University of Massachusetts-Amherst Top Questions

What's the most frustrating thing about your school?

Jasmin

The most frustrating thing about my school is the New England weather but after a while, it's just something I have to deal with.

Lauren

They do not give scholarships to transfer students, although I received a large scholarship when I was accepted as a senior in high school.

Meghan

It's a larger school so sometimes it can feel like you're only a face in a crowd.

Yael

The most frustrating thing about my school is the size. It's such a big school, and here are not enough programs to encompass smaller communities so that a group of people can become close to one another.

Jessica

Fees being raised because the state of Massachusetts cuts funding from higher education.

Nicole

The most frustrating experience I've had was contacting the bursar's office. They were not personable or helpful.

Isabel

One time we had roaches in the building because of construction. No one on the residence life staff took action until the situation was taken to the chancellor. It is hard for a staff member to take action until they are being told to make change by someone above them. The financial aid department also hires students who never know what they are doing.

Sarah

One of the most frustrating parts about attending a large university such as UMass Amherst is the size of the lectures. Classes can be very large and have as many as three hundred students. This atmosphere can be difficult to learn in for some. It is important to make friends in classes and make yourself known to the professor. This is the only way you will get a personal feeling with your courses.

Cassandra

Most frustrating was the few large, 500 or more person classes we had to take as a freshman. Hard to concetrate with so much going on all at once.

Niina

I suppose the most frustrating thing about the campus was the age of many of the buildings and the continual construction around campus. When I started at UMass, many of the labs were very old and many of the lecture halls were poorly heated and ventilated. Since I have graduated, the school has done a lot to improve its facilities, but places like Bartlett Hall and Herter Hall, still need to be replaced.

Daniel

I feel that I am retaking the same classes from before college, except with more sophisticated terminology. I am wasting valuable time on redundant and irrelevant knowledge instead of using that time on taking more classes that directly relate to my major in Architectural-Design. If I plan on designing buildings for the rest of my life, why then am I supposed to understand Shakespearean language and memorize equations if I do not know how to apply them in real life? Personally, college students should not be forced to take 45 credit hours of gen-eds.

Alexandra

Dealing with the administration is really frustrating. Maybe because it’s such a big school, but I feel like no departments talk to each other and the distribution of finances doesn’t seem very logical to me. My advice for incoming students would be that as long as you’re somewhat aggressive in sending out emails and getting questions answered, you’ll be okay. No one is going to hold your hand though.

Goldie

large population o students, requests can get lost

Casey

I would have to say the most frustrating thing at UMASS was the cold winters and the distance between some of the classes. Coming from New England it was easy to adapt, but others found it more difficult.

Matthew

Sometimes the administration does not do everything they can to help a student in need. Also, there have been times where I had to communicate with some UMass office staff and theyb had been less than pleasant, on a consistant basis. It is understandable, financial aid workers do not deal with the nicest people all day, which might put them in an off mood, but if I am trying to be friendly and cordial, at least humor me with a smile.

Laurel

In my graduate program most classes have prerequisites. This does not effect most students in my program as a majority go back to school part time, so they have the flexibility to take one or two classes a semester. However, when faced with taking three or four as I am as a full-time student, I have had to ask for teacher permission to take courses. Compounding this problem, several courses are only offered during specific semesters. My graduation date has been effected by this.

Megan

As much as Umass being a large campus was a great thing for me, it could be frustrating as well. My lectures were so large and full of students, it was hard to get the professor's individual attention and support. Alumni career service support isn't the best either, as I found looking for a job after college very difficult (not to mention our tough current economy) but I received a lack of assistance from our career service center. Their job database wasn't very strong for my major, Communication.

Sofia

The infastructure is not very well built and it's difficult to get around. I also have to get used to the mass amount of departments there are at the school. Unfortunately because of this, things get done at a very slow pace because everyone has to talk to everyone. If they were all under one umbrella of a larger department it would be easier.

Reginald

Financial Aid can be very difficult. It is very important to stay on top of them if you require thier services. They deal with many students issues a day, so the process can be slow.

Olivia

The most frustrating thig about my school is just the cold. I really love my school and where I am. It really is changing into a better person. I have so much fun and I learn so much. I couldn't ask for a better school for myself.

Derya

The most frustrating thing is getting spaces in classes.

Vanessa

When I lived on campus, the laundry rooms were poorly maintained.

Lauren

The most frustrating thing comes as an effect of its size. It's easy become to discouraged by the idea that you're "just a number". A lot of classes are huge, and sometimes, getting the classes you want seems impossible. Still, for such a large school, the faculty is very responsive to students in general. It's only frustrating that we have to cooperate with tens of thousands of others,

Melanie

Not enough diversity, it's in the middle of nowhere

Amanda

The most frustrating thng about my school is that there is so manny people that when it comes time to choose housing, its hard to get the room you want if you do not get a good picking date. geting a picking date is also comepletely random, I beileve that it should be the same as picking classes, you get your date based on how manny credits you have.

