<p>Whats Umass Amherst like?</p>
<p>Whats bad about it?</p>
<p>Whats good about it?</p>
<p>What are the professors like?</p>
<p>Are the pre-med kids cut-throat? </p>
<p>Whats the campus like?</p>
<p>I would add the question: How large are the classes? Could someone respond with specific examples? </p>
<p>Also, how difficult is it for students who are not majoring in business to take a few business school electives, such as introductory accounting?</p>
<p>I’m currently a honors student at Umass double majoring in Accounting and Chinese with a minor in Japanese. The campus isn’t all that good looking, but Umass has this 20 year plan to make the entire campus prettier. For example we are currently building a new science building and a honors dorm. Umass is fairly strong in the sciences especially polymer science. We’re ranked 26 in the US on the Times higher education. My professors are all pretty good, except my macro professor >.>.The language professors I had were pretty good; they truly want you to master the language. The general education classes are pretty large they range from 200 to 600 people. Honors classes and language classes have less than 20. My honors college wring course had 14 people. The upper level classes have around 20-40 people. You have to be a business student to take business classes but I’m pretty sure you can petition that. What I don’t like about the school is that we are required to take some core classes, but most places have a core. The school has a reputation of ZooMass, it’s not actually as bad as everyone thinks it is and I’m living in Southwest. There are a lot of premed students so it’s hard to generalize them.</p>
<p>I’m a senior right now and while I’ve had a great experience in Amherst, my academic experience has been decidedly mixed.</p>
<p>A lot of intro classes have 300-400 people in them. It’s incredibly rare (if not non-existent for intro classes to have less than 70. However, upper level classes have much more variety and some of the professors are incredible. I’m a polisci/econ double major and I’ve had professors who required zero work and others who were very demanding (more so than the professors I’ve had at Mt. Holyoke or Amherst College). Basically, you need to ask people about what professors are good, but you can get into really good and challenging classes (or easy and do-nothing classes if that’s your thing) so long as you plan your schedule intelligently.</p>
<p>Western Mass is a beautiful area and Amherst/Northampton have enough going on to keep it interesting. A bunch of people at UMass could fairly be classified as bros or ******bags, but as on any big campus there’s really a large variety of people.</p>
<p>Anyways, I’m probably not going to check this site again, but if you want to ask more feel free. My email is soleski (at the default umass student email address…).</p>
<p>intro level courses can be HUGE (300+ students) with little/no contact with professor. Smaller classes are often taught by a grad student. I had a small class taught by a full professor very few times. Professors are a toss up, and in my major (political science) very few had actually worked in government as policymakers or at a real political job which was disappointing. </p>
<p>I’d say that its going to be very hard to enroll in any advanced classes outside your major, pretty difficult to get into some of the intro level classes in other majors even…and basically impossible to enroll in School of Management (business) courses if you’re not a business major. its extremely hard to get into School of Management after you are already a student too, you need a 3.75 gpa minimum for your freshman year.</p>
<p>If you are planning on graduate school, especially law or a grad degree in social sciences or linguistics, if you’re in-state I’d recommend UMass. Its better to be a big fish in a small pond. UMass might not be the most academically challenging or engaging school but it’s stock is going up these past few years, and like a lot of big state schools you can stand out and really get a lot out of your educational resources there if you show motivation and interest. Get good grades and a good class rank in UMass courses, which I’d say are easier than most private school courses for example, get your Professors’ attention and you will have a fun college life without stressing out too much and be well prepared to get into a good grad school.</p>
<p>The party lifestyle has been fun for me, when I started here the school was a lot more wild and violent but its mellowed out a lot. I’d say you might want to room with friends from high school or choose your dorm area wisely if you are a quiet, introverted, shy type of student. I know a few guys like that who dropped out after a few semesters because they just felt intimidated living around a lot of bros, jock types, barbie girls and such because of the particular dorm they were in. UMass students aren’t mean or anything, some of them just came from high schools where you were weird if you didn’t dress and act the same as everyone else. Part of being an adult is getting used to dealing with people who are different than you, and that goes for both frat boy types and bookworm squares.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. Let me add some more detail to my questions. Suppose a student enters UMass with several passing scores on AP exams. That would exempt him or her from certain large freshmen classes. Presumably, the student could go on to some sophomore level classes to start? In say, the Political Science Department, how large are the classes at the sophomore level?</p>
<p>Great information everyone. So which dorm would you choose for the kid that likes to go to bed at a reasonable hour and doesn’t drink or do drugs? Not a nerd, but doesn’t get caught up in all of that.</p>
