University of Massachusetts Amherst – UMass

As my son put it as he accepted the placement in the Engineering department, same education as RPI, MIT, or WPI but half the loan payments … no brainer. It also helps that being in Amherst and the Happy Valley does not suck … I am biased I guess. He will be a third generation UMie!

What a disappointment! Took my son and his friend to visit the campus and take a tour. The lady in admissions was very rude and not helpful at all. We flew in from out-​of-​state to visit before making a decision. She was on the phone telling someone they had 41,000 apps and have not had a chance to notify everyone. Makes sense why she felt it was okay to be rude because of the high demand of applicants. If you are from out of state don’t bother. Financial aid rep made it very clear they cater mostly to in-​state students.

Of course, it is difficult to be unbiased about your alma mater… after all I had received two of my degrees from there. UMass is a terrific university with a great student population. The campus has seen major rejuvenation, and I was certainly impressed by the changes made in the blue wall café in the campus center.

My undergrad degree is not worth the paper it is written on. Many employers will not hire grads due recent events of public disorder.

I know that I am a bit biased since UMass Amherst is my undergraduate Alma Mater, but I really love this school. Every time I am in the area I make it a point to drive through campus. The school itself is always constructing new buildings, so it is always a surprise to see what mammoth classroom or dormitory has sprouted up since the last time I passed.
When the weather is nice I enjoy spending some time on their campus either walking around or sitting on some of their park benches. A few of the schools highlights are their Fine Arts Center, Mullins Center, Marching Band, UMass Transit as well as the Newman Center Café. This school always has some unique event going ranging from ice skating to breaking a Guinness World Record.
Moral of the story, you will never be bored if you spend some time at UMass because there is always something going on, and the campus itself is incredible.

Many great programs and beautiful campus. I’m graduating this May with my BBA in Accounting, and I’m absolutely loving this school. The instructors and faculties are so friendly and helpful, they are always there to help you. They love what they are doing, and genuinely embrace and support their student to reach their future goal. Isenberg is ranked as one of great business school, if you are pursuing in business field, I highly recommend Isenberg School of Management to everyone.

Dropping off my college student and grabbing some dinner on campus yummy

Campus store/​bookstore is closed on weekends during the summer. This really sucks for alumni that are visiting on weekends.
Also I wish the People’s Market (health food store in Student Union) was open on weekends too, but I guess that’s just too much to hope for. Banana juice is overrated anyhow.

I transferred from New York and absolutely loved it at Umass. The stigmas about partying are really derived from the South West section of the school. I stayed in Cashin my first year and Southwest the second– they are markedly different. I also think the party stigma is mostly perpetuated by unfamiliar MA residents and Umass students that desire to have that image.
If you come to Umass to study hard and enjoy life in your spare time, I think you’ll be happy. I did so much rock climbing, coffee shop studying, and just walking around with friends or even alone. It made hitting the books all day a lot more sufferable.
One thing I really loved about this place was its active approach to embracing diversity. I truly believe I came out of school as a better person. I loved about 98% of my professors (I’d still use ratemyprof though). There is indeed a lot of bureaucracy, but I can say that whenever I wanted to get something done the Umass employees never really let me down. I’ve been sending out transcripts and it’s been a much easier process with the university versus my community college.
The stronger programs are definitely economics, business, and science. Just heed my warning, a great university can only take you so far. You need to major in something that’s going to be MARKETABLE and do your interests on the side. Think math or computers. The job market is very tough and simply having a degree doesn’t mean much anymore. If you can get into an Ivy league school than I’d probably go, but I’m very happy I went to Umass. If you’re in-​state, then definitely save your money and go here.

It’s a bunch of colleges in one.

