<p>My opinion is that you will get in- not to commonwealth college though- I am no expert and my only experience is watching the process that my S went through. He attends comm coll- as well as my friend's kids whereby some got in with a 2.8 GPA and a record like yours and others with a 3.5 and high SAT's did not- I have NO PROOF but I think because UMASS/Amherst lives in the shadows of some great colleges in Massachusetts that the admin staff looks at the other schools you picked,and if you give any indication that Umass. Amherst is an after thought they move on- can you blame them if this is true? I have heard stories about people that had BC and Syracuse as primary schools for example, and they got into both and were declined from UMASS/Amherst outright! go figure! so my advice to students who really want to attend Umass/ Amherst or their Comm college has been to indicate in some way possible that you are REALLY interested in attending. Anecdotal I admit, but I believe there is some truth to my theory.</p>
<p>Wow, songman, I hope that isn't true, UMass could be missing out on a lot of top notch students that way. The reality is kids apply to lots of schools and even if they get in, often financially it is not an option for them to attend their first or even second choice school. So even though UMass may not be one of their first choices it may end up being THE choice.</p>
<p>Songman:</p>
<p>Not true. Umass wants a student body with better qualifications. They won't reject you because you applied to more prestigious schools in the northeast. This is a complete falsehood.</p>
<p>ok HS senior- then several of my friends are liars?- Their kids did not get in- declined! I did say that my comment was anecdotal. Certainly I have no proof, but you have no explanation as to why they were admmitted to Syracuse and Northeastern or they got into BC and Wheaton and did not get accepted to UMASS/Amherst!</p>
<p>It couldn't be that ever since Chancellor Lombardi arrived his openly stated goal has been to raise the standards at UMass Amherst and to attract top notch students to the school. You can research his public comments and speeches.</p>
<p>To the BigbadWolfy and Songman:</p>
<p>Does UMass have some rowdy students. It sure does. Are some of the students abusing drugs and alcohol, I'm sure there are. Does every school have these problems, they surely do.</p>
<p>You get out of school what you pit into it. You can have a rotten time or a great time at both Ivy league schools and UMass. You can run with a rowdy crowd or not, it's your choice.</p>
<p>Large public shools tend to have their problems magnified by the size of the school. Ohio State, UMass, you name them, they are not perfect.</p>
<p>But you know what they deliver a good education for a much more affordable price than the private schools. If you put more effort into having an non rowdy student life you can achieve it, do well academically, and either go on to grad school or get a good job with a UMass education. I have applied there. Is UMass my first choice, no. But if I chose to go to UMass depending on Acceptances and Financial Aid, I know if I work hard and put in the effort, I'll get a good education, just as I have at my local public high school.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates are always higher at public universities. Their mission is to provide an affordable education for students of their State. Because they are usually not the students first choice they obviously have to admit alot more students to fill up the freshman class.</p>
<p>Their acceptance rate is not out of line with other large public institutions.</p>
<p>UMASS AMHERST
GPA: 2.5
SAT:1560/2400 ---1060/1600
i do have a kickass essay =]</p>
<p>and i do have volunteer hours and ec.
also..do i have a better chance getting in because my sister currently goes there?</p>
<p>Oooh I dunno, your GPA is on the lowside and your SATs are a little low too but you have a legacy so that might help you out and also because they accept 81% of applicants.</p>
<p>Actually, working in the field, I know that things are changing at UMass. They have had some serious increases in applications over the past four years and it has become increasingly more difficult to gain admission. The entering classes are getting stronger and stronger.</p>
<p>As for UMass Boston, it is a commuter school. UMass Lowell and UMass Dartmouth are regional schools with regional reputations. UMass Amherst is a national university, with some highly ranked departments (like business, chemistry, biology, engineering, exercise science, sport management).</p>
<p>UMass received 28,000 applications this year and they will be accepting 17,000 of them, which is certainly not an "80%" accept rate. If you do not have a 3.0 GPA, your chances of getting anything other than waitlist are very low. It has denied students with a GPA greater than 3.0. UMass Amherst does not accept students on the basis of interest ... academics are the primary factor, and extracurriculars come into play for borderline accepts (both to the university and to Commonwealth College honors college). They do not accept or declaine on the basis of where else a student has applied ... that information is not available to them.</p>
<p>Yes, students get denied at what some consider "better" private schools and then get denied at UMass ... that is because those privates are not as selective as their "private" reputation suggests they are ... and UMass is far more selective than people think it is, especially over the past four years. It is a myth that any private is better than a public, and many families who believe that myth have spent substantially more on a private education which is of lesser quality than that offered at a nationally recognized public university like UMass Amherst.</p>
<p>ADMISSOUNS- Well I did work in a large private university admission office- albeit back in the early 1980's. The strategies employed there back then were similar to the strategies employed in a for profit corporation. While no one would admit outright that an applicant from the Midwest or California had an edge in admissions with this east coast University they did back then. In addition ,while never identified the "good endowment potential candidate" also was welcomed by the admissions staff. The behind the scenes meetings for which I was responsible for taking the minutes, opened my eyes to the fact that this University was being run exactly like IBM. Pick your target market, ability to pay, prestige candidate, etc..</p>
<p>Granted times have changed and diversity is the buzz word and I am willing to admit that maybe those old fashioned approaches have gone by the boards yet somehow I think some games still exist. I remember we had enormous turnover of full time admin officers back then. I think it is still the case today? Besides the low pay maybe some of them did not like the covert philosophy of the admissions office?</p>
<p>I have worked in privates, too. What you have described is still accurate there. It does also exist at publics, but to a lesser extent. Pretty much every eastern seaboard college would bump in a borderline candidate from Utah, and any college would probably admit a student whose parent will contribute $1 million (all the students benefit from having that student enroll). A student with a published book or academy award nomination if probably a shoo-in at any school s/he wants to attend. But, these are the obvious cases. Beyond that, using a more finely crafted approach for the less obvious cases is still more likely at privates than publics.</p>
