Ashley
Vox: Students for Choice is an extremely large and influential group on campus. They hold an event called "Sex on the Lawn" in the middle of campus every year where they give out free stuff like different forms of birth control, candy, food, and informational brochures on topics like safe sex. They also have fun activities to learn about different things.
I personally go to most athletic events, and I wish they were more popular than they are. There are a lot of games where they give out free tshirts to the first 2000 students or so, and those games tend to be very popular, but on a normal game day there is not a very large student fan base. I would say that guest speakers and theater events are even less popular, but there are still many events like this offered if you are interested in that.
I met my closest friends now during my freshman year living in the dorms (we are all seniors now). I've also met friends through work and classes. The dating scene is also very good since there are so many students here. You can meet people at class, at parties, at the bars once you're old enough, or through friends. I would say that if you like to party, you can pretty much always find a good one around here, but if that's not your thing, there are plenty of people who don't party. There are a lot of fun things that the university offers on the weekends or you can make up your own things like game night. Fraternities and sororities are not important at all at UMass - you definitely don't have to join one unless you want to.
Last weekend I relaxed a little, went to a community service event in a nearby city, was in a play called The Vagina Monologues, and attended a men's basketball game.
Dawson
biggest organizations marching band and ski+board club. no one leaves their doors open cept for all freshman floors and attention whores. people party thursday friday and saturday-typical college, nothing more nothing less. theres not much to do besides drink on sat night besides joining the guitar hero club. frat suck. sororities suck. dont become a sucker. off campus northampton is the place to be.
Ryan
Your only hope is to shrink the school. Join a team or club. if you cant make varsity join a club team. i joined club rugby and it is saving my experience here. You actually know peoples names and you get to stay in shape. You also get the social aspect of partying with them on the weekends and after games.Everything involves drinking here. The frats are gross and there's a lot of violence/sexual harassment problems there. stay away from the frats, join a sports club even if you aren't athletic or you've never done that sport before. the older kids actually help you.