You know, I’m usually not easily frustrated and I’ve never posted on here before, but as I’ve come to experience it, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is the disastrous beacon of all that’s wrong with higher education in America.
Their teachers and classes seem good and most facilities are nice (except for the dilapidated classrooms and some buildings), but the amount of bureaucracy and paper pushing that the students are expected to follow, but that the offices of the Bursar, Housing and Financial Aid are not held to is unbelievable.
I was accepted to UMass Amherst in may of 2012 but after sending in my decision to attend, a month later I was stripped of $ 9000 of financial aid and couldn’t get into contact with ANYONE of importance. The people I spoke to were office staff that had the same amount of knowledge, or less, that I did and just repeated to me what a letter I had received home said (a letter which just read of $ 9000 less in aid, without explanation). Two months later and I FINALLY receive an email from one of the heads of the department, after literally (yes, my phone records can prove this) 112 phone calls and over 10 emails. And when I finally get on the phone with her, she insults and belittles me. Ms. Mariana Mckim and Ms. Anne Peramba, heads of the financial aid departments, were unprofessional and nasty. When I asked why i had lost the $ 9000 in aid, they outright said (both of them, but somehow the same line), «too bad.»
I’m at a different university now and I couldn’t be happier. UMass gave me nothing but the worst possible summer filled with undeserved stress and tier upon tier of overkill bureaucracy.

Ah Zoomass, where do we begin.
The sad fact is that UMass has the potential to be a really top notch school. Well, some of their programs are world class. The departments of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Linguistics, Women’s Studies, Polymer Science are excellent. The College of Natural Sciences is good too, and so is the department of Music. The Commonwealth Honors College draws some of the best students in the state. There is some world class research going on in these programs, the academic standards are high – be prepared to put in hard work.
That being said, the school is wrought with the lack of clear leadership, budget cuts and bureaucracy. UMass has changed their president 4 times in the last 10 years, the funding from MA is a joke, and there are more staff members than needed. Everyone inside the administration is on a power trip, they hire wrong people for wrong positions, spend a boat load on benefits and staff salaries, and then compensate for the lack of funding by admitting dumbasses from neighboring states (read:NY). You get kids driving BMWs majoring in Sociology, Communications, Psychology etc. The Southwest Residential area is a hub of frat-​esque parties and yo-bro’s. If you are interested in Frats, and Sororities, the school will not disappoint you.
This mix of brilliant students and sheer nitwits makes UMass Amherst a very interesting school. It is what you make of it. You can take easy majors, enjoy your Zoomass life and get out with a stupid degree which will be worth less when you enrolled in it. Or, you can join the elite programs, work hard, and get a real education at fraction of the cost of other private universities in MA.

There’s another listing for UMASS on here somewhere… I’ll let you find it. But yeah — I went to skool here. I hated every waking moment of it.
Darkly lit classrooms with broken desks and video equipment that rarely worked.
Teachers that barely spoke English (De-​mog-​wa-​fy. You mean Demography? UGH!).
Protesters protesting everything they can find, blocking my way to class, only to forget their causes the moment they graduate. How convenient.
Crappy food (back then at least). «Pasta-​bilities», anyone? *SHUDDER*. Oh — and the chicken pucks! God bless’em.
People throwing couches out of high rises.
Blantant illegal drug use and complete and utter apathy on the part of floor monitors or building RAs to do a single thing about it.
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Public education at it’s finest.

This school is amazing. Originally it was my backup plan and I was given a guaranteed transfer to Cornell University; however, once I got to UMass I loved it. UMass is all what you make of it. If you want to party and get drunk on a nightly basis, you can definitely do it. If you want to turn yourself into a knowledge powerhouse and stand out — you can do that too. Professors, faculty, and staff alike are interested in you if you show an interest in learning. Sure there are crappy professors; nevertheless, reviews continually show that our University has some of the most rewound professors in the world, especially for their area of study. Give UMass a shot and you will like it. Oh, and the food is amazing.

Goodbye, good riddance, you were awful.
Between frat row’s semesterly tradition of stabbing and looting, the oversized student body cramped into a small space, no way to get anywhere and no where to go anyway, the ignorant atmosphere, the ugly ugly ugly buildings such as the library that is really a cinder block skyscraper prison, the waffle maker-​like brutalist student union building, the almost impossible to navigate bureacrazy, and countless other examples of bullshit… ugh.

It seems absolutely ABSURD that I’m the first person to write a review for UMASS Amherst.
Sure, I may own a UMASS t-​shirt, but that’s only because my sister bought it for me. I spent MAYBE half an hour roaming the campus.
That’s it. That’s the extent of my experience. I was going to write about the pond, or the architecture, or the fact that they have on campus bars. But no, it’s not my place. Not really. So uh, other people? Why don’t you go… you know… do that.

