The University of Massachusetts - Amherst

UMass is a fabulous institution that has unbelievable extra curricula activities. No one here "attacked" UNH. I graded UMass as I have the right to do. I would not touch another schools score since I have no first hand knowledge of that school. Someone else is knocking UNH. Maybe you have an unhappy student in your midst. Please be adult and only rate your own school.

2nd Year Female -- Class 2012

Faculty Accessibility: A+, University Resource Use/ spending: F

I am currently a freshman here at UMass Amherst and I have no doubt that I made the right decision in the school I chose. I am a declared psychology major but I am considering changing it for my own personal reasons. However if you are interested in psych there is definitely a great program here for it.

I live in the Boston area that is about a 2 hour drive from Amherst. The Peter Pan charter bus is great so if you live in that area it goes directly from UMass to South Station in Boston (sometimes stopping in Springfield, but that only tacks on about 10 extra minutes of time). It's about $50 dollars for a round-trip ticket, and that is with a student discount. I personally think it's a little pricey for only being an almost less than two hour drive, but I would trust Peter Pan over some other sketchy bus service.

I consider myself somewhat of a shy person but I am open to meeting new people. You can definitely meet new people here, and so far I have made many friends. Everyone here is chill and mellow, so you can definitely find a friend group. I live in the Southwest area which is considered the "party" dorm area. I mean, it is louder on weekends, but it is not intolerably insane. If you prefer a more quiet area, choose to live in Orchard Hill or Central.

The academics here are pretty good from what I have taken so far, and I expect that it will get harder as I progress in my years here. I would say that your easiest class is going to be freshman year writing, unless you are really bad at writing papers. Even still, depending on the teacher, you might still pass. Most of the freshman classes like that are taught by grad students anyway. We have really good faculty here, and I am excited for the classes I have for next semester to experience that.

UMass is definitely worth it for what it is. The food here is also, in a word, AMAZING. If you live close and plan to go home every so often on weekends, you should get the value meal plan. If you live out of state then you should probably purchase the unlimited plan. We also have a bus system here that can get you to the mall and supermarket and in the surrounding area that is free with showing your student ID. Take advantage of it because sometimes staying on campus all the time gets kind of boring. The campus itself is pretty, despite some of the concrete buildings like the Fine Arts Center and the campus center. Long story short, I really enjoy going here, and I hope that this helps anyone who is considering UMass Amherst. It is not this out of control place everyone says thinks it is. The time that this school was like that is long and gone. Every school has parties, but that's not your thing you are not bombarded by it because most of them happen off campus. So with that let me say that you shouldn't come here being all like "Zoomass! Yeah!". It's stupid. I am not saying don't have a good time, but don't let that be your primary motivation for coming here. This is also a school, mind you, hence why you are paying money to come here in the first place. It's a pretty damn good school too, so if you wanna come here and throw your money away by only partying and not focusing on school, then yeah, be my guest and do that, but it is your fault in the end.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Social Life: A+, Useful Schoolwork: B-