<p>I have been reading your posts regarding UMass Amherst. My son is a junior with a 2.8 GPA he is working his tail off to raise his GPA this year so that his senior year he'll have a better one. He just took his SAT's after taking a prep course, so hopefully the investment will pay off. My question: UMass is his first choice. We can not afford a higher priced school. The first two years in high school our family was in the throes of an older son who first was suicidal and then delusional. He was in out of the hospital for two years and in between living at home. My question is: My son who is applying to UMass (not the older son) was extremely affected by what was going on in the home and his grades do reflect the turmoil. Knowing that UMass gets so many applications, is there a way to convey this? I know that his guidance counselor has said to be sure to tell the admissions office why his grades were so low for the first two years, but with so many applications how do we really know that this will help his chances. He is interested in majoring in Psychology and minoring in Education hoping to make a difference in helping people with mental illness. Thanks for any help you can give us.</p>
<p>If his admissions attempt is unsuccessful and you are MA residents, there is another route to take. By enrolling at a local community college and completing an Assoc degree you get automatic UMass acceptance and a reduced tuition as well. That is a route many of our local students take who were not ready to leave home, had difficulties grade wise in HS or who needed to conserve funds. Good luck!</p>
<p>I don't want him to go to a community college because his grades are not that bad. The kids from his high school that go that route have a low GPA. Going away to college is the whole experience and I know that he'd qualify for another state school if need be and he could transfer in. Thank you for giving me that advice though...Yes we are MA residents</p>
<p>Hey guys, I'm just curious if it is extremely hard to get into the sports management program. Is anyone that goes to Umass in the SM Program?</p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>GPA: As of now: 3.49 weighted
SATS: CR: 560 Math:590
I have taken Honors Global in 10th grade, and am currently in Honors US History. I take college spanish now, but am dropping the language next year to substitute it for an AP. Other than those I am in OOS and live in Westchester County, NY. I take college prep courses besides the ones I just mentioned. Senior year I plan to take AP Stats, Pre-Calc,Honors Physics (do you think I should take honors, or stick to regular? would it matter?), English (1/2 year required), public speaking ( 1/2 year english elective), public affairs 1/2 year, economics 1/2 year, intercultural understanding (instead of AP spanish), and that's all I can think of now. What are my chances of getting into the sports management program? Also, the regular university? Thanks!</p>
<p>Forgot to mention, Varsity Tennis going into my 4th year (captain for senior year most likely), peer leadership, NHS, newspaper club, and alot of volunteer hours, Varsity Ice Hockey senior year</p>
<p>UMass has the following admission requirements:
[quote]
You will also need to meet certain high school unit requirements (remember, these are minimums): Four years of English, three years of college preparatory mathematics (Algebra II is a minimum requirement), two years of the same foreign language, three years of science (including two with a laboratory component), two years of social science including one course in U.S. History, and two electives from the above areas, arts and humanities, or computer science.
[/quote]
Do you have the required math & science? You may want to check with UMass whether your public speaking course satisfies its 4 year English requirements, and whether you've met the language requirement.</p>
<p>Yes I have all of the required components. New York State has a different math curriculum than most states. It goes freshman year math 1, sophmore year math 2, jr. year math 3, and sr. year math 4 (pre-calc) and im also taking ap stats...all of those math courses include algebra, geometry, trig, stats...etc. as far as science is concerned..freshman year I took earth science, sophmore year: biology, jr. year chemistry, senior year I'm taking honors physics. English is covered. It is another thing with NYS.</p>
<p>Anecdotal update to this thread. 05-23-11 yes my son did turn down Skidmore and Kenyon back in 2004 to accept UMASS/ Amherst Comm. College . He graduated debt free, as all we could afford was UMASS tuition and fees at the time. He has only partially used his degree. Not due to the economy, as much as his motivational level has not changed much over the years. From an economic and educational point of view UMASS was a good choice, although, I stick by my theory that given the recession and some changes UMASS has made since 2001, I believe it is harder to gain acceptance. Maybe the recession has caused this change? I know many students that accepted UMASS admission as they felt it was not practical to attend the Northeastern, Simmons, Suffolk’s, Merrimac’s even one daughter of a friend turned down NYU for UMASS. Sure all of this is anecdotal. What I have noticed though, and yes it is a generalization, is (and this is for parents) if you have a quiet, introverted, bright student, think twice about throwing your student into the UMASS/Amherst world. It is a large university, but the support system is such that these kids fall through the cracks or fall prey to drug pushers or worse. Before all of you flame me and say “this can happen at any school”. I disagree as some private schools hold weekly or bi-weekly mentoring of students and pair them up with counselors or their own private faculty coach. I know of four kids that completely flunked out of UMASS or grades dropped like stones and the system was unaware of the situation. Yes it is college, and students need to be responsible, but until society accepts that some kids would be better off deferring a year. Some kids need time to grow up. Other students should not go onto college and instead develop skills in the trades, etc. Having paid my plumber this morning 250.00 to change a pressure reducer valve that works out to roughly $100-125.00 for an hour’s worth of work after cost for the parts, etc. He has built the business up after receiving his master license and has 5 assistant plumbers working for him and has two trucks etc. A high school grad doing quite well and I am in need of such quality fast work! Not everyone should go to college. Then again I am sure the CC threads have covered this subject from time to time.</p>
<p>To sum it up- UMASS is an excellent buy, has excellent resources and truly as someone said in this thread it is “what a student makes it” . You can coast or you can take advantage of all that the university offers. I still rate the school as a “good buy” and a decent education. But who am I? - just a lowly consumer!</p>