<p>The stereotypes you mentioned are interesting because UMass is certainly not a place where dumb kids go (the average GPA is 3.5 or so) and certainly not in the middle of nowhere (Amherst is a pretty cool college town). And it is no more of a party school than any other large state university. But indeed, these are the stereotypes many people attribute to this school. The parents of some of the kids in the more affluent towns also perpetuate these ideas - I hear this kind of thing all the time. When we mention we are strongly considering UMass Amherst for our child, some of these parents just politely nod and then change the subject. Some say right out loud that they would never send their kid there. We find this attitude to be very repulsive. The kids of some of these parents would not even be able to be admitted there in the first place. I’m amazed by how many parents we know who would borrow money against their home and spend their retirement money on a mediocre private university rather than send their kid to UMass Amherst. This is really crazy when you compare the costs of UMass ($18K) against a private university such as Northeastern ($46K) which is certainly no better, and perhaps not as good. Many of the programs at UMass are very highly ranked (engineering, pre-med, business to name a few).</p>