= <3

Introduction
This school is amazing. It was my first choice school. I chose it because it was cheap, i live 90 minutes away, it's a party school, but you also get a great education. People just need to learn how to balance school work and partying. It's really not that hard to do. I go out every weekend (thurs-sat) and still managed to make the dean's list both semesters last year. Just get your work done. You gotta work hard to play hard. You have to think about the money your wasting not doing good in school. Your paying to go to school not to party. If you just want to party, just visit umass on the weekend. theres no sense in wasting your parents money if your not going to do anything useful with your time there.

Campus Life and Social Life
Parties what everyone looks forward to on the weekends. Frats get boring pretty much after the first week of freshman year. It's usually just a million people who can barely move. It usually takes half an hour to get to the bar and they usually run out early. There's always something to do on the weekends though, even if it is just getting drunk with your friends in your dorm that is always even, escpecially in the winter when its below zero out. When your walking to a party be smart! Never carry around alcohol in the open because if the cops see you they will arrest you, so carry your stuff around in a purse or backpack and you should be fine. On a thursday night Monkey Bar is always a good choice, but be careful if you go there and are under 21 because they get raided pretty much every week. Buses run till about 1o'clock at night so it usually easy getting places, but on the weeknds at night the 10 and 11o'clock buses are always packed full.

Hockey games are the most fun to watch. Everyone goes nuts at the games with hilarious chants that everybody knows. Football games are ok in the beginning of the season when its still warm out, but its tailgating is the best part. We're really not a huge team spirit kind of school, but some games can still be fun.

Every year they always have great concerts and sporting events for students to go to. This year Jay-Z came to Mullins which was absolutley out of this world. Definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been too. Last year for the spring concert we had Girl Talk, Lupe Fiasco and All Time Low, OAR came in the fall and the Celtics played an exhibition game here last year.

They just opened up a really great new gym across from Mullins that's free for students to use. It's huge and the equipment is all brand new. Advertisement
Academics
I thought that the class size here was going to be extremely overwhelming, but I actually really like being a a giant lecture setting. Most of the intro-200 level class are anywhere from 50-400 people in a class. Professors usually use powerpoints to teach the class and its really easy to zone out in these classes because the professor isn't paying any attention to what you're doing. Some of these classes aren't even worth going to honestly if they don't take attendance because everything you need to know they post on spark. There is a ton of reading to do in most of the classes. Some classes you can get by without doing the readings, like if there textbook readings, but others they really need to be done. Last year I barely ever read and I still did extremely well in school. This year so far, I'm pretty sure I would fail if I didn't keep up with the reading, so it really just depends on the class. Most professors, escpecially in big lectures will never know your name, let alone your face, but if your confused or have a question they're always willing to help you. Just go to their office hours, or e-mail them.

You can take courses at any of the 4 other schools around UMass. Hampshire, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Amherst.

The library open 24 hours and is a really good place to get work done. It is easy to concentrate there. I suggest now though that you should always go with a friend seeing how a girl was sexually assaulted the other night on the 19th floor girls bathroom. If you ever been to the bathroom on the 19th or 22nd floor you know how creepy they are anyways. So always be careful escpecially when going to the bathroom now it might be safer to go down to the main lobby or basement floor to go.

Student Body
If your a partier, but you can also stay under control definitely live in southwest. The only thing thats annoying is that even on a monday night people are yelling and screaming outside at all hours of the night. If your a little more laid back and relaxed, you should live in central or o hill. And Sslvan isn't called suicide sylvan for nothing..

Freshman year everyone is very friendly and willing to meet new people. Sophmore year not as much. Everyone already has there set group of friends so people don't usually care about making new ones. I personally wish that it wasn't like that, but oh well. This year,I think I can name only about 8 people that live on my floor because no one is willing to leave there door open or introduce themselves. Last year I knew everyone on my floor, and everyone always left their doors open.

Most people who go to UMass are from mass, connecticut and new york, but there are people from all over the U.S. and even other countries.

The dorms themselves are uusally pretty clean, except on the weekends. The bathrooms can really turn into a war zone, even the girls bathroom. I haven't witnessed a ton of horrible stuff, but some boys have told me about some really nasty things they've seen in the boys bathrooms. Even the hallways you should be careful, some girl that lived on my floor last year peed in the hallway outside her door because apparently she couldn't make it 15 steps to the bathroom. THAT is why you should never ever walk barefoot in the halls.

You'll always see someone new walking to class everyday. I hardly ever see people I know walking to or from class, which can be a good thing.

In Closing...
The winter sucks because its so cold out and you need to walk anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to get to class while your whole body is frozen, but then once you get inside your sweating. The cold is definitely my least favorite part of it, but it's something you get used to because you really have no choice. Taking the bus to class is usually not the best choice because they're always late.

There are so many different types of people here, it doesn't matter whether you are a party animal or you prefer to study on the weekends. There is really something here for everyone. I love it here.