advanced
Placement courses will receive an extra .5 and 1.0 points on the 4-point scale,
respectively. A dual enrollment course will receive an extra 1.0 point on the 4- point
scale
@wheatonmom I am aware of this weighting it’s actually written into the state law but the only logical way for a person to have such a high GPA and not have an elite SAT score is to load up on CP classes which is on the surface very misleading. I guess I am a bit frustrated because my high school doesn’t even offer CP, honors is the minimum and all IB 11th and 12th. So achieving a 3.89 means your going to an IVY…
@payasugo The admissions counselors are well aware of how different schools are structured with classes and grading. That is why counselors are often assigned to a region, so they don’t have to reacquaint themselves with new schools every year. I agree it helps to load up on higher level classes to boost your GPA, but I also know that at our high school these classes are usually significantly harder. You need to stop comparing your GPA to students at other schools. It isn’t as unfair as you make it seem.