<p>I have to decide a college in a couple days but I'm so torn between the 2 schools. Both of them have their good and bad points. </p>
<p>Umass is a match and I know a lot of people who are going, while Bing is a reach and I don't know anyone who's going (which could be good or bad).</p>
<p>Bing has wayyy nicer dorms and the 5 communities while umass has a rap I'm interested in.</p>
<p>I'm going in as undeclared but interested in sociology. Umass has a bigger department but seems like most professors don't teach the undergrads and its an easier course. Bing is smaller, professors don't have good ratings, is said to be harder, but has a global focus which I like. </p>
<p>I'm also interested in Asian studies which both seem equally good. </p>
<p>Umass has all kinds of people while bing has people who were towards the top of their hs class.</p>
<p>Bing is highly ranked while umass isn't. </p>
<p>Umass is close to home while Bing is far.</p>
<p>Anyone have any thoughts or advice on how to choose one?
I would really appreciate.
And sorry about the long rambling.</p>
<p>Not all rankings have UMass ranked lower. UMass has a higher Carnegie Foundation classification for example. The Times World University Rank for UMass is way higher (300 spots or so; UMass ranks 42 in the world for Arts and Humanities in this ranking, and #17 overall among US public universities), stateuniversity.com ranks UMass higher. So take the ratings with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I think the Amherst area is nicer than Binghamton, but that is just my opinion. I don’t know what the “5 communities” are, but UMass is a member of the 5 College Consortium.</p>
<p>Did you get into ComCol? Brand new dorms next year if you did.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the Sociology or Asian Studies depts, can’t help you there.</p>
<p>UMass most likely has better food.</p>
<p>How close to home is UMass? For my kid UMass is about 90 minutes, it is nice being that close because we were able to easily get to the campus to attend his concerts or pick him up to come home if needed. Binghamton is, what, 5 or 6 hours?</p>
<p>FWIW, I don’t know anyone who’s gone to Binghamton, but I know a lot of people who went to UMass, and every single one of them will go on about what a great experience they had at UMass.</p>
<p>If they are really that even, I’d go for cheaper and closer.</p>
<p>Going to Public Universities out of State makes just makes no sense–especially, considering that UMass is a very solid state school with ample resources and opportunities for any student. Binghamton is celebrated as a State U that does a wonderful job with liberal arts…but if you are paying out of state prices for that experience, well, why not just attend a high quality private liberal arts school?</p>
<p>Both are fine state institutions and relatively similar levels of academic achievement can be had at both (with all the similar caveats for larger state universities). Amherst is a swell area, and pretty vibrant for a college town. </p>
You will know where you fit in when you visit-one place will feel better to you than the other. Keep in mind, lots of students who go to Binghamton come from Long Island/NJ and UMass has lots of MA students. The town and weather in Amherst are better than in Binghamton, NY.
Ya, to add on to what @notrichenough said, UMass is actually higher ranked in several places. The largest and most popular US ranking is by “US NEWS” and they ranked UMass Amherst as #76 and SUNY Binghampton as #88. Also, as someone who is doing Chinese and Business at UMass Amherst I can tell you that they have a very active Asian studies program and the 5 Collages offers an Asian studies certificate that could be useful. (They offer Japanese, Chinese and Korean)
@ProfessorQ I’d like to challenge that assumption of yours. As a New Jerseyan who will be attending school at an OOS public next year, I find there is a very interesting dynamic brought by any student who goes to an OOS public.