The University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Umass has gone downhill since I started. The University is under stress from the current financial meltdown and needs money badly. The best professors are starting to retire and I find the new professors to be very unhelpful and self-absorbed. I wanted to work with faculty on a research project and got turned down three times. They all gave me a bunch of lame excuses and they never even knew who I was. I finally pushed someone into doing it but then I graduated so I didn't need to stay for the following semester when it was planned. The classes are large which doesn't bother me but the TA's grade your papers in these classes and I didn't feel that they knew what they were doing. I have never written a paper over 7 pages and I never did a paper on a special in depth topic which I think is sad. I did a paper at Worcester State College where the professor demanded APA style. I learned a lot from doing that paper. She was on top of us there. The professors here just don't have the time for you and in the next couple of months are going to have even less time for you. Why? Because they are proposing to condense the 4 colleges on campus into 2 colleges which means more work for the professors and administrators who are lucky enough to have kept their jobs. The good things about this school is that you can use it as a stepping stone for getting into a really good college for your Masters because to get a decent GPA here is not that hard if you work towards it. I have actually had classes where the professors just graded you on your memorization skills. Is this real learning or is this just laziness on their part? I'd like to see them tell the Chancellor that they feel this is a high quality education. I would highly suggest that you look your professors up on Rate My Professor so that you can see what you are paying for and who you are going to give your time up for. I would suggest that you go here because you can make yourself look good for the college of your dreams(Masters) but don't expect genuine care or mentoring. You have to mentor yourself and most of the time you have to teach yourself to think. No one here helps you to think critically. So take the time to think and be curious in your own mind. Take as many classes outside the college that you can. You are allowed 4 or 5 so take them. Go to Amherst and Hampshire and learn how a great Liberal Arts college operates. Maybe you will want to transfer in you Junior/Senior year. A lot of students do that also. Some Programs/Dept are better than others. My experience has been that the Sociology dept is in poor shape. If you really love sociology do not go here. I repeat: Do not go here! Go to Rutgers or Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Good Luck with your education

4th Year Female -- Class 2008

Campus Aesthetics: B+, Faculty Accessibility: D