University of Massachusetts-Amherst Top Questions

Busses come every fifteen minutes which is great, the campus really isn't that huge anyway. It's big enough that you might not run into anyone you know over the course of a day, depending on where you go. I spend most of my time at the library because it's awesome, not like a regular city library at all. It's designed to accomodate students. Great place to study. The school pride is great, most students and teachers are into UMass sports and even if you're not, the games are fun to go to because there's always a great vibe. The one thing I'd change if it were possible is the architectural mess that is the campus pond. The water in most of it is pretty stagnant and we can't ice skate/ swim/ do anything with it except feed the ducks which is actually pretty fun.

U. Mass is a huge place. There is something for everyone, you just need to look for it. For me, at first I was put off by the size. However, the school is designed so students can break the school into manageable components. So if you need to, you don't have to tackle the whole school at once. I for one, found a nice small residence hall and spent my first year with a few friends, going to classes and a few social activities. I also devloped a fondness for the Peter Pan bus system and went home at least twice once a month. After fresman year, I expanded my role in my academic department and residence hall which caused me to learn and grow as a person. By the my senior year I was a campus leader, had aquired several close friends and a lot of aquaintances and spent most of my time on campus. I am a grad student at U. Mass now and the campus is even larger and even a richer environment than when I attended as an undergrad. Several of my friends and I wish that our children would consider U. Mass Amherst because of the rich cultural diversity (people, majors, faculty, fine art's center offerings etc) that exposed us to so many opportunities that are not available at other schools. It is really a world class school. Some people complain about the fact that students seem to always be protesting something. I see this as a good thing (much of the time). Students are by no means apathetic. They are not so called "kool aid drinkers". Students are informed and willing to advocate for the rights of themselves and others.

Umass Amherst is awesome. The campus is beautiful, if you don't mind constant construction. I've lived in the Central Residence area going into my fourth year, which is the best area to live for my major. Where I'm in the business school, leaving in Central is an easy walk to all my classes. If I were a mathematics or engineering major, I'd probably want to live in Northeast, which is a good area too. If a student wanted to pursue athletics and didn't mind buses or long walks to classes, Southwest is perfect. Sylvan, on the other hand, has a reputation for being too far area and being creepy. The size of Umass is just right, as it's almost a town in and of itself. Coming from a small town, it was nice to get a similar vibe from Umass. There's plenty of space to plan fun things with friends like Frisbee, hacky sack, football, basketball, etc. The campus police are pretty lax too, just don't drive wildly on the weekends. Weekends can be really fun and exciting, or a bit frightening. Going to or coming back from a party, be prepared to either see a lot of cops or to be pulled over, whether or not you've done anything. The weekend starts a long chain of drinking and partying for most people on or those travelling off campus, so there are usually handfuls of drunk student wandering around campus at night, and four or five police cruisers coming from or going to hot spots.

UMass Amherst has an amazing atmosphere. Amherst serves as a true college town. So many of the town's venues exist only to serve the college students. There numerous coffee shops, a mall, a movie theater, book stores, bars, great places to eat, pretty much anything you'd need day to day. Plus the atmosphere is supplemented by the presence of other schools like Mount Holyoke and Hampshire College. At first I thought the school was very big, but after a while you get used to the settings. After a month it all seemed perfect. Your really get the feeling that it is its own community. For example city schools have so many distractions, because theres so much going on in metropolitan areas. However, when you're at UMass Amherst you feel immersed in it. You will always feel great here, which most schools can not say.

The first week of college, while trying to get used to my new surroundings and the large campus, I was nervous that maybe UMASS was a little too big for me. It was a little intimidating that first week. But once I began making friends and becoming familiar with where all my classes were, the campus seemed to become smaller and was not as intimidating anymore! Just be sure to give it a chance, it is really an awesome school with a lot of valuable resources available!