<p>UMass offers several floors in different dorms that belong to the “Wellness Program”, which are alcohol- and drug-free:</p>
<p>[UMass</a> Amherst - Housing and Residence Life: Cultural/Lifestyle Communities](<a href=“http://www.housing.umass.edu/living/llc_legacy.html#wellness]UMass”>http://www.housing.umass.edu/living/llc_legacy.html#wellness)</p>
<p>Outside of that, you will find people on every floor of every dorm who do alcohol and/or drugs. It’s a fact of life at all colleges. Southwest has the party reputation, Northeast is generally considered the quietest. OTOH, my S was in Northeast his F year and about 30 kids on one floor (not his) got nailed when a party got too out of control. So you never know. </p>
<p>You will also find kids on every floor of every dorm who don’t do alcohol or drugs. So really I think the focus should be more on which part of campus you like, how close the dorms are to your classes, etc.</p>
<p>As for going to bed at a reasonable hour, I think this is largely a function of the roommate (and your definition of reasonable). My S switched rooms for this semester because his roommate liked to stay up half the night (and had other strange habits). His other roommates have been fine. If you define “reasonable” as 10 PM, your kid might have a problem in any dorm.</p>
<p>My son, who is a junior at UMass now, joined a RAP (Residential Academic Program) his first year, and had a very good experience with it. He got to be in a dorm in Central, which was a good location, and he made great friends on his floor. Central seems to have less partying than SW, and I like the dorms better because they’re not those hulking high-rises. I thought the RAP was great because he was grouped with other people who had the same interests – in his case, art and architecture.<br>
Overall, UMass has been very good for him. Even out of state the tuition isn’t as bad as private schools, the location is lovely, and while the classes have been a mix of good and not-so-good, I think that can be true everywhere. As you get to the upper level classes, they get better.</p>
<p>This is a really great thread!</p>
<p>I’ll be a freshman at UMass next year, so I can’t offer as much as current students and parents of current students, but since BefuddledParent mentioned RAPs, I thought I’d throw this in.</p>
<p>There are different types of RAPs (major-specific, undeclared major students only, open to all students, and even invitation-only). No matter who you are and what your planned major is (or even if you’re undeclared), you qualify for more than one RAP. Hopefully you are interested in more than one RAP too (if you’re interested in RAPs at all, that is).</p>
<p>I say this because I was looking at two RAPs: one specific to my major, and one for my intended career. I found out that the RAP for my intended career was in Southwest, and I’ve known for a while that I don’t want to be in Southwest. So now I’m hoping to get into the one for my major instead (located in Central).</p>
<p>You can take a look at all the RAPs and their locations at [RAP</a> Complete List of RAPs](<a href=“Student Success at UMass Amherst”>Student Success at UMass Amherst) If you’re interested in joining a RAP and know of specific areas of the campus you do or do not want to live in, I’d highly recommend you check out the list.</p>
<p>“What is UMASS Amherst like?” Ever see the movie “Animal House”?</p>
<p>The RAPs I could join are all in SW, and I’m really not the “party hard” type. The only RAP that’s acutally in Northeast is Sustainability, which I’m not sure would work with a microbio/pre-med major? Thoughs?</p>
<p>@ OP-I’m premed and I’m definetly not cut-throat…I’m trying to get into military medical school!</p>
<p>cycletheroad - Joining a RAP is great, but it isn’t everything. Chances are you’re going to make friends on your floor no matter what. Are you in ComCol? They have some pretty nice honors RAPs in Orchard Hill (I was in the math and science one my freshman year and would be willing to answer questions about it).</p>
<p>We’re visiting UMASS 4/2/11.</p>
<p>PSUProspect, we are visiting UMASS too on that date. I’m not quite sure if there are different times though.</p>
<p>May I add another question?
What is UMass like for international students? Any specific informations?
Thanks before.</p>
<p>@ lavieboheme
–I’m not in the ComCol becasue I really didn’t get my butt in gear in HS…I mean I did very well, I really didn’t have an ultimate goal. Once I figured out I want to be a Navy doc, I’ve done much better. But someone recommended Central/Orchard Hill dorms instead of SW. SW has the health sciences RAP for premeds, and I might do that for a semester, and move to Central/Orchard Hill spring semester. Not quite sure what do to still!</p>
<p>@Miriabilis - I only know a limited number of international students, so I can’t really answer that question fully. The ones I know seem to like it. I know that they get their own special orientation in August to help them acclimate to the US. One thing to keep in mind though is that most of the dorms close during Thanksgiving break, in between semesters, and for spring break so if you’ll need housing during those periods make sure to sign up to live in one of the dorms that provide 9-month housing (they stay open). I know a few international students who have gotten around this problem by visiting relatives who live in the US during breaks.</p>
<p>@cycletheroad - keep in mind its often hard to move after fall semester (take it from someone who did that this year). Most of the open spots in freshman dorms will most likely be from students who failed out of school and will therefore be in the Southwest area.</p>
<p>I believe that registration begins at 8AM. We’re staying at the hotel on campus. Where r u from?</p>