<p>Lafalum, lighten up on jarsilver – I don’t think his experience is unique. I was more knowledgeable about colleges/universities than the average parent (attended three, was a professor at one, have been invited to speak at quite a number) and read/talked to people as I thought it would be more difficult than usual to figure out where my son should go. I live in Massachusetts and I hadn’t heard of Commonwealth College. I’d read and been told about honors colleges at Michigan, Vermont, Georgia, Arizona, etc. No one ever mentioned UMass honors college to me. So, they are keeping a lower profile than other honors colleges. My son was admitted to it and we first read up on it at that point, but he has chosen not to attend.</p>
<p>if you go to other CC forums about honors colleges, nobody mentions Commonwealth College as a “top” honors college. People know about Barrett, Scheyer and even Ole Miss’s honors program but not many people outside of MA know about commonwealth college.</p>
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<p>It is a matter of taste (to a degree) but I’m with your son those late 60’s to mid-70’s concrete bunker (a la Boston’s Government Center) styled buildings leave me cold. What is not a matter of taste is the poor lighting in the Student Union or the old buildings with heat pipes inefficiently going along hallways and corridors. As to the library, it certainly seems out of place on campus and would seem to be pretty inefficient setup unless staff spending a bunch of time in elevators is someone’s idea of productivity. That said, the central campus has many pretty aspects including a terrific concert hall and music building near a brook and pond. </p>
<p>What a difference it would make to those thinking of going there if they had a new student union and a state-of-the-art physical education building, for starters. I’m not saying that new buildings make for better learning but I do think they help attract students.</p>
<p>The pond looks dead in my opinion haha</p>
<p>Pierre…the only thing dead in here is your social life. Why do you continue with the snide remarks about UMass? You’re not going there so why bother? </p>
<p>UMass is getting stronger each year and the new facilities are going to be great additions.</p>
<p>The student union isn’t to my taste either - Boston City Hall is exactly what it evokes to me - but my daughter liked it. Can’t live up to the other Student Unions we’ve seen, though. </p>
<p>I finally figured out that the reason UMass has high rise buildings (library and dorms) when they’re in the middle of the cornfields and seem to have no shortage of buildable land, is to keep the campus to a walkable size. The high rise dorms and library would have huge “footprints” if they were only a half-dozen stories tall. </p>
<p>I’d be the first to agree that the campus could use a lot of sprucing up and updating, but it’s in better shape than some of the other MA state colleges (thinking here of UMass Dartmouth, and Salem State - didn’t they have to close the library at Salem State because it was unsafe?)</p>
<p>All of the MA higher ed institutions could use an infusion of cash for capital projects. Not likely to happen, though. Its a shame.</p>
<p>sorry Daddy Warbucks, just an observation I made when visiting campus</p>
<p>I’ll try and stop with the snide remarks</p>
<p>This is not meant as a dig at anybody in particular. Also, even if it were, I am sometimes guilty too so no hard feelings! :)</p>
<p>Looks matter. No matter what anybody says, reputation and looks often matter more than cold hard facts to many people, especially when it comes to first impressions. If UMass replaced it’s old 70s style concrete Fine Arts Center and Campus Center with gleaming glass structures with plasma TVs shining from within, the campus would attract a bunch more students. Spend another $1,000,000 on landscaping and short stone walls and ivy to cover brick buildings and yet another 1,000 students will think twice when they visit. You get the picture…</p>
<p>Reputation is another animal altogether and something we can only share with each other on a single data point level. “Kids here think this of that school and I think it’s true because of n.” It’s all interesting stuff but the only thing we know for sure is that reputation depends largely on time and geography. If anything, this proves that reputation bashing is a vain ego-masturbation exercise for a school’s graduating class. YMMV.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, given that we can only gather so much information from data sheets and SAT scores, the look of a campus and the reputation you’ll have to endure as a potential student is the only metric you have to help you make your decision. It’s far from ideal but it is what it is. I know people in their late 20s who are willing to go broke buying a Lexus/BMW to make themselves feel good. More power to them! ;-)</p>
<p>Since the thread has stalled/stopped, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to link to an interesting related short read that really speaks to the high school senior who nowadays, it seems, is invariably obsessed with the latest copy of US News and their rankings.</p>
<p>[Advice</a> for High School Graduates - The Conversation Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://theconversation.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/advice-for-high-school-graduates/?pagemode=print]Advice”>http://theconversation.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/advice-for-high-school-graduates/?pagemode=print)</p>