If you came to a high school like mine where the honors kids labeled UMass as «the easy school» or «the backup plan»… you can pretty much just throw those labels out the window. Every department is different, but in truth UMass is exactly what you put into it. You can definitely graduate by taking the easiest possible major and taking the easiest possible classes (as many people do, and later whine about). But if you dedicate yourself to something you truly care about, your education will put you where you need to be. I can tell you right now that I was a straight-​A student in high school, and I worked harder and learned more at UMass than I ever imagined I could. (I majored in chemical engineering.)
This place is one of the friendliest places I have ever been, and I have met some amazing and real people here. The majority of UMass students are from Eastern Mass, but I have made friends with people from other states and countries, and people from ALL walks of life.
The town and the area is GREAT. Amherst was recently rated the #1 college town in America, and it’s pretty obvious to me why. The UMass area has EVERYTHING you could possibly want nearby, with the one exception of a Costco or BJ’s closeby. Outside of UMass, there is definitely a sense of an Amherst community that you are a part of. Always stuff going on at the town commons, always people happily wandering around the town center, always interesting nook-​and-​cranny places to discover. Oh, and one of the best free bus systems there is (UMass Transit/​PVTA). You won’t ever be bored here unless you choose to live under a rock.
As far as the «party school» reptutation: It’s true that a lot of the school is into big parties and drinking too much crappy beer. But… I personally was never into this lifestyle, but I still found great like-​minded friends here and loved the area just as well. I actually think the «partying» mindset often makes people less judgmental and more laid-​back when meeting new people.
My advice to anyone considering UMass for undergrad: Don’t look at the school as a whole — check out the particular department (s) you are interested in, as there is a fairly wide range of quality across different departments. I can personally recommend the engineering school as being the best bang-​for-​your-​buck that an instate undergrad can get, as well as having some fantastic professors and a great Dean who really cares about the college. Oh, and they’re building ANOTHER new science building soon, yay!
GO UMASS!

What UMass is all about: the power of you and finding that inner strength to make your life what you put into it.
Is it «the home of the broken chairs» (as I once heard an Amherst College snob call it)? yes. But it’s up to you to see past that and sit in the front of the lecture hall to get the most out of your education.
It’s got everything and more– great professors and TAs; plenty of free public transport (that UMass fees fund for the whole Pioneer Valley); opportunities to take classes at other schools in the five-​college system for grades and credits; the campus itself is separate from the rest of town; and it’s located in the Pioneer Valley. Seriously, can it get any better? For me, it couldn’t and I would do it again in a heartbeat :)

I love umass…
i got a great education that got my terrific jobs. the memories of campus life, friends, restaurants, beautiful mountain/​western mass views, northampton etc are priceless.
anything state-​run can be a paperwork hassle at times but stay organized (and/​or have others/​family help if they can. umass, or any school is what you make of it… if you party too much and get mediocre grades, you could get stuck with mediocre jobs… if you get decent grades and/​or become a member of the commonwealth/​honors college, that will impress employers…
my advice in general: see everything, speak up, ask questions and find yourself a great time.
ps…you know the place is cool when it has its own zipcode!!!

I can’t believe there are only 2 reviews for UMass Amherst. I feel like I’m one of the few people who will admit that UMass Amherst was my ‘dream’ school, rather than a ‘safety’ school while applying to colleges at the end of high school. It’s true though; UMass was my dream school. When I got in, I was beyond pumped.
UMass is exactly what you choose to make it. It’s so huge, there’s no way you do not find your niche, whatever it may be. As a university, and a member of the 5 College Program, I do not think you will find a better investment for a college education. Considering it is a state university, it still competes with the private institutions for a quality education.
I graduated 5 years ago, and definitely would recommend UMass to anyone looking to live away from home and not spend $ 50,000/year for their education.
UMass’ student organizations, undeclared major dept, learning center, library, social life, nearby town, and a bajillion other things are among the reasons I love the school. UMass is the right choice!