University of Massachusetts-Amherst Top Questions

UMass is generally a tolerant place for people of different races, religions, sexual orientation, etc. This past year there was an incident after the Super Bowl in which two white kids (neither of them UMass students) broke into a black UMass student's dorm room and a fight broke out which made some pretty serious headlines, but it's important to note that the instigators had no right to be on our campus to begin with. Most UMass students hail, as one would expect, from Massachusetts. However, we have students from all 50 states and, in my experience, the largest out of state population comes from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

There is a group for almost everything here. The number of student organizations is tremendous, and if you can't find something, try starting it yourself. Three other kids and I started the table tennis club, which was a lot of fun. Overall, you can find any kinds of people here: from anti-social kids that creep everyone out, to the "let's get drunk before class", to "homework is my life." In my time there, I didn't meet many real jerks and most people were friendly. To help you pick your dwelling, here is a run down of the residential areas by their stereotypes: Central - lots of pot smoking Orchard Hill - supposed to be tamer than the others. depends on the floor you get stuck with. Biggest rooms on campus. Southwest - can be rowdy, especially thu/fri/sat. The knock on it is "party central", but can be a great experience. Coolest rooms on campus - Z-rooms. North East - for some odd reason most Asian students end up living there. Not known for too many crazy parties, but depends on the floor Sylvan - either live there if you have enough friends for a suite, or if you don't want friends. Because it's 4 rooms connected to a hallway, that is connected to the main hallway by 2 doors, not many people will come wondering in your suite. North - apartment style dorms. Expensive. I'd suggest living off-campus instead. Rooms are pretty small. The campus is usually pretty active. The Campus Center always has people setting up tables for various clubs, etc. The campus overall is left leaning, so you might feel anger sometimes if you're a republican. There is a republican club though. Most students are from middle class families, but you get the whole spectrum. A fair number of international students too, which is great! And don't be the guy in suit in class or that girl who dressed up for prom night (sadly didn't actually see many like that in class). Depending on the major, you'll find different students concerned about future income with various degrees. School of Management students are known to be the most obsessed with that. There are the free spirits as well.

Very diverse, view-point wise and a relatively good student body by normally translucent white Massachusetts standards. Definitely a left wing school (which is good if you are a sane college student) but a few loud mouth and relatively inept Republicans who write in the newspaper about how they hate everyone who doesn't wear sweater vests and Italian loafers.

I live in Southwest so I don't really see much of the hippie kids but they all live in Central. Southwest is like the party area and its where a lot of the jock guys and athletes live. A lot of the girls look the same. Uggs, leggings and a northface is pretty much the uniform. But thats not like all the people that are here. Sometimes you see the groups on campus rallying or like in the campus center handing fliers out. But there's no forced interaction so everyone kind of sticks to what they know. Most people are from MA but there are some international students and New Yorkers/Jersey people. Occasionally you get someone from Ohio or California and you're like...Why are you here? Its so random. I knew it would be alot of MA kids cause I'm from MA, but I don't know how these randoms decide to come here.

Crazy white town. Growing up in the Bronx, i've very rarely seen a place with such a lack of diversity. The few that are here are basically grouped in with people like them. Most kids are from Mass but their is a good number of kids from the tri-state area. students only care about getin fucked up and getting through their classes

I have lived off-campus for my entire college experience at UMass, I'm not too farmilar with the majority of the student body. I do believe that if you seek out a group though clubs and organizations, you will find what you are looking for.

UMass's student body seems fairly diverse. when you look at the statistics it's not htough. Also, the groups are segregated into their own area's of campus.

Not a single kind of student would feel out of place at umass, theyre are people of every kind here.

The students here at UMASS are nice. Like I feel like the people i have met are nice people. Most are open with LGBT and race and religion. No one really disrespects anyone it's like a big family. There are always going to be those people that dont like you for one reason or another but you dont pay attention to them and you let it go. Those people are the ones that are immature and usually fail at life or something because there to caught up in someone else's business. Everyone talks to everyone there is no racial religious LGBT barrier and the students with disorders are still accepted. some students are not use to being around different races and religions and sexual preferences or students that have mental disorders, but they learn from their experience here and know how to live openly in a sourunding that they are not used to . Students wear anything nothing and everything. the majority has sweats on and i am in that majority with all the walking that is being done no one really wants to get dressed or even put on a pair of jeans. you'll see a lot of UGG's and Northface two things i do not own but it's not like i am not accepted cause i dont have them there just not me but might i say there are these UGG's i saw that are nice.

I have been lucky to have been invovled in many different types of activities that have been major, school, RA, TA, and otherwise related. Therefore I have met an abudance of people from all different majors and class years. Most of the students are from Massachusetts which has made it easier for me to learn more about the state and visit people's homes. Being from Washington certianly has made me an outsider, but at the same time it is a quirk that has aided me in meeting new people - I have something different to talk about than the next person. The school of management (business school) is a student body of its own and I have struggled a little bit in the last year as most of the talk has been about money and jobs. I learned in my junior year that I wasn't as interested in business as I thought I was and so there has been some interests that have shifted.