Hi everyone - New to these boards but excited to find great information about the admissions process and choosing a school. D21 was accepted to UMass Boston for Fall '21.
Stats -
OOS
Major - International Relations
GPA - 4.0
no test scores submitted
6 APs
lots of ECs
Chancellors Merit - 25k per year
Where is everyone? We haven’t been able to visit yet but love the Boston area. I have questions for former or current students!
I’ll PM you
What is the relationship between UMass-Boston and Amherst?
They are both part of the same UMass system. UMass Amherst is the flagship. UMass Boston used to be a commute school but in recent years has added dorms. The faculty is excellent. The humanities classes are often small with the professor teaching and no TA’s.
How does it work that they’re part of the same system?
The University of Massachusetts has campuses in Amherst, Boston. Lowell and Dartmouth. Not sure what your question means 
I don’t understand how it works for schools to be part of the same system.
As a similar example, Texas has various schools called University of Texas–Austin and others.
UMass has a president who leads the whole system. Each campus has its own chancellor, curriculum and degree requirements.
Which decisions does the president make that the individual chancellors of campuses are not permitted to make?
Are they generally viewed as the same schools but in different locations?
May I ask about your Chancellors Merit scholarship? I happen to attend UMass Boston on the Chancellor’s scholarship as well, but for 10k per year. In state tuition is only 15k, and Chancellor’s only covers tuition not living expenses. In high school, I got a 1460 SAT, took 7 AP classes, and had strong ECs. I am stuck at this school because it was the only university I received any aid from. I got into the UMass Amherst Commonwealth Honors College my senior year of high school but a degree from my flagship school would have been 120k over the 4 years (no aid).
Are you out of state? In the event that you are, I would highly warn against this school. It’s been an absolute trap of an institution, and the Chancellor’s scholarship / honors college kept me stuck in here. UMass Amherst did not even accept some of my UMB credits (egregious). Beware of this school. I wouldn’t recommend it and I cannot wait to graduate. If you are interested in hearing more about the experience here I would be more than happy to provide you information. There is so much about this school that is hidden to lure you in. This place is a bureaucratic mess. “Improvements” aside, this school has a good 20 years before it can approach the level of organization and quality that its competitors have. It is glorified community college, and to be taking on an out of state debt load for that is unjustifiable.
Current UMass Boston Junior. You have been warned.
The UMass System is unfortunately very siloed and isolated. The flagship school receives the majority of funding, and all 4 satellites operate independently. If you choose to attend a UMass, you are choosing a separate school altogether, with its own rules and program requirements. Each campus operates in conflict with one another and as if the others do not exist. The politics surrounding each campus are set up in such a way that place all 4 locations in competition, not harmony, with each other. Please see my comment below, I would highly recommend against this school.
@pathtograduation I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience. Yes, we are oos, from NY. The 25k award per year would make this school less expensive than instate schools, even with paying for room/food.
I have heard that the school has some growing to do and you confirmed this. Do you feel like you aren’t learning what you need for your degree? That definitely concerns me.
My daughter is more concerned with activities and rooming on campus. Is this mostly a commuter school? The dorms are new and look really nice virtually but we haven’t been able to see the school in person.
Thanks for your response.
I do not feel the academics are up to par or that I am being adequately prepared for a job in my field. This is consistent however with the nature of the school boasting a high turnover, low graduation rate population of students. The transfer rate out of the school is very high. This is a commuter school and its stripes have not changed even with the dorms. If you want a traditional college experience, UMB is not the place. I want to say maybe 15% of my graduating high school class has either attended or transferred out of UMB. I happen to know most of the RA’s at the new dorms and it’s been a crapshoot from the very beginning with infrastructure falling apart, homeless population entering the dorms and other security issues. UMass Boston does not allow police on campus anymore either. The location is beautiful though.
I went primarily for financial reasons (free ride) and in retrospect I would not touch this school with a ten foot pole even with a free ride, if I had to do it again. Sorry for sounding so negative, but the experience at this school has been horrible from start to finish. As a Massachusetts native who is very disappointed with the UMass system, I encourage you and your daughter to reconsider even with UMB dangling money at you.
Again PM’ing. The undergrad experience in terms of dorms and campus life has been changing in recent years. I assume that what @pathtograduation says about it still being a commuter school is true, but that is what I liked about it. It depends on what you want. The teaching quality in the humanities is excellent, very dedicated professors. @pathtograduation wondering what your major is…
I am an English and Management double major, with premed classes sprinkled in between. I’ve spent time in almost all of the colleges.