University of Massachusetts-Amherst Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Gabrielle

I believe our stereotype is "party animals", but you would get that label at ANY large state university. And truthfully, when I got here, I was expecting a much more intense, dangerous party scene. I believe what we have is normal at any college in America.

Jesse

Absolutely not. UMass is a fount of opportunity, and anything you want from the school is yours as long as you reach out and take it. For the timid or the immature it can get overwhelming, but all you need to do is reach out and the closer community is yours.

Susan

No. There are partiers, to be sure. But I have seen riots and orgies at other colleges, such as Dartmouth, Holy Cross and UMaryland that completely put UMass to shame! Even the formerly "dainty" Anna Maria College in Paxton is known for wild times.

Amanda

Its basically true, for the majority. But theres def those who don't go out at all, and youll know who they are.

Caroline

UMass student talks about the stereotypes of UMass as a party school.

Caroline

A UMass student talks about what he does with his spare time at UMass, and about stereotypes.

Cameron

True.Mostly true.Not anymore.

Molly

At any college you can go out and drink if you so choose, but UMass gets a bad reputation -- it's a great school and students do work hard for a great education.

Torry

As for the first stereotype this is not the same school your parents, aunts and uncles went to in the 70s and 80s, the school has tried to crack down on in dorm parties you can no longer roll a keg over to Garber Field and drink beers during a sporting event. However, the opportunity to have a great time is still available. Areas such as; Pufton, Townhouses, and Hobart always offer an excellent party scene. The Hobart Ho-Down is now closely monitored by authorities however and open container laws are strictly enforced. As for the second stereotype it is somewhat accurate, this meaning that most likely you will find several people from these categories in the appropriate living area. However, they can also be found throughout the rest of campus; it is not strictly tied into where they live and with such a huge school it would be impossible to keep an order such as this and seperate the living areas into these generalized populations. How much you enjoy your residence is completely dependant upon yourself, basically it is what you make of it. So if you get stuck in an area you did not want to be in rather than moping around complaining about it make the best of the situation, put yourself out there and meet people. If atempting to this and you still feel out of place or that there is no one that you can really get along with talk to your RA and see if there are openings in different buildings and find an area in which you are more comfortable.

Torry

Some people are like this but not all students act this way.

Dave

nope.

Bridget

The college in my experiance after attending Western New England College and Holyoke Community College believe that UMASS Amherst is actually more difficult and not an easy college. The area that it is located in is amazing the culture, restaurants, and sites are exactly where a college student would want to be. Lastly, Umass Amherst does have it's fair share of parties, but not anymore then other large universities. It is something that should not make or break your decision about this college.

Jen

not completely

Devin

sometimes.

Royce

Like most stereotypes there is a grain of truth. You can find parties and party harty if you want. However, if you want a quality education with a rich social component, then U. Mass is truthfully the place for you.

Dennis

In a way. If a student looks hard enough for these stereotypes, they're going to find them, but I think that's true for any college. If someone has it in their head to seek out a party or wants to live a non-stop party lifestyle, they're going to do that wherever they go to school; all they're doing here is finding a buffer for it.

Ben

Only one of these stereotypes has true merit. UMass Amherst is a school with amazing social atmosphere. The school is only considered violent because it accurately files its reports and doesn't lie to students with cover ups.

Shannon

I mean, yeah, of course there are parties to go to, but UMASS's party scene isn't really any different from any other college. If you really want to party, you can find one to go to, but not all students are crazy party animals! lol

Erika

No. I mean where ever you put 18-22 year olds there will be partying, but that is not the only thing UMass has. There are many activities that you can participate in. As well, the students are not drunk idiots, with some exceptions.

Jessica

When it comes to the stereotypes about the dorm areas, sometimes they are true, but there are always exceptions. For example, during my freshman year I was in RAP (a program were you have some small classes in your dorm or dorm area that are focused on certain subjects; I participated in the Undeclared RAP (Focus Connections) where we focused on completing General Education requirements). Because my RAP was Undeclared students, we lived in Central but I knew all different kinds of people (they weren't all just smokers). Because UMass is a large public school, you're able to meet many different kinds of personalities, which is one of the things that drew me to this school.

Josiah

Only the mobbish sort mob, the rest of use try to get some sleep. But yes, there were two distirbances involving mobs... mobs and baseball and football. Basically If the patriots and or the redsoxs get into the superbowl/world series expect troube in southwest.

Devin

To an extent. If you're looking for a party it's very easy to find one. However, if you're worried about the party atmosphere, there are many ways to avoid it.

Robin

The party school is accurate. People are out til 3 am 6 nights a week. Parties aren't great from what I've seen though. Frats are dirty and gross. Best parties I've been to are just chillin in a dorm. The campus is way too big. Academics are much better than I expected though. Good luck trying to study in your room though.

Erin

UMass is a lot harder than people have made it out to be. The status of the school has beein goin gup over the past few years, and it's going to continue to do so. The Engineering, Landscape Architecture, and Business programs on campus are three of the toughest programs, with the Business school being nationally recognized as one of the best.

