<p>Has anyone here actually looked at or gone to a MA state school? Like UMASS, Fitchburg, or Salem State? I was wondering if they are any good, and if so, which is best?</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>Well, UMass-Amherst is the flagship and is considered the best overall, but it also depends on what you are looking for. For instance, if you were interested in Computer Science, you would want to consider UM-Amherst. Bridgewater State has very good education majors for those interested in teaching. UM-Dartmouth is known for marine science, while UM-Lowell has strong engineering & hard sciences. Mass. Coll of Art is, of course, all about art & design. The particular culture of the school is also important. UM-Amherst is in a great college town and has a diverse student body, but may be too rural or large for some people. UM-Lowell supposedly has a large commuter population, so may be quiet on the weekends. Check out the programs you are interested in at the different state schools and visit to get a feel for the locale, student body, etc. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I am actually a history major, so Salem state looked like it had the best program, I just didn’t know if the school was considered any good. But I will look into the others you mentioned . Thanks</p>
<p>Corinnas, I don’t know enough about Salem State to comment about it, but I just noticed that you are a slightly older student and live just outside Boston. You might want to check out UM-Boston. They actually have some very good programs, esp. in the social sciences. I studied political science there myself at about your age and the profs were excellent. At that time, there were many students not right out of high school, and I think there still are.</p>
<p>Let me note that I haven’t had a seen a single schoolmate go to Salem State without coming back crying or transfering. Not sure what’s wrong with Salem State, but let me suggest exploring your options thoroughly. That means visiting. All of the MASS students at my boarding school apply for SUNY schools at preference.</p>
<p>What you have to worry about the MASS schools is that you must visit them before you apply or else you will not know what you are getting to. The MASS school system is not beautiful with a pretty ribbon like most, our flagship school, UMASS Amherst is pretty raggedy, the only campuses that are decent IMO are UMASS Lowell and UMASS Boston, however, UMASS Boston is so far in the red zone financially that they cannot afford to build a residential campus, so for those that are picky there is UMASS Lowell, and for history, I believe the best are UMASS Dartmouth and Bridgewater (For the smaller schools).</p>
<p>Of course that’s what you get when your state is 47th in financing higher education.</p>
<p>Again, yeah, UMASS Amherst is the pride and joy of the public higher education in Massachusetts. I live in MA, and have visited, and the surrounding area is definitely quite fun, with Amherst as a hopping college town. Also, you have the benefit of being within the Five College Consortium, meaning you may take classes at Mount Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire and Amherst as well. Do you live in MA? If you do, there’s this letter that is sent with your final junior year grades which states (I think) a free or dramatically reduced ride through MA state schools if you had high enough MCAS scores and college boards. Sounds interesting, although UMASS probably isn’t on my radar. But anyhow, I’ve heard great things about the school.</p>
<p>ya I live in Mass. and I don’t plan on applying to any of our state schools. I abhor UMass Amherst (I like Amherst College) I might apply to SUNY or Alfred Univ. in NY for safety instead.</p>