Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

NP - UMass Amherst rep has declined too.

Massachusetts has its UMass “haters” and they are vocal AF about it.
In case you put a lot of stock in rankings, US News and works reports put UMass Amherst at the same level as UT Austin and UConn, two fine schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

NP - UMass Amherst rep has declined too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMASS Dartmouth actually has the reputation for weakest state school (outside of the “states” like Worcester State and Fitchburg State, etc). UMASS Boston draws a lot of good students these days who want to be in the city but can’t afford or get into one of the “elites”.

Dartmouth is still seen as an unserious party school. Lowell is STEM and the “states” are more technical or specific program oriented. If you want to be a cop, go to Fitchburg State. Teacher? Salem State. And so forth.

Interested in the experience of the kids who are serious students at UMASS Boston. Programs and course offerings seem extensive. There is an honors program. But is it hard to make friends/find your people and have a social community?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

UMASS Dartmouth actually has the reputation for weakest state school (outside of the “states” like Worcester State and Fitchburg State, etc). UMASS Boston draws a lot of good students these days who want to be in the city but can’t afford or get into one of the “elites”.

Dartmouth is still seen as an unserious party school. Lowell is STEM and the “states” are more technical or specific program oriented. If you want to be a cop, go to Fitchburg State. Teacher? Salem State. And so forth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

The state flagship is located in Amherst, several hours away from Boston. UMass Boston is a high quality commuter school.

Several hours?? It’s like 45 minutes 😆

It's about 100 miles west.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

The state flagship is located in Amherst, several hours away from Boston. UMass Boston is a high quality commuter school.

Several hours?? It’s like 45 minutes 😆

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

Umass-Amhest hasn't attracted the top students in MA - it is changing based on the last few years so hopefully that'll boost it's profile. It long had a reputation of ZooMass, a total party school that you only went to if you had no other choice or your parents wouldn't pony up for a private.

This PP doesn't know what they're talking about. UMass Boston was NEVER known as ZooMass - that was the flagship, in Amherst all the way across the state. Its reputation has improved since those days. UMass Boston was always smaller, quirkier, much more heavily a commuter school.

The original post asked about why the flagship, aka Amherst, was ranked so low.

Massachusetts has always relied on private education and hasn't invested adequately in public universities. Now, with the huge increase in students coming to New England from everywhere in the country (and the world) for school, homegrown Massachusetts students are at a disadvantage and find themselves struggling to find slots near home, in spite of being relatively more qualified. This is especially hard for families who can't afford to send their students out of the region. Massachusetts will need to step up its contributions to public universities, or (only partially joking) challenge the tax-exempt status of some private colleges that don't educate robust numbers of Massachusetts residents. It would seem cutting back on reliance on private education and investing in public colleges and universities would be best in the long run.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boston Latin
Roxbury Latin
Brookline High
The Windsor School
Commonwealth School

this would be funnier if you hadn't included Commonwealth

Care to explain?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

Umass-Amhest hasn't attracted the top students in MA - it is changing based on the last few years so hopefully that'll boost it's profile. It long had a reputation of ZooMass, a total party school that you only went to if you had no other choice or your parents wouldn't pony up for a private.

This PP doesn't know what they're talking about. UMass Boston was NEVER known as ZooMass - that was the flagship, in Amherst all the way across the state. Its reputation has improved since those days. UMass Boston was always smaller, quirkier, much more heavily a commuter school.

The original post asked about why the flagship, aka Amherst, was ranked so low.

Anonymous wrote:Harvard/MIT
Tufts/BC
BU/Northeastern/Wellesley
everything else

I agree with this one.

Anonymous wrote:NP just got me curious- for all of Boston and MA's reputation being full of good schools and colleges, why is its only state flagship UMass ranked so low? Did it used to be better in the past or was is always a mediocre??

UMB is far from the flagship campus. It is supposed to provide access to “real college” to working people.From am elitist pov it’s the weakest UMass campus but it has a mission of its own. UMass Amherst the flagshiip. It is a research university in the center of Massachusetts.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who is local, here is how things tier out in my mind (each row is its own tier, not ranked within each tier) - also, didn't include state schools or schools outside of the metro Boston area:

Harvard/MIT
BC/BU/Tufts/Wellesley/Babson
Northeastern/Bentley/Brandeis
(Deliberate space here)
Anything else you've barely heard of - Suffolk, Merrimack, Curry, Simmons, Lesley, Stonehill, Endicott

* Emerson, Berklee, Wentworth, MCPHS are specialized in my mind so I didn't rank them. I never know where to put Wheaton.

As someone who’s not from Boston, this is the way I see it too.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here’s the hierarchy of schools, at least when I went to MIT in early 2000s. I’d rank based on how much people want to go to that specific school and what schools mixed with each other.

Harvard MIT
Wellesley
BC
Tufts Brandeis
BU
Northeastern
UMASS Boston, Emerson, Lesley, etc


Berkelee music in its own category
[/quote]

Who cares about 20 years ago[/quote]

Uh, this is the list serv for DC moms and dads. So most people posting went to these schools 15-20 years ago. Plus I think it’s pretty much the same, no matter how much the NE and Tufts boosters are going crazy on here.[/quote]

Psychology probably was more popular than CS back then also.
They better not advice their kids who go to colleges today.
[/quote]

I agree with this list. Nice job!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Tufts
BC/Northeastern
BU
The others

No way - Northeastern is not on the same level as BC (and I have no vested interest in BC, but having gone through the application process twice recently, am convinced that Northeastern is falsely inflated).

Tufts/BC
Northeastern
BU

Tuftfs/BC/BU
Northeastern

https://www.aau.edu/who-we-are/our-members

WTF is this lol

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here’s the hierarchy of schools, at least when I went to MIT in early 2000s. I’d rank based on how much people want to go to that specific school and what schools mixed with each other.

Harvard MIT
Wellesley
BC
Tufts Brandeis
BU
Northeastern
UMASS Boston, Emerson, Lesley, etc


Berkelee music in its own category
[/quote]

Who cares about 20 years ago[/quote]

Uh, this is the list serv for DC moms and dads. So most people posting went to these schools 15-20 years ago. Plus I think it’s pretty much the same, no matter how much the NE and Tufts boosters are going crazy on here.[/quote]

Psychology probably was more popular than CS back then also.
They better not advice their kids who go to colleges today.