Umass Amherst:"party School"???? (Boston, Northampton: insurance, condo, weddings)

[willdufauve]

Originally Posted by Tinawina

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!

Of the top of my head, I can't think of any populous state that doesn't have a broad mix of colleges, large and small, public and private, just like Massachusetts.

Some of them are known as party schools, others aren't.

[Tinawina]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

Of the top of my head, I can't think of any populous state that doesn't have a broad mix of colleges, large and small, public and private, just like Massachusetts.

Some of them are known as party schools, others aren't.

True enough. I was just speaking to how hard it would be for a school around here to stand out enough to be "exceptional", when they are competing with the likes of Harvard, MIT, Tufts.. you get the idea. That's all.

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by willdufauve

Of the top of my head, I can't think of any populous state that doesn't have a broad mix of colleges, large and small, public and private, just like Massachusetts.

All states have large and small schools; few--if any--states have as heavy of a concentration and as great of a percentage of students enrolled in privates as Mass.

Take, for example, Michigan. U of Michigan (three campuses) and Michigan State are the big dogs. Beyond that there's Western Mich, Eastern Mich, Central Mich, and Northern Mich, which together enroll tens of thousands. Don't forget Wayne State, Grand Valley State, Oakland (all state schools too). And notable privates? Not many. Sure there are the usual assortment of bible colleges and small liberal arts schools, but few of these are particularly notable and together these schools have a small share of the MI higher ed market.

Or look at Texas. UT-Austin, Texas A & M, Texas Tech, Texas State, and U of Houston (all publics) each enroll 30,000+ students (UT and A&M each have 45,000+ students). In addition to the flagships, the UT and A&M systems have numerous lower tier 4 year universities scattered throughout the state. Private schools? Rice is the most signficant, but is pretty much alone. After that you're looking at SMU, TCU, and Baylor--church-affiliated schools who are small potatoes in comparison to the state-backed big dogs. Then you're down to the usual assortment of liberal arts schools and bible colleges who, again, have a very small percnatge of the higher ed market.

The point I'm stressing is that Massachusetts is unique in having such a large presence of private schools who have a very big part of the higher ed market in the Bay State.

[smarty]

I noticed recently how much improvement to Boston area where colleges are (BU/MIT/Harvard/Lesley/Northeastern/Wenworth/...) It seems they bought everything surrounding them... put in new buildings, sports facilities, walkways, roads, trees, library, offices, dorms, ... I recall I was afraid walking on Rt9 near Wentworth/Northeastern towards Brookline years ago... Now... it looks really good.

I heard BC's master plan cost $1.6B in the next 10 years. Who knows what the other colleges spent on aquiring land and putting up buildings... I wonder where they get money... are you donating?

[charolastra00]

It's actually much cheaper to go to private schools for many people than to go to public. I pay less going to Brandeis than I would have at UGA- even with the Hope scholarship. Private schools generally give better scholarships. And Harvard is free or cheap for the vast majority of Americans, if you can get in.

[NJ Chutzpah]

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.

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

Those schools do not have as many people now do they?

More people more of everything; less people, less of everything. You do not need statistics, or percentages.

Well Northeastern, BU, and BC may not BE KNOWN AS A PARTY SCHOOL, but that does not mean it does not party.

How do you judge whether one school is a bigger party school than the other? Parties are just the same thing over and over again. Only the amount of people can change, and that depends on the amount of students

[smarty]

I think... the perception of a party (mostly drinking) school is when the University do not crack down on parties (again leadership problem).... The drinking age in MA is 21... This means on 3/4 of the school population are illegal to purchase alcohol. If the school decides and enforces a NO alcohol policy... put student on probation when caught drinking 1st time, throw them out 2nd time, I'm sure the party school reputation will be gone fast. For the longest time, I could not figure out why one need to get drunk to have a good time...

[celli]

Originally Posted by smarty

I think... the perception of a party (mostly drinking) school is when the University do not crack down on parties (again leadership problem).... The drinking age in MA is 21... This means on 3/4 of the school population are illegal to purchase alcohol.

A lot of the reputation that UMass Amherst has as a party school has to do with its past, not its present. Back in the day, when the drinking age was 18, and drinking was allowed on campus, there were *a lot* of parties. I heard stories of trucks showing up and delivering multiple kegs to dorms and fraternity houses. However, drinking hasn't been allowed on campus for a long time (with a few very limited exceptions). When I lived in Amherst, about 15 or 20 years ago, there was a fraternity that lost its charter for serving alcohol to minors. The building now houses Hillel House.

I graduated from UMass Amherst in 1995, my son is now a math major there. It's the fourth largest residential campus in the country. I loved it. He does too. There are *lots* of different options for on-campus living, including 24-hour quiet dorms, for those very serious about studying, and dorms for many other types of lifestyles.

Hampshire College, just down the road, *that's* the stoner school.

[willdufauve]

[quote=celli;2630908

Hampshire College, just down the road, *that's* the stoner school. [/QUOTE]

They have the best vegetarian scene and great recycling. Yes, stoners, also a good school for threesomes.

[lorilou]

Will,
you are a naughty, entertaining young man.
I cannot help but like your honesty.
lorilou