Hello,
Any thoughts on the pros and cons of each school? My student was admitted to all three and needs to decide.
Thanks!
She can communicate with the Career Centers at each campus and ask about internship and job placement. She also can look at the course descriptions and see if any appeal to her.
And of course, she can just run the numbers http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletter.phtml Often that eliminates some options pretty quickly.
One of my sons was accepted at UMass Amherst for Sports Management but alas, too expensive OOS. They both liked the school.
The environments are totally different. Would you prefer rural Ohio, Amherst, or rural North Carolina?
I would consider that first among non-academic fit variables.
Another thing to consider is the social vibe at each school.
Finally, UMass is part of the Five Colleges consortium, so you could take some classes at Amherst, Smith, Mt Holyoke and Hampshire.
For academic fit, look at things like the following:
- Available courses in your major and other majors you might like
- Distribution requirements for a degree
- Class sizes
These are all fine schools, but they are in massively different locations and may also show notable differences in social and academic fit. Unless cost is if no concern, consider that too if there are sizable cost differences.
UMass Amherst has a really good sports management school
Rather than sports management, look into a regular, full management major* with a double minor in pr/communications and psychology. What will matter is getting internships with a personal team, preferably first a D1 team then a pro team the college has good contacts with. So you need to contact the department and the career center: ask how often students intern with the college’s teams, whether they place students with pro teams.
*Sports management often is a “lighter” management major. It’s this better to have a full major and show professional interested and ability through internships.