Azeez

Being a senior and unable to acquire a single room residency. Seniors should be given preference on single room selection because they are only there for one more year and should be treated with respect and fair accomodation.

Ashton

Again, the size could be frusterating because as with any large school, there are students who slack off and party too much, with attracts more media than the overwhelming amount of students who excell and take their college experience seriously and that was very frusterating for me throughout my undergraduate experience. Also the students who attend the Isenberg School of Management are privileged over the other students when it comes to funding and quality of life (the classrooms and funded traveling expenses...etc).

Lindsey

The size makes it hard to meet new people and keep in touch with them. The class structure is lecture based which can be hard for learning and developing relationships

Nhan

The school would hire incompetent professors (not sure if they are qualified as professors) to teach the students; however, those professors would not do their job right rather than giving impossible tasks and never teach the class without relying on books or powerpoints.

Faried

Getting into the habit of going to the library everyday. I found this works well for me, and it helps me. It is hard doing homework in the dorm room where all your friends are.

Jamie

The honors college is biased towards humanities majors and does not give enough merit-based aid.

Megan

too big, too many lectures, too many students (we are just numbers), not enough small classes, small dorms, health services is horrible - are they even real doctors? so windy in the winter that people don't want to walk to class, especially when class is a 20-minute walk away, ugly buildings, not enough help in my major/minor, so many classes were cut from my minor that i'm now struggling to finish in the semester i have left, too expensive for public school. school has a "party" reputation that may hurt me when job-hunting.

Keenan

Financial Aid awards here are mostly loan based so even though I can provide for the current school year I am already greatly in debt by the beginning of my second year. I feel I did well enough in high school to warrant a larger award but the money just isn't there for me.

Kate

They really don't give enough finiancial aid.

Jennifer

The big classes are the most frustrating thing.

nicole

the need to take five classes every semester which accumulates to a lot of work due in the same periods of time, the weather in the winter it is very cold.

Melissa

The most frustrating thing about UMass are the roads. They are pretty bad in lots of spots on campus.

Kathryn

The size of some of the classes means you might not get as much individual attention as you might at a smaller school - however, with hundreds of classes to choose from if that's what you need you can find it!

Randy

One of the most frustrating aspects of this school is the work-load. Granted I am a Chemical Engineering Major, it is to be expected. It is also difficult to get one on one attention from the teachers since most of my classes contain anywhere from 200 to 350 students. The availability of the teachers is typically at most, 3 hours per week. Luckily there are some teaching assistants to also help, but it is difficult to satisfy all the needs of so many students.

Joe

The most frustrating aspect that most people face at my school is the inability to find your niche, socially and academically. Sometimes have too many options can be negative for a student that isn't used to having many different things offered to them at once. Administration has a theory where students are completely free to pick their course of life when they please. Most people need a pusher or a muse, and generally they are tough to aquire here.

Patrick

The size! Though awesome, in the winter walking 20 minutes through snow to a class is tough. A lot of hill which can get icy and a little dangerous going to class. Class is almost never called off all day, usually only until around noon, once the roads are salted. The campus also floods a decent amount, and from late November to March and even into April, you can count on a LOT of precipitation.

Hui

All the smoking on campus is irritating. Also, being a state university with a reputation for being a party school, there are a lot of people that shouldn't even be in college in my personal opinion.

Lauren

the campus is large, so when there is bad weather, going to class and where ever you neeed to go is so awful. Everything gets wet and then you have to either do laundry or hang all your wet stuff in your room so it smells funny.

Monica

The most frustrating thing is that course enrollment is often a difficult process. It seems as if University tries to offer perquisites for courses are in non consequential order. In summation I feel that the University tries to extend ones college career in order to increase profit. Th financial aid sytem is not balanced. I am a student from a single parent home, and I also have a younger brother. Financial aid does not take into acount, that the net gross of a single parent has to sustain three individuals not soley pay for a bachelors degree.

Elizabeth

Probably the number of people you have to go through in order to find the person you actually need to talk to. The Dean of Students Office is very helpful at pointing you in the right direction, but a lot of the time I have questions that require input from multiple people in multiple departments, and it's difficult sometimes to schedule time to meet with all of them.

Isabel

The most frustrating thing about my school is that it is very far away from resources that I as an African American female use in my everyday life. Also the grocercy stores in the area are very expensive.

Andrew

The most frustrating thing about my school would be finding where things are located. Due to the size of the school its hard to find out where you need to go to complete certain tasks such as getting to class, speaking to an advisor, getting involved in activities, and finding friends. Asa result a lot of opportunites get missed that shouldn't be and this creates great stress.

John

MEFA has taken away its financial aid.

abbey

the snow clean up.

Adris

walking distance to classes.