The University of Massachusetts - Lowell

Date: May 08 2012
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
A lot of the negative reviews on here are because the social life isn't the "typical" party scene. If that's the only thing you care about in college is partying, then no, you probably won't like it here.

That being said, the academics here are phenomenal. If you want to do engineering, nursing/health, business, or anything else, you can come here for about half as much as going to private school. UML has a co-op like other schools, and students are often picked for co-op jobs over other schools. If you go to a career fair here and talk to the employers, they will tell you they go to career fairs all over like northeastern, bc, mit, and students from UML often get jobs over other schools. The programs are very vigorous and you definitely will feel prepared to function in the real world when you graduate.

I feel that a lot of negative reviews are because people are used to being led by the hand everywhere they go and a lot of private colleges will still hold your hand through everything. Umass Lowell will not hold you hand. If you have a deadline for financial aid or housing coming up, don't expect to get email reminders everyday. You're expected to be an adult and keep track of things yourself. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you are babied throughout college, then you get into to the real world and you can't function like an adult. Students at UML are definitely among the more prepared college graduates entering the workforce.

The reason that this school isn't such a party school is because the amount of work that everyone has to do. Like I said before, the programs are extremely vigorous. You cannot expect to slack off and still pass your classes. So when picking colleges, I guess you have to decided whether you would rather go to a school where people are party animals, or people are all studying and doing homework. People still hang out in each other's rooms, they are just doing work.

Also, there isn't a total void of social life. There is greek life here, and they do host a bunch of parties. Plus, as many students get older, they get apartments off campus and have their own parties.

This school is phenomenal. It really prepares you for the real world as well as giving you an excellent education for way less than "name brand" schools. The people are diverse and open, and you will not regret getting a degree from here.