Hello. I’m a junior enrolled in high school in California and so I have little to no knowledge about schools in the East Coast. I currently have a 2.8 unweighted GPA and an 1830 on the old SAT and a 27 on the ACT. I also have 300+ hours of volunteer work at a local hospital and 62 hours of volunteer work at a local library. It is a dream of mine to school in the East Coast, so if UMass Amherst/Boston seem unfitting for me, please comment recommendations of other schools. Thank you.
I would think UMASS Amherst would be a reach because of your grades. UMASS Boston is more of a commuter school and you can probably do better. If you are looking for a decent sized school, you have a pretty decent shot at the University of Rhode Island (URI) and that is something you might want to consider. You should expand your search more and do a trip to New England to look at schools. URI is just as close to Boston as UMASS Amherst. It is about a 95 minute drive and 40 minutes to Providence.
UMass Boston is entirely commuter, there are no residence halls at present.