University of Massachusetts-Amherst Top Questions

In small to medium sized classes professors do know your name. In larger classes, it is harder, but you can learn to be a self advocate and make yourself known to your TA's and professors. Some of the professors I had as a student are now valued colleagues. As an undergrad in my major, there were also department social activities that helped me to learn about my field of study, my classmates and the faculty.

The academics depend a lot on the student. Any student with a good work ethic can get good grades, some without trying depending on the major. As a former Computer Science major, I found the material was too challenging and became a Marketing major. Any major in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is going to require a lot of work and time, as well as any Engineering degrees. The library is very helpful for getting work done. There are a lot of open Macs and PCs students can use to type up reports or do research, and everyone has to do that over their career. On the tenth floor, there's a tutoring center with walk-in help, which is very useful if students are struggling with any class in particular. Classes themselves are hit or miss. Some classes can have easy material that is made hard by an inept professor. An entry level Psychology class was like that, where the Professor was always late and unprepared, but the material was simple to cover out of class. There's a lot of reading for any class. Most classes can be passed or even excelled in by doing a majority of the reading, or someitmes a little less. The most important skill I believe aids a student is their ability to manage time. Any student who can commit to some time of study/reading/working schedule or be flexible enough to get their work done while still enjoying campus life has it made.

There is a wide array of majors and courses at UMass Amherst. It offers a challenging yet satisfying curriculum for whatever you take. If you can manage at least a 3.0 GPA you should definitely consider enrolling in Commonwealth College, the honors program at UMass. If you did not get into your top school of choice, then this is an excellent way to get prestige out of your degree. From classes with over 100 students to independent studies, the numerous types of courses will turn out a better academic experience.

Freshman year, most of the classes you take are gen. eds, which are mostly big lectures, with hundreds of other students. So in these classes unless you make the effort to talk to and get to know your professor, they most likely won't know your name. But once you start taking classes geared towards your major, the class sizes supposedly start to get smaller. Last year I mostly took all gen. eds, so I haven't gotten to see if there is a difference in the class sizes yet, but I will soon!

Gen-eds are kind of boring but I took some that were good. Take Education 210, Anthro 100, Education 192A, and Music 100. All of those courses were pretty easy and very good. It is important to go to lecture because when discussion comes around it is helpful to know what they are talking about. I am part of the pyschology major. I really have enjoyed all the psych classes I have taken. If you can as a freshman join a RAP program. It was very helpful and beneficial.

In large classes, many professors will want to know your name, but it's hard because of the class size. They will know your name if you participate frequently in class and go to office hours. In small classes, my professors have almost always been eager to learn the names of their students. In my dorm, there were both kinds of people: those who studied a lot, those who did an average amount of studying, and those that seemed like they never studied. It's really varied. It's varied when it comes to many things because of the large number of students. So far, I haven't spent time with professors outside of class, but I plan on it once I choose a major. In general classes, professors were always available during office hours or appointments, I just never went. The requirements aren't too bad, but I do feel like there are too many of them. I think whether or not the education is geared toward getting a job or just learning depends on the department. I took an environmental design class and got a glimpse of what the Landscape Architecture department is like, and I felt like they are really geared toward helping students learn for the real world and getting a job. The building was always covered in papers advertising opportunities for internships, etc.

As a chemical engineering student, I have been very impressed with the academics here. There are top-notch faculty and lots of resources to help you (research opportunities, professors that care, etc.) My experience in other classes has at times been less than stellar, but I don't have enough experience to really speak of another department specifically. The honors college provides the chance for smaller more difficult and engaging classes.

Academics are good. Professors are pretty good at explaining material, but advising is terrible and tests are sometimes at night which is a pain. Students are pretty competitive and try to copy homework, etc but some students don't care at all.

It really depends on the class, or the major, but all of my professors within my major know me by name. Because I am in such a small major, there aren't many kids in my classes, so it makes it a lot more personal than the GenEds I've taken where there are up to 400 people in a classroom at once and the professor wouldn't even notice if you never came to class except for when there's a test. Some giant lecture professors do make an effort to give parcipitation credit during class though, which I think is great. People can raise their hands to answer a question, and the TA will give credit where credit is due. Landscape Architecture is a GREAT major, if you're into plants and building models and giving presentations, and not getting much sleep . . . but you really get close to your classmates, and are in pretty much every class with them, so getting help with homework is really easy to find. The professors are usually always around, even at 1 o'clock in the morning, they can sometimes be found in their office, or even socializing with my classmates and answering questions on a Studio project that is due. The General Education requirements aren't all that bad, they really make you get out there and see what is out there for classes. I would never have taken some of the classes that I did if it weren't for the requirment, and I learned a lot. Some majors, like mine, get rid of the language requirement, and I'm greatful for that. I've taken 6 years of French in my life, and I think enough is enough, I mean, I love language, but I have so many other things to do, rather than take more of the things I already know, I took GenEds like Greek Myth, African American History, Women's Studies, Bio 105 (good bio class, no lab requirement), Chem 111, Calc. 131 and 132, Physics 151 and 152, and so much more. I have more time for Band and Choir now too, which is even better.

Coming into Umass I thought the academics would be a joke...I was dead wrong. The academics offered are challenging yet interesting. The school offers 88 majors to choose from and over 3,000 courses a semester, so there is definately a lot to choose from. Specifically, I am a chemistry and biochemistry major and have been involved with a lot of interesting courses. The laboratory courses that coincide with my lectures are really interesting and a lot of neat experiments are performed like extracting dye off of M&M's. The professors are always available for extra help and are interested in making sure students succeed academically. Also, one of the most intriguing aspects of Umass is it is part of a consortium with four other colleges around the area, meaning students at Umass are able to take up to about two courses at any of these other schools per semester. The other schools in the consortium offer classes that are somewhat more appealing or specific to a student's academic study or interest; for example one of the other schools offers rock climbing or kayaking as a course.