<p>I've been reading A LOT about UMass Amherst and how it's a party school and stuff like that. I also read that the only people who go there are those who have no money and stuff like that. Obviously, I can't trust everything that's written down on the internet, but the main concern for students seems to be Massachusett's location: they say that it's in the middle of nowhere. But I've lived in Massachusetts before (I live in California now) and I think that it's a decent place to be. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Would I be a good fit to go to UMass Amherst (for biological/pre-med majors), even though I currently live in California? Would I regret this decision later, even though I've lived in Massachusetts before and I completely liked it there? </p>
<p>Any <i>honest</i> remarks and thoughts on UMass Amherst would be helpful. Thanks!</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s the location as there are several top private colleges in the area. Many Northeasterners have unwarranted prejudice against public universities in general. </p>
<p>I was just wondering whether there’s a particular reason you are interested in UMass as an out-of-state student when there are much better public universities, especially in your own state of CA and in the midwest.</p>
<p>also, I’ve been to UMass. There’s a large bureaucracy there, massive funding cuts, the campus looks really ugly and the campus just doesn’t have a good vive (at least too me)</p>
<p>oh i see, so the fact that MIT and Harvard are in the same area kinda pulls UMass down a bit. that’s weird since there’s tons of good schools in CA but that doesn’t mean that “lowly” colleges like UCR and UCI get pulled down. well, i really like it in Massachusetts and since MIT/Harvard are not really options with my current GPA, i was thinking about going to UMass. Yes my current academic performance definitely has a part in this decision. </p>
<p>Funding cuts, that’s happening EVERYWHERE right now. and honestly, CA is getting more budget cuts than MA so that’s not really a factor. when you say that the campus is ugly, do you mean that it’s just not good to look at or does going to school there make you feel like you’re learning in a place like Bronx?</p>
<p>^ lol why ask if you’re going to get so offended? </p>
<p>i also think it’s a waste to go to an OOS public when you have better in-state options right now. can you afford it? if yes, then hey, go where makes you happy</p>
<p>^ ^Your thread title asked why people see UMass as "bottom of the top tier. My initial comment only refers to that. Historically, the New England states did not support their public universities very well, partly due to the presence of so many top private colleges and universities. A lot of people in that region have a bias toward private universities. You don’t find this same bias in the Midwest and CA, where the flagship public universities are much stronger and more respected. So, along with the points you mentioned, I was just explaining why UMass is viewed that way. However, this doesn’t mean that I look down on it, or share that common regional attitude toward public universities. </p>
<p>Actually, I’ve traveled in the area many times and I think it’s one of the best areas of the country in which to be a college student. There are more attractive and less attractive campuses. I never considered it that bad. It’s not a bad place to do a bio major, but I only wonder whether the OOS tuition is worth it, considering there are better public universities.</p>
<p>@ironicallyunsure: lol, what makes you think i got offended? just get make it clear, i wasn’t offended haha, so it’s all good. and yes i can afford it, but i’m planning to build up my career in the northeast rather than california which is why i’m considering umass.</p>
<p>@zapfino: oh i see, that makes it a lot clearer. thanks for your info! :D</p>
<p>ZooMass is not the party school it use to be in any shape or form but just like UCSB that legacy lives on… It wasn’t looked down upon because was a public but just not as well funded as the NE privates. I grew up between MIT and Harvard which are just a few miles away from each other but Amherst, Mass is way outside the metropolitan region like 100 miles away just past the rez. Amherst is a cool college town but as a Cambridge Californian I wouldn’t pay OOS there though when you can go to UCD or something for much less.
If you wanted to break into the bio field in the NE you want to be near Mass General. The most fun and best quality undergrad that is by MIT, Harvard, and MG to go to for bio if you are serious is most deff BU.</p>
<p>UMASS is not in the middle of nowhere. The small funky city of Northampton is 10 minutes away and you can get your share of alternative art, music and food there. It is a great college area. It is about 20 minutes from Springfield and about 1.5 hours from Boston. It is a nice mix of a country feel with wide open spaces but there is a retail ‘strip’ 5 minutes from the school with all the usual stuff. You certainly are not isolated at all. Bradley International airport is just down the road about 45 minutes in northern Connecticut.</p>
<p>UMASS has always been known for its excellent science programs. It is a large school so just be prepared for that.</p>
<p>yep, i’ve been hearing a lot of umass being a party school, but i guess it’s got it’s fair share of each side. i’ve been to amherst before and from what i gathered, it IS a pretty cool college town. wasn’t it also ranked as the #1 college town in the USA? also, i’ve lived in massachusetts before and that’s partly the reason why i want to come back. i would’ve gone to the UCs but the competition here is really crazy (you need to have a 3.9 GPA average to get into the low end schools like UC Merced!!). which is why i prefer going to OOS colleges in the northeast.</p>
<p>anyone wanna tell me what the campus is like, in terms of the general ambience and if the place is falling apart? (i read about that sort of stuff a lot online).</p>
<p>I’m a Mass. resident and Ivy League grad (Brown). My son is applying to UMass Amherst early action as a financial and academic safety but may well decide to go there if he gets in (which seems likely given his grades and scores). I would be fine with him going there. He doesn’t have the grades and scores for Brown and I don’t have the wallet for a $50K plus school with no merit aid. He doesn’t want a city school. We visited UMass in July, after having visited UConn and U Delware, among other schools. The campus is not as nice as UConn or Delaware, but the surrounding area, as noted by other posters above, is great. We both felt it was a better location than UConn (which is in a very rural location) and as good as Delaware (nice college town, etc.). The campus is by no means “really ugly”. There is a pond and green space. The architecture is kind of random, with a combination of 19th century buildings, 1950’s brick, 1960’s concrete, and modern buildings. However, they just finished a new athletic center which is really nice and are building a new science center (check it out: [Facilities</a> Planning Integrated Science Building](<a href=“http://www.umass.edu/fp/projectmanagement/constructioninformation/integratedsciencebuilding/]Facilities”>http://www.umass.edu/fp/projectmanagement/constructioninformation/integratedsciencebuilding/)). UMass is very strong in the sciences. You can also take classes at Amherst College, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire College through the Five College Consortium I have several friends whose kids go there and all of them enjoy it. Not a scientific sample, I realize, but if it were that bad, at least one of them probably wouldn’t like it.</p>
