so i went to umass amherst and graduated in 2003. i belonged to the commonwealth college, the honors program, and had a great experience there. to say "high school burnouts" go there is exaggerated and too general a comment to say about the school. a "high school burnout" could end up at any college....i can think about some mediocre private colleges that don't have the same reputation as umass, but i'm sure don't offer as much to choose from. please have a little more respect when commenting on a school with which you don't have first-hand experience.
as a umass graduate, i'm incredibly happy i went there. i don't have very much college debt (which is extremely helpful now that i want to go back). the honors classes i took were much better than the classes i took lecture style with the non-commonwealth college students. the classes were smaller, demanded more work, and the professors kept a closer eye on the students' work. when i was looking at colleges, i looked at uconn, unh and uvm. in 1999, uvm was the most expensive state school in the u.s. i wasn't so fond of uconn's campus because stores, ct. didn't seem to be near as many colleges umass was close to, and i didn't see the point in paying a few extra grand to go to another state school when my state school offered the same program at a cheaper cost, with a few added bonuses (such as the consortium or grad programs i was interested in at the time). i had the chance to go to penn state, but i chose umass and i'm really happy i did.
as far as places to study, there is a 26-floor library with cubes everywhere that give you the privacy and silence a student would need. a year i was having difficulty focusing on my studies, i was able to get a key to a private cube on a floor with just computer labs and other cubes, so i was able to get an incredible amount of work done in a day, with no interruption because i had this small office-like cube to work in alone. friends on my crew team studied at the amherst college library often or there are several coffee shops to pick from main st. in amherst. i always loved to sit outside beside the pond in the fall and spring to read for upcoming classes. to say there's no place to study is just an excuse not to study, for anyone, anywhere.
another benefit umass offers is the consortium with 4 other schools in the area, which happen to be some of the best private schools in the country (amherst, mt. holyoke, hampshire...)
i think it really depends on your initiative and drive when you attend umass. because it's such a large school, it's easy to get lost in the crowd. if you decide to go there, i'd definitely recommend trying to room in orchard hill, the dorms on the hill. the northeast residential area is quiet too, but a couple of friends lived there said it was almost too quiet. sylvan is quiet, but it's set off to the side of the campus, so some friends who lived there felt left out. central has the reputation for a lot of drugs (whether or not it's true, i'm unsure) and southwest is known for the loud parties. a lot of honors kids live in orchard hill, so if you decide on umass, i'd recommend living there your first year.
i was a humanities major and while i'm glad i studied what i did then, the sciences at umass are much stronger. as with any school, you just need to find your niche early and get off to a good start. get tutors, communicate with the professor and study hard, and i'm sure you'll do fine.
personally, i loved umass for so many reasons. there's good and bad to every school. but for me, the cost-benefit ratio was worth it for me. i've been looking at the animal science program, and may go back there in a year or two for a second bachelor's degree before applying to vet school. they do have a program associated with tufts so sophomores can be accepted into the DVM program early...it looks like a great deal to me, if that's really what you want to do.
if you have any questions about umass in the future, feel free to message me and i'd be happy to answer any questions...
