Hey guys! I just got my letter of acceptance to my dream school ,UMass Amherst (computer science)! The problem is that I live in Peabody and that’s roughly 3h driving… I understand that they have married student dorms but both our jobs and house is in Peabody… I also applied for UMass Lowell ,UMB and Salem state University (double in CS/Math at SSU). The only problem is the commute… SSU is the closest but their CS program doesn’t seem to have any recognition. UMB is a 30 min drive but I hear parking is absolutely awful, and UML is 1 hour away and parking is also pretty bad from what I hear… we are both immigrants but I’m the only one living in the US without family so I really don’t have anyone to get help from… should I just pick SSU and make the most out of it? Even though Amherst has one of the best cs programs it’s absolutely out of question… also financial aid isnt much since we both make a fair amount of money already… sorry about the English mistakes , just wrote this really fast on my phone at work. Let me know if you have any more questions.
This is a rough forum you posted in, it is not checked often - might do better posting in UMass specific ones.
Congrats on UMass - even if you decide not to take the offer, being accepted into CS is a great accomplishment.
Are there public transportation options to the ones that have awful parking? If not door to door, park and ride or similar?
Unless you have a family business, I would try and see if you can get a job closer to Amherst and attend UMass. My oldest got his CS degree from UMass a couple of years ago and makes a very nice salary in Boston. The CS degree there does carry a lot of weight and opens a lot of doors.
If it’s not too late to apply, you might consider applying to Tufts, Brandeis, BU and Northeastern. They have good CS programs, and are more commutable for you than UMass Amherst. Check out the parking situation at each and make your judgement re: if you can apply.
I know a few people who commute from the Boston area to UMass Amherst. It’s a bear, but it might work if you can either group your classes together on M W or Tu Th, so you don’t have to commute there as often. But it’s not ideal.
UMass Lowell is a good CS school (not Amherst, but it’s good), and what I might suggest is that you take a day and actually do the drive - go there now, while classes are in session, and get there on time for a normal class start time. See the parking situation yourself, check out the commute. To me, and hour each way would be okay, since it’s a much better school in your field than Salem State is - worth the drive. Before you go, ask admissions about how commuter students park, where they park, etc. so that when you get there, you can drive to the commuter lot and really check it out.