Kyle

Although there are parties on campus, the universities academic standing is usually overlooked. The student population excels academically and many of the departments have high national standings.

Melissa

sometimes, it depends on who. Some people party a lot, but some don't

Kristen

Not necessarily, college is what you make of it. Yes there are a lot of parties on weekends and people start drinking on Thursday but there are lots of people that don't go out and party. If you don't want to, it isn't shoved down your throat.

Erin

for some, but you can find not-so-smart party students at just about every college nation-wide.

Danielle

Not really

Felipe

Yes and no. If you are going to take up something like Sociology at Southwest, then yes, expect a lot of people with hangovers and just spending half their time doing something else other than school work. The more north you go on campus, more you tend to do more school work since northern area of UMass is the science, math, and engineering side of UMass.

Alex

It's definately a party school, but all schools have a party scene. It's not out of control--you can still party and do really well academically. I've never had a problem with violence at UMass. There were definately multiple instances of violence when I went to UMass. You just need to be smart and be safe. Don't do something stupid.

Allison

No, UMass can be a lot of fun but there are many other things to do than go to parties.

Gene

While a few incidents would lead people to believe that these are accurate (Red Sox World Series riot in 2004, UMass football mini-riot in 2006, and "The UMass Lacrosse Eight" in 2008), UMass is an extremely safe place. The rule is the same as it is at just about any other school. If you don't look for trouble, trouble won't find you. If you seek out bad situations, bad things can happen.

Andy

The truth of the matter is that UMass has to offer much more than just the stereotypical "college experience." Going there I had no idea how great the computer science department actually is. It's a big school, and you can find anything there, be it parties on every day of the week or academics or various arts. The students are also pretty diverse. Most are very friendly, so it's easy to make friends, especially in the dorms. Of course, there are the fluzies and the bros, but they're not the only ones there :)

Dan

Pretty much. Although there are some odd ball student types scattered about.

Meagan

For some people, I guess. UMass loves to party. But we're smart, too, I mean, we go to class and do our work. You wouldn't make it four years if you didn't.

Jamie

Yes, basically if you are from NY everyone up here hates you...have many back up ids Yes Yes

Alex

I think UMass had a little bit o everything - super studious students, slackers, party-ers, "druggies", students just going to college because they feel they have to, people who are looking for what they want to do with life, athlets, etc. UMass is a big party school, but it is much more than that. I think UMass is an awesome school.

Steve

Not entirely true. There's plenty to do around here to have fun, not just partying.

Sarah

Not always but sometimes students come here and support them.

Matt

The party stereotype is accurate, we love to party and we party right. HOWEVER, I transfered here from a small school and can say that there is less daily drinking here than other school which have nothing else to do, Umass offers activities for people of all kinds. The stereotype about us not being smart is completely false. I personally may not be the best student, but my brother was the top of his graduating class and went here, graduated and has landed a quality job. I honestly don't know why anyone would ever want to pay the money to go to a private school when they can get an amazing education here. (and yes many of our programs are well respected by hiring companies)

Isabel

not really theres always gonna be a party everywhere you go and not everyone is on drugs well i know i'm not

Dana

The stereotypes of students living in certain dorms can be true, but are not always all encompassing.

Nicole

It depends who you hang out with. It's a large, public school, so obviously they'll be more partying than at a smaller school. The partying doesn't take away from schoolwork though. Everyone is very serious with their schoolwork and try their hardest.

Laura

Mostly, not everyone who lives in a housing area fits the certain stereotype, but they're called stereotypes for a reason- because the majority of those people do exist.

Hunter

There is a drinking/partying scene here, but I came to Umass with a strictly academic agenda with no big partying on my to-do list, and I was quite comfortable. You will find that there are people on both sides of the fence, and the school is big enough that there's not much crowding. A lot of the hardcore party scene is centered in Southwest, so if you are more of an academically-minded person I'd probably go for one of the other residential areas as a freshman. As for it being "easy"... If you are in sciences and engineering, it is definitely not "the easy school"! Though I can't vouch for the humanities, if you want to survive as a science or engineering student you really have to work for it.

Nicole

YES! Except in Central or Orchard Hill where everyone is a hippie or a hipster.

Sarah

If you are looking for a party, they're easy to find. Like at any other school, there are some students who party constantly. But it's not fair to call the school a party school, because not everyone here parties constantly. It's easy to avoid the wild party scene.

Charlie

There is a lot of drinking that happens on Campus but that is typical of every college.When I was a freshman in 2005 everything was crazier and we were the no.8 party school. Now its toned down quite a bit but police have been backed up and are everywhere on campus. For this year there have been more threats and violent acts, i don't feel as safe as I did in 2005. And there are hardly any riots because they have swat teams that come in to attack people if they start. I would say Umass is not the same party-wise and violence wise as it used to be.

CJ

Generally - yes. but, that's generally. for the most part, this is actually true. but, as for all stereotypes there are bound to be exceptions. except when it comes to the sauce, they all love it.