I love UMass for how big it is. I came from a small town, so having a big school was something I was very interested in. Although it is big, I still see fimiliar faces, which I like a lot. There is always something to do at UMass. I have made some of the best friends at schoo. Also, I have had minimal problems with academics.

One of things that drew me to UMass is that they have so many different majors. Since I wasn't sure what I wanted to major in, I was confident that no matter what I chose, UMass would probably have it. Another great thing about UMass is its Domestic Exchange program. You can spend a semester or even a year at another public college in another state. I think the size is great, even though its large size might intimidate some people. I think a large college provides opportunites to meet many people and make many connections. Large universities have great resources and opportunities to network. When I tell people I go to UMass, adults react in the way that they say oh that's a good school, but don't get sucked into the party scene! Which I understand, but like I said, I feel like that should be applied to almost everywhere. Amherst is definitely a college town. Downtown Amherst is geared toward college students, even though it's still pretty small. Nextdoor is Northampton (where Smith College is located), which is a great town that is growing, with a lot of cool stores downtown. UMass has a great transportation system, so Northampton is a bus ride away if you don't have a car. The biggest recent controversy on campus was a student strike to get more money to support diversity, reduce the money spent on "luxury projects," get police out of dorms, etc. I feel like there's not enough school pride yet, but it's on the rise, especially with how well the basketball team did this year. One of the most frequent student complaints is that it's sometimes hard to get classes you want.

The worst thing about Umass is the rooms. They aren't big enough, the furniture is not correct. I mean, usually the furniture is supposed to be flexible, so that a desk, bed and dresser add up to the length and/or width of the room. This is not the case. Expect to have to loft your bed to make any sense of anything. Be carefull though. The beds are basically falling apart, I had to kick mine back together in the morning to keep the interconnecting wooden dowel from totally coming out. The chairs are horrible. Bring your own. Get your own matress. The Umass matresses are plastic, and you'll wake up damp with sweat every morning. The lighting is garish florecents, so you may want to consider bringing your own lighting. The floor is ugly, maybe bring a carpet. Bring your own cleaning supplies, unless you think walking to another building to get them is convienent. Oh, and there's a mandatory fee of $10 anually to use such resources as the broom. The umass website shows off a bunch of nice panoramic landscapes, but when you're actually there you get a diferent picture. The campus pond? The south end, which magestically goes right up to the fine arts center, is always covered in pond scum and debris, goose down and what else. The north end is a walkway, with bramble housing beer cans and empty doritos bags. The lawn around the pond is covered in goose dropings, so you don't really want to be anywhen near the pond. During the winter they spray all the pathways with a de-icer: an organic salient solution that smells like soy sauce. It's sticky, and unpleasant to walk on. Everyone walks between the spray lines if they can. During the spring the slush starts to melt and traps the rain into deep puddles. If you don't know alternater routes, you will be in up to your ankles and beyond getting to classes. The food is usually bad. They try to fill you up on cheap carbohydrates like mash potatoes and pasta. If you wan't to make a sandwich you'll have some nice mushy tomates fresh thawed for you you awaiting. I'd asume that the reason that the tomatoes are always mushy is because they freeze them after preparing them, and then thaw when needed. Berkshire is the only dining comon (we call em DC's) that has good food. The campus shuttle goes there all the time, so it's no to hard to get there. Cellphone reception is excelent for verizon. I've heared that it's good for all the other carriers too. The campus wifi is pretty weak in most places, so unless your device has really good reception you'll have bad wifi.

My favorite aspects of UMass are the large school atmosphere and the location. Personally, I enjoy the experience of seeing an unfamiliar face every time I walk around. Also, I think Amherst is a great place. The presence of four other schools in the area means that there is a high population of college-aged kids. Northampton (nearby) is another great town and has some great clubs/venues that get many good music acts,

Umass is not as great as everyone says. It's too big, people are impersonal and are in love with themselves. It's loud when you wanna sleep and boring when you wanna do something. Food and academics are good though.