The University of Massachusetts - Amherst

I'll preface this comment by saying I'm biased because I've had a really bad experience here. I think UMass is an adequate school with some good programs and some good people. However, it can really work for some types of people and really NOT work for other types of people.

SOCIAL LIFE-- If you're an introverted, soft-spoken, sensitive kind of person, do NOT go here. I had certain expectations on how people would act here coming in, and they were really unrealistic. It's been really hard for me to make friends here because I'm not involved with anything and don't really like the people in my dorm. I'm also not the kind of person that meets people through classes usually. If you want to make friends here, you have to be really proactive about it and not be a person like me. Also, the vibe I get from people here has been really off-putting. Though I have met interesting people, the overall atmosphere of the campus has kinda trumped that. I've found people to be stand-offish, aggressive, and unwillingly to have a real, stimulating conversation.

In saying all of this, I think if you are an energetic, out-going person who is not that influenced by their environment, you will be fine here. There are definitely jocks and typical college girls, but also a lot of cool people.

Dorms are adequate, blah blah blah. I live in a pretty nice, quiet one on the nerdy part of campus. I've heard dorms in South West routinely have vomit somewhere on the floor and are pretty noisy on weeknights, but I haven't experienced it for myself. Food is probably above average quality, but you get sick of eating in dining halls no matter what.

ACADEMICS-- The classes and academics have been pretty decent. I haven't taken any business or liberal arts classes besides writing, but I've found the course work to be pretty challenging. Regarding the faculty, all of my teachers have been pretty good. However, I had an advisor who didn't answer one of my emails about setting up a meeting and I had to hunt him down at his office. Like pretty much all big universities, UMass doesn't care about individual students. But that doesn't mean you can't create relationships with your professors. One bad thing about UMass is that it doesn't seem to have a strong network of employers looking for graduates. Career fairs only seem to have big companies like CNN or Verizon. There's a lot of 'do it yourself' here. This can be growth-inducing, but also an unnecessary challenge, especially when you're paying 25k a year.

The town of Amherst and Northampton especially are pretty nice places with a lot of things going on. There's also the 5-college consortium, which allows you to take classes at top-notch small liberal arts colleges. I grew up in this area and have always really appreciated it. Downsides are that it's a little pretentious and a little exclusive if you are not white or asian.I would recommend going here if you don't really care where you're going to college/money constraints, OR if you're majoring in Hospitality, Engineering, Nursing, or Business. Also there is an awesome marching band.

1st Year Female -- Class 2017

Perceived Campus Safety: A, Individual Value: C-