The University of Massachusetts - Amherst

You are called by your student number, everywhere you go, everything you do or sign up for, you are a number. In any big university thats how they need to run things but for me, it just didn't cut it. As a freshman you will be put into classes of 100 to 400 people. If you happen to get a great TA who speaks english and is easily approachable then the classes can be okay, but if not then your screwed because its almost impossible to get in touch with professors. The classes are usually impossible to get into and you will spend a lot of time online refreshing the page hoping someone drops the class you want to get into.

The campus is ugly, although some of the buildings are pretty new england style most of the buildings are hunks of brick with no architectural value whatsoever. Southwest is just a slate of concrete and the FAC is completely impossible to navigate around. The campus pond is in the most inconvenient spot imaginable and adds an extra 5 minute walk to get to any place beyond it. Also the campus bus system is unreliable, never comes and is an extra pain in the winter. Oh, and I hope you like the smell of soy sauce, because that is what the campus smells like all winter. The dorms are huge, you wont know half the people on your floor by the end of the year because there are so many kids stuffed into the dorms. There are no suite style options in any of the good places to dorm like Southwest or Central. If you dont want to deal with communal bathrooms your going to be stuck with O-Hill, Sylvan or North. All of which are very removed from classes and the rest of campus.

Lastly the party scene. The frats are gross and not fun, usually crushingly crowded with bad beer and a large chance of getting roofied. Most of the poeple you meet will not remember their weekends at all and will end up drunkenly crashing in your dorm at least once in the year. Be prepared for puke in the sinks every Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Also, there is NO support system for people who do not want to drink, if you dont want to drink be prepared for weekends alone in your dorm room unless you want to go out with drunk friends and babysit them all night long.

All in all I would never choose this place again, its not worth the money, especially if your out of state.