Umass Amherst:"party School"???? (Boston, Brookline: how much, dorms, purchase)

[professorsenator]

UMass Amherst is an exceptional school in MA: it's a big state University. In that way, it is just like Michigan State, U of Wisconsin, Ohio State, U of Texas and any number of other big state universities. All of these schools have stories of over-the-top student behavior. They're also all excellent universities. In Mass., however, the stories gain more notoriety because of the exceptional nature of UMass. Also, Amherst is a sleepy town home to staid private schools--except for UMass.

BTW, here's a news flash for many of you: the phenomena of female students having sex for money on campus is not as unusual as one thinks. It is a "safer" form of prostitution than, say, escorting or certainly street walking and, frankly, isn't that much different than "hooking up" which happens ALL the time. Also, students stripping or (the new thing) doing amateur internet porn isn't as rare as one might think, either.

Sorry to break the news to you, Moms and Dads, but your kids who are away at school are b*ffing their brains out.

[in_newengland]

I'm sure there are serious students at UMass, of course there are BUT it is still a party school.

People move out of Amherst because of all the wild drunken student parties at all hours of the night, the drunken driving, the riots, serious vandalism, the theft and break-ins. When I lived near Amherst I stopped driving on Friday nights due to the number of carloads full of drunk students on the roads. Accidents all over the place and the sound of the ambulances all night long.

There are far too many students for a small town, it's overrun. The students live crammed into off campus houses with no rules and no supervision and the results are disastrous. Every year there is a serious accident with kids getting killed -- it seems like that year's students finally learn the lesson...but then another load of freshmen come on the scene and they, too, have to learn the hard way. It just goes on and on yet little or nothing is done.

[bstnguy]

UMass is a lot better than it's "party" reputation. As an Alumni, the school has much to offer. My wife graduated from UMass and is a doctor. My sister graduated UMass and is a CPA. The school of management at Umass is top notch as well as other degrees like Engineering. Watch out for the Liberal Arts majors, they are the ones who bring down the reputation

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

There are far too many students for a small town, it's overrun. The students live crammed into off campus houses...

This quote, in a nutshell, explains why many people think of UMass they way they do. It is the quintessential old fashioned New England desire for smallness, quiet, and government-enforced order. It's why many folks in MA tend to like small private schools (of course, social class snootiness comes into play, too, but that's a different story).

The complaints of "too many students" and "crammed" housing applies to many big state university college towns. As if U of Texas students aren't stacked like cordwood in Austin? Like U of Delaware students don't overrun Newark? Ever been to Urbana, home town of the U of Illinois (and darn little else)? Or Ames, teeming locale of Iowa State?

My point is this: the rap against UMass is the same as that against any big state University, so don't let the tales lead you to think that UMass is any worse (or better). Not every school is right for everyone: some students do better in smaller, more sheltered environments where personal attention abounds. Others find such schools suffocating and thrive on the diversity and numerous opportunities of anonymous Big State U. The original question was about relative higher-ed value. And in terms of perceived academic quality vis-a-vis tuition bill, UMass Amherst is hard to beat in Mass.

[lorilou]

professorsenator says:
"...Sorry to break the news to you, Moms and Dads, but your kids who are away at school are b*ffing their brains out..."



Gasp!!!
I guess that's nothing new...
we had our share of fun back in the day...and I wouldn't change it for the world! However, I have no intentions of letting my kids have half as much fun as I did.
That's just the way it is.
lorilou

[willdufauve]

Originally Posted by professorsenator

UMass Amherst is an exceptional school in MA:

UMass_-Amherst isn't all that exceptional. Massachusetts has other large universities such as UMass-Boston, Northeastern, Boston University, Harvard, and Boston College, which aren't known primarily as party schools.

ZooMass-Amherst is the one with relatively cheap tuition - where the booze flows like mother's milk and plenty of cheap weed.

[Quadcore]

UT austin may be one of the biggest party school.

[Tinawina]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

UMass_-Amherst isn't all that exceptional. Massachusetts has other large universities such as UMass-Boston, Northeastern, Boston University, Harvard, and Boston College, which aren't known primarily as party schools.

LOL! Not to mention MIT and Tufts, and smaller schools like Wellesley, Berklee, Smith, Brandeis, Simmons, Suffolk, Amherst. and we didn't even talk about neighboring Conneticuit. It's hard for any school to be "exceptional" around here. Half the US news rankings are within a 50 mile radius!

That said, UMass Amherst is still a good school.

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

UMass_-Amherst isn't all that exceptional. Massachusetts has other large universities such as UMass-Boston, Northeastern, Boston University, Harvard, and Boston College, which aren't known primarily as party schools.

None of the other schools mentioned above are large, residential state-supported research universities (UMass-Boston is 100% commuter, much smaller than the Amherst campus, and focuses mostly on undergraduate education). Such big state schools are the backbone of higher ed in most of the U.S., but not in Mass.

[smarty]

Originally Posted by professorsenator

None of the other schools mentioned above are large, residential state-supported research universities (UMass-Boston is 100% commuter, much smaller than the Amherst campus, and focuses mostly on undergraduate education). Such big state schools are the backbone of higher ed in most of the U.S., but not in Mass.

I agree... but why not in MA? In my mind... stupid MA leadership...

U Mass has an image problem... everytime something positive going on... something negative follows...
+Make UMass program great... -cut funding...
+Great program... -layoff teacher...
+great program... -Bulger sue school for more money...
+Free tuition... -Tuition is less than Fees...