kwu

I can't fathom how this thread has gotten 6,000+ views.

I shared this fun fact with a good buddy of mine, and I'll share it with you:

Five-College Registration - UMass Amherst: Office of the University Registrar

As a UMass undergraduate, after one's first semester, one need only take a single class at UMass per semester, and one may take up to 19 credits worth of classes per semester. So, for instance, one could take 1 UMass course [3 credits] up to 4 Amherst courses [16 credits].

Almost all of the intellectual and social opportunities that are available to Amherst College students are available to UMass undergraduates.

The Amherst Student | News | Faculty Approves New Academic Calendar, Honors System

As you can see, every institution in the Five College Consortium has been willing to make drastic changes to its academic calendar for the sake of UMass undergraduates because every institution understands how important this collaboration is, that it makes each and every institution in the consortium exceptional.

Challenged

In an ideal world it would be the learning from an exceptional course that matters. Alas, it is the networks provided and the name on the degree.

MsBees

...had the opportunity to go to both schools. They both chose Umass because they found Amherst ( there words ) elitist. LOL...I think what they meant, since they live in Amherst, is that the majority of kids that go to Amherst are wealthier than we are.

We as parents and both our sons are thrilled with Umass

Music134

I think this thread so far is extremely narrow minded and stereotyped. I am a current UMass Student and I believe my University has a lot to offer. Our Engineering program is currently the top in the Northeast, our Library is the second largest library in the entire world, we have state of the art science buildings and laboratories, our music program includes professors who have been principal players in the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and so much more. Our "party school" reputation comes from our large campus, not from our inability to learn. Every single college has parties, that's a fact. But it's the percentage that participate, and the way they participate, that matters. Amherst has less than 2,000 students, while UMass has over 25,000. Because our school has over 10 times the amount of people a small private school like Amherst has, that means that when issues arise, they are blown out of proportion. If 500 people cause trouble on campus, it seems like all of UMass is that way because of the amount of people. Really that is only 2% of our population. Every situation is magnified because of our large population, but it DOES NOT represent the entirety of our campus. We have a lot to offer, and you should not stereotype us because of the propaganda you are fed.

MissGen

This thread is six months old. Most of the original posters are probably gone by now.