My D has been accepted at both of these. When we approached the whole process she preferred a small setting and the culture at Smith seems like it would be a great fit. She received no merit aid or grants at Smith and nothing to write home about at UMass but it is still $45k less. She is interested in Environmental Science and recognizes the opportunities for research and variety may be greater at UMass. We COULD make the bills work at Smith… but it is worth the “fit” and the networking that comes later? She is a gregarious person who frankly would have no problem finding her people at a big school. It is difficult apples and oranges choice where the orange is triple the cost. Would love opinions!
The campus setting, alumni network, and prestige are much greater at Smith. Are these important factors for her? If your family can pay for either school w/o loans, then it’s all just a matter of preference.
Do you have more specific questions? Does Smith’s single-sex education model enter into the decision?
CHC makes a big school feel smaller and there are some nice perks. Great food at UMass, but Northampton is a cute çollege town. Both good options!
The single sex factor is not very relevant for her. We could pay for either but there will be loans at Smith and it’s not like money is no issue (2 more kids bringing up the rear!). Sort of looking for validation that she is not missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime (ok, that’s a little dramatic) and for success stories of the honors college in the sciences. She feels like the research opportunity will be greater at umass (more offerings course wise too). Smith does has environmental science and policy versus environmental science so there she would likely be geoscience.
If your daughter is lgbtq, Smith and Northampton are extremely welcoming places. Academically it’s an intense place. Engineering and humanities. Women studies and sciences it’s a world class school. The campus is beautiful and the town is quaint.
I do disagree with posters above regarding alumni network and prestige. Yes Smith is extremely well thought of and historically “prestigious”. but in many disciplines it’s UMass with the global and national rep. CS and AI. Isenberg Business school, period.
Math and Econ is very strong too.
Also the commonwealth Honors program is no joke. It is some of the best in-state students and wildly strong oos students. Special housing. Access to research (automatically) and special events. And post grad alumni network is awesome.
The consortium program is more about moho, Amherst and smith students taking classes at Massachusetts than the other way. Very few students I knew take classes at the other schools. This may have changed.
Lots of new buildings going up and us the best rated food options in America by some rankings.
There’s sports too. Actually, the minutemen are playing for a national championship next week in the frozen four! the campus is electric around the team. Lines out the door at the Mullins center with students watching the regionals on big screens. Not even a live game!
It’s much bigger and feels a bit more urban to me than many schools. Despite being in the valley. Amherst is a great college town. But small.
Smith is much more of the quintessential college campus environment. And it’s much smaller and walkable.
So in the end I would choose based on what your daughter will study. And what type of environment will best suited for her, leading her to be happy and enthusiastic.
The extra cost is for you to decide.
Success stories? My niece was accepted to Cornell, Tufts, and other private schools about 6 (7?) years ago and decided to matriculate at UMass CHC. Absolutely no regrets. She met friends during the overnight CHC orientation who remain among her closest buddies. She started in pre-vet, and switched to something less specific but still in the natural/animal sciences. She worked in the same lab for several of her years at UMass, was invited to continue in the same lab for a free 5th year masters, and was a named author in at least one of that lab’s published studies. She got a well-paying 3-year contract job in the city of her choice after graduation; I believe the contractor was specifically looking for alum from that particular lab.
My LGBT child is currently deciding between UMass CHC and Brandeis to study biology. As it happens, we live in Northampton (Smith), the cousin now lives in Waltham (Brandeis), and my child has already interned in a couple of biology labs at UMass. Lots of information available!
I’ll be interested in knowing how your child and family proceed. Will she be attending an admitted students event at UMass CHC?
Also wanted to say hello to @privatebanker, who was very helpful when I was posting through a different account. (CC shut that right down!) For us, one of the only strikes against UMass CHC is that our child has attended school in Amherst since 6th grade, so it might be good to spend some time in a different locale. Obviously that’s not a concern for the OP.
Hi @lynnski. I remember our convo. How is everything going? DM if you get a chance.
Hello again @privatebanker I cannot send a DM, but I can respond if you send me one!
It seems obvious to bring up, but either choice will allow your kid to take classes at the other.
Exactly - it is routine for Smith students to take classes at UMass and vice versa. They do it through the five college system. The schools in the area (Smith, Mt. Holyoke, UMass, Hampshire, Amherst) are all linked, and students at any one can take classes and join clubs and do activities at any of the others, with no extra cost.
You mention you’d need to take out loans for Smith. To be frank, I need to know how much in loans you’ll need to be able to help with this decision. For example and to exaggerat, if you mean she’ll graduate with $10k in loans for Smith, this is one conversation. But if she’ll graduate $140k in debt, it’s completely another.
There’s a free bus service between all the colleges, but students don’t take classes at the other schools very often. The OP’s question makes complete sense. Although students at the 5 colleges can take classes at any school, they settle in at their home schools, where sense of identity, friend groups, clubs, and advising all focus close to home.
Maybe because I went to UMass, my experience was different. I had a good number of students from the other schools in my major classes. Possibly because we’re the big guy, so we offer a ton of classes, we may have offered things that weren’t available elsewhere. And some of the departments (such as dance) are truly cross-campus. I myself only took a couple of classes at Smith, and one or two at Hampshire, but I did go to dances and other events at the other schools frequently, and I joined a club at Hampshire, which met weekly. I also went to seminars at Smith and Amherst. I think the only campus I didn’t go to a lot was Mt. Holyoke, because it was a bit off the beaten path for me.
But taking classes and going to activities is not at all the same as going to the school, so if finances weren’t a concern and Smith was the ideal fit, I’d send her to Smith, for example.
Maybe that is your own experience. ^^^ I personally took classes as a 5 College student, and my other friends did as well. I took a class 3 of the institutions.
The consortium is a great feature of the 5 College system. So is the library access. My advising was at my home institution but it was a great exposure to different professorial methods and classes. And yes I took the free bus system to get to the other institution.
Unless you are wealthy, $45k/ (yr?) is significant, particularly if you have to take out Parent loans. UMass is a no-brainer, here.
I didn’t realize that one could join clubs as the other schools in addition to classes so that is great to know! To answer the financial piece, we would be paying sticker price spread out over a 529, personal savings, and loans to the tune of 170k to bridge the gap. It had come to my attention a bit too late that the calculations used in determining need don’t translate well for self employed people (per a college financial aid office) so we are out of luck. She got sticker price at a Skidmore as well.
UMass-Amherst.