<p>because there are so many excellent colleges in the northeast (and many well-off and wealthy families), the students that end up at UMass-Amherst aren’t always as academically strong as other flagship state universities. At my school, I knew of people who had B/B- grades going to UMass-Amherst (while few A students considered it unless they could not afford another option or got into the honors college).</p>
<p>It’s definitely not in the middle of nowhere. Although the immediate surrounding area may be a bit small compared to other college towns, there are a lot of surburban areas nearby. I visited earlier this year and was extremely pleased with the area.</p>
<p>It really comes down to the fact that there are significantly better schools in MA. Harvard, MIT, Tufts, BC, Northeastern, BU, Williams, Amherst, Holy Cross, etc. These are all significantly more national and have much better programs. </p>
<p>UMass is never going to be able to compete with these schools for students, so they usually just get the crop of in-state students who don’t get into one of the schools mentioned above or can’t afford one of those schools. The best thing going for UMass is that it is cheap. Other than that, there are few redeeming qualities.</p>
<p>There aren’t any ‘cheap’ colleges anymore and undergrad just isn’t worth going in debt over. As has been said before the BA/BS is like the new high school diploma. The US is just in the middle of the echo boom and colleges are exploiting this fact to their advantage. </p>
<pre><code> Also just because California high school kids are getting 4.0’s with all AP classes doesn’t mean anything. AP and Honors classes are nothing like they were when that actually meant something and many colleges understand this. I have yet to see any California High School student or the education they received even come close to my NE education. NE’ers have always gotten crap for thinking they are smarter when education wise the NE overall has had a traditionally stronger formal education than much of the rest of the country.
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<p>The notion that Merced is a lower ranked UC is a misnomer. UC Merced is the newest UC and actually requires a good GPA and transcript to get into and still growing. Like some other less desirable UC’s its more of a matter of location and state funding. Others like to poke fun at CSU Chico because its state and has a party school/town reputation but the truth remains that Chico State is still a great institution that provides quality education. </p>
<p>To be honest, with all my years of college, I feel like I got a decent education, but realize it doesn’t directly translate into skills for the workplace or give any indication of my level of intelligence. Even though I can walk down the street and beat many of the Stanford kids in knowledge and debate, as I often do, I still suffer the stigma of attending a JC. Ironically Stanford curves so much that when one of their students attend the local JC they often get a lower grade then they would have at Stanford. </p>
<p>As much as I miss the NE, the majority of LAC’s there just aren’t worth the money and are overrated in many ways. If I moved back to Cambridge I would just take MIT’s open course program if wanted to actually learn something useful. The only other colleges I would go to are BU or maybe Tufts but Amherst, Williams, Hampshire, Holy Cross, and Northeastern are WAY overpriced and overrated for the quality of education they offer. The alternative option for a college life and decent university education would be ZooMass. The fact still remains though that I could have more fun and get a better education at UCSB for less than half of what I’d pay back in the NE. I’m as NE democratic as they come but am intellectually honest enough to admit that the amount of psuedo intellectual PC Liberal nonsense coming out of LAC’s these days is overwhelming to the point of absurdity.</p>
<p>If you are a Californian now and near completion it shouldn’t be that difficult to get into a UC. If you come to realize how little undergrad really matters in the larger scheme of things it would be more prudent and economical to just get in and out of a CSU and focus on grad school. I have similar apprehensions of going that direction feeling like I may be missing out on something but when it comes down to it, I’m not at all. Once one is done with their Masters, preferably at a one of the top schools, all that preceded to getting there matters very little. ALL the TOP instructors I had went to state before went on to UCLA, USC, or UCB. Surprisingly, (eh not really) they were WAY better teachers then the any of the NE or NY LAC psuedo Liberal teachers really proud of their insulated education sharing with the class their in depth knowledge of gender studies.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth College - the honors college at at UMass - is in the same league with many of the better private schools in MA. It’s definitelty worth a look.</p>
<p>informative’s comment about “can’t afford” is telling; the economy os drivnig UP the quality of students going to UMass: the best thing going for UMass is the VALUE. you want cheap, go to to Fitchburg State. </p>
<p>The MA culture and MA state government (which is reflective of that culture) does not want to spend the resources or take the time to create a UC -quality public higher education system in Massachusetts. Despite that, UMass - and the Commonwealth College - are great values that deserve a serious look.</p>
<p>I know this wasn’t exactly the point of the thread, but UMass’s location is great. Amherst is the quintessential college town, with lots of restaurants, cafes, shops, bookstores, etc. There’s five colleges in the immediate area so there has to always be something to do. Just saying :)</p>
<p>Seems like western mass locals got upset because I said that Amherst is 100 miles outside the metro region. That was not suppose to be considered an insult in any sense. I love city life but for cozy college towns Amherst is still one of the best there is with lots of great people and shops. Like many college town though, it has been invaded with PC Liberal snots who frown on the students that smoke and drink but yet still get better grades than the lame TV raised latchkey kids and spoiled rich kids who just don’t like to study all that much unless have to. Different generation but same social shenanigans.</p>
and yes i can afford it, but i’m planning to build up my career in the northeast rather than california which is why i’m considering umass.</p>