| I am a student that attends UMass Amherst. I am a sport management major and the program here is one of the best if not the top program in the country. I am a sophomore transfer from last semester and outside of the tuition "waiver" I received, I was not offered any other financial aid outside of a small loan. I think outside of UVM we are one of the most expensive public universities to attend.
The recent violent attacks on campus are awful, but if you ask me or most of the other students on campus it really does not faze us. The "gatherings" that took place last fall after the Red Sox won the World Series were fun- when looked on from a distance. I did not even want to be near those areas after the Superbowl this year.
Most of the faculty are very nice and supportive and when you e-mail them a question, they usually get back to you in 30 minutes or under. There are some professors that don't care, but I haven't encountered any in my department. I am also in Commonwealth College, the honor's college. I don't think there are any incentives to be in the program. We don't get any priority in registration, there isn't any special housing for us except for small honors learning communities only for freshman that are located in Orchard Hill, which is kind of a far walk from campus at the top of a steep hill, and I don't think there is any financial incentive as well. It is all just extra courses we need to take in order to put an additional line on our resume that we participated in the program.
The application process took forever as well. UMass really needs to hire additional admissions counselors. There is too much red tape on campus.
I really enjoy it here at UMass but I completely understand why so many people wouldn't want to come here. School sprit here is decent but I wish it was better. I really fought hard to come here, my stats weren’t impressive at all in high school, but I did great at my previous college to come here and get into my dream program. I just wish they improved the financial aid situation here. Too many middle class students attend UMass and receive nothing in terms of financial aid. I also hope the violence situation improves, but I guess it can help be prevented if kids don't go to sketchy parties here. |