<p>I’m a Massachusetts resident and I got wait-listed for Umass Amherst but got into Wentworth Institute of Technology. I’m getting a $7,500 merit scholarship from Wentworth which brings my tuition (including room and board) to about $22,000 a year. I found out today that I got into the spring semester of Umass Amherst. I’m not sure how much Umass Amherst will cost (3.0 gpa, middle class divorced family with financial issues), maybe a little cheaper?</p>
<p>Both schools seems to have advantages that I like. Umass Amherst is ranked high for the schools in the nation, has alot of majors with flexibility apposed to Wentworth which I hear is good for engineering but not ranked and has very little flexibility with your major (not allowed to take a minor either, i wanted to minor in computer technology). Wentworth also has like a 80% male to 20% female ratio apposed to Umass Amherst which i believe is pretty even. I like Wentworth’s location (in boston) as well as their co-op program in which you are placed in a job your junior and senior year for one semester. The dorm rooms at Wentworth also seem a lot bigger and better then Umass.</p>
<p>I wish to go onto grad school after I get out of college. I also want to leave the northeast and go out south or west somewhere for grad school. I believe Wentworth’s co-op program is well-known to industries in the area but not so much in the rest of the country.</p>
<p>From what I hear i’m getting into Wentworth for a very cheap price. Which school should I go to? Take a semester off and go to Umass Amherst or take Wentworth’s offer?</p>
<p>Tuition and fees for UMA are listed at $11,732. There may be an
additional fee for engineering students.</p>
<p>I believe that the Mass State budget passed a few days ago. The UMass
Trustees based their tuition and fees at Governor Patricks
contribution rate while the House and Senate had much lower
contribution rates to Higher Education. The final signed budget had
further cuts by Patrick so the amount for UMass is still up in the air
I think. The Trustees should figure out the final amount fairly
soon. At any rate, it looks like UMass should be a few thousand less
than Wentworth with your merit scholarship. UMass is also increasing
their aid levels this year.</p>
<p>As you know, UMass has gotten much harder to get into given the
economy. It sounds like you would save some money going there,
especially if you could get some need-based aid. I’d suggest posting
in the financial aid forum to see where you stand there.</p>
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<p>Large state schools like UMA typically have the engineering schools
which are mostly male but they also have all sorts of other majors
with better balance. The Boston area is great if you want an urban
campus but the Amherst area has about 36,000 students and a lot of
student activity given the other major schools that are close by.</p>
<p>Wentworth is pretty close to Northeastern University and there are
many other universities that aren’t too far away so there are women
in the area.</p>
<p>UMass has a lot of different residential buildings. I think that where
you stay depends on costs.</p>
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<p>UMass does an incredible amount of research and there are a lot of
research opportunities during the summer. I would guess that there
are a lot of opportunities during the school year too.</p>
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<p>Where do you live in MA? Could you do a semester at one of the other
UMass campuses and then transfer the credits into UMA?</p>
<p>My experience with Wentworth is that I did some contract work for them
two decades ago and I knew a few grads. The grads were competent as
far as I could tell. The area that Wentworth is in wasn’t the safest
back then but I’ve heard that things are much better today.</p>
<p>This is a tough decision. Can you take classes at a community college in the fall and then transfer those credits into UMass-Amherst in the spring? If so, you can probably get your general education classes out of the way.</p>
<p>I would definitely pick UMass-Amherst either way. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>I live like 30 minuets north of boston. Northshore community college is right in the area so I could take like a class or 2 and work full time for that semester.</p>
<p>What research opportunities are there at Umass Amherst and how hard is it to get invloved with it?</p>
<p>This site lists the Summer REU programs at or affiliated with UMass Aherst for 2010. The programs are typically competitive. You submit an application with your transcripts, letters of recommendation, and essay and they pick from among the applications. REUs typically pay about $400/week and provide housing if you don’t live in the local area.</p>
<p>You should contact the department that you will be majoring in to see what research opportunities they have and what the process is for getting involved during the regular semester if that’s what you want.</p>
<p>At research universities, professors do research and they teach courses. In many cases, professors spend quite a bit more time doing research work than teaching. They are essentially managers where they manage grad students that do research and teach undergraduates. The research work may bring in a lot of money to the university that helps it to reduce instructional costs to undergraduates. It can also provide jobs and research experience for undergraduate and graduate students. It can, of course, reduce the quality of teaching as you have less access to the professor as he or she has another priority. Sometimes professors make quite a bit more than what their university pays them for doing research and consulting.</p>
<p>There often isn’t a process for getting research work as an undergraduate. One of my nieces did research work at Amherst in her freshman year during the regular semester, has done research during the summer at her school and is doing research at Harvard this summer. I think that she just talked to a professor and they worked something out.</p>
<p>A girl at my son’s school has had research experience for a few years as an undergrad - her adviser brings in a ton of grant money and is always looking for students to do research.</p>
<p>Sometimes high-school kids score research work at a local university through parent or teacher connections. Those are usually unpaid though.</p>
<p>what are you interested in majoring - civil engineering or civl engineering technology? I thought Wentworth primarily offered degrees in engineering technology with very limited engineeering degree options…</p>
<p>Just had a look at the Wentworth site. Yes, there is that word technology at the end of most of their majors. Perhaps the OP doesn’t know the difference between engineering and engineering technology majors.</p>
<p>I actually didnt even notice that before. I looked up the difference and it seems like Engineering is a better degree then Engineering technology. I was talking to someone recently and he told me that Wentworth would teach me how to work and be good at my job, but Umass Amherst will teach me how to think.</p>
<p>I think that’s a good way to put it… i’m leaning more toward Umass Amherst at this point, I can always try to do the research opportunities to gain experience in the field since I’d be missing out of a co-op program.</p>
<p>You can do a coop going to UMass - it just isn’t for credit. There are companies in the Boston area, IBM comes to mind, that will hire students for a semester or semester + summer to do a coop. Companies generally prefer coops to summer internships because they can get more productive work out of students. It takes some time to get interns up to speed and with a summer internship, there may not be much time left over for productive work for the company.</p>