Interested in transferring to UMass Amherst? In the short videos below, our admissions counselors explain why UMass is a great choice, what you need to submit to apply, and what they'll be looking for in your transfer application.
UMass Amherst, we are the flagship campus of all the universities in Massachusetts. We're the largest, coming in around 23,000 undergraduate students and about 6,000 graduate students. We pride ourselves on being a large university with endless amounts of opportunity, but still to have that small homey feel when you need it to. We are a research institution, so we get a lot of grants and funding to do research, and you can do research as early as your freshman year here on campus.
Located in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is a great, small, quaint New England town with lots of shops and restaurants. It's a really great place to be as a college student, a lot of the businesses cater to college students and we have a really great relationship with the town of Amherst. We're consistently voted among the top college towns in the country, and I think one of the biggest reasons for that is it's not just our students in the area.
So as I said, we have 23,000 understand students, but there are four other small schools in the area, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College, and Hampshire College, so their students are also in town and in surrounding towns, so it's not just Amherst, but the surrounding towns as well, have so many college students everywhere you turn. And I think it's a really great thing to be in a place where there are just college students all over and you can meet new people, even that doesn't go to the same school as you, every day.
I think the advantages of a large university versus a small college, is just the opportunity to sort of explore more. A large university like UMass for instance, there is so much to do, so many options that you sort of can really define and make your own way. The opportunity just isn't there for smaller colleges.
UMass definitely holds lots of workshops for students from across all backgrounds, but to really sort of help the experience of those first-gen students who are interested. And like I'm the first one in my family, this place is huge. I don't know what I'm doing. I didn't know what I was doing when I got here, help me figure it out. And UMass really does them the resources to sort of find their voice and help them sorta succeed.
One of the coolest things about being here in Amherst is the Five College Consortium. So we are right down the street from Amherst College, Hampshire College, Smith College, and Mount Holyoke College. Each of which, as you might already know, is a small, private, liberal arts college, each very unique in their own ways. So the five of us commonly referred to as the Five College Consortium, together have about 30,000 undergraduate students right here. We work closely together so that we can all share the benefits of the combination of a big university and small colleges, with funding for more programs than any school could afford just on its own. From research to athletics, to the arts, to pursue your intellectual interests, some quite obscure, you're gonna have more opportunities than you can even count.
Over the years, the Five College Consortium has allowed Five College students to take classes at each of the other colleges, and each college has saved spots in our classes for other students from the other colleges. So it works out really well. And yes, you might be wondering whether students who identify as male can take classes at the women's colleges? And the answer is yes. Students can always take the free bus to each of the other colleges. It's really convenient. We can arrange to eat at the other schools' dining halls. We can use each of the libraries, of course. We can participate in clubs at each of the colleges, even in non-varsity sports at the other colleges, and so much more.
The Five College Consortium was definitely one of my favorite things about being a student here, and I hope it would be yours too. It actually opens up more opportunities than you can even imagine with regards to your course choices, and your social life, and your networking opportunities. So we really hope you check it out and love it.
Good afternoon. Thank you so much for tuning in. My name is Sarah and I'm a senior assistant director of admission at UMass Amherst. And I'm here today to answer the question of how do students individualize their UMass academic experience? In many ways is the short answer. But to expand on that a little bit more, students at UMass are very creative. They have lots of different interests and they want to be able to build that into their academic career. No two UMass students are exactly the same and we love that. So we love when students double major or the major and minor, or the major, minor and have a certificate, or they have a concentration in something. We have students that are studying in the sciences and also in the arts at the same time. I have students that work for me that are in political science and anthropology or public health and studying kinesiology while also having a double major in Spanish. So the opportunities and the combinations are actually endless.
So you can feel confident that you're going to be able to find your groove and find your passions and be able to follow those at UMass. A couple of ways our students do that, one is really simple. We have a design your own major program at UMass. And it's called BDIC, which stands for a bachelor's degree in individual concentration. That's where students at UMass take the things in different academic disciplines that they love and combine it to make one major. I had a student last year graduate with a music business degree. And so he combined the two things that he loved most that he knew would help him be successful in his next steps into conquering the music world and that was by creating a music business BDIC major. So that is a wonderful program that has been very successful at UMass really helping students create, craft, and individualize their academic experience.
The other way that might be outside the classroom that students can individualize their academic experience is by participating in research, or internships, or the five college consortium. Research is available to students at UMass as early as their first year. So find something that you're interested in and a faculty member that's participating in that and jump right in, get involved in research early. You can do more than one research project in your four years at UMass. That's a way for you to find scholarly research to help you individualize your academic experience.
The other way is through internships. So finding organizations, whether they be corporations or nonprofits or local groups that are working in the areas that you want to work in and get right in there, utilize the career services to help you do that in your department, but you will have the opportunity to work outside the classroom in the things that you love that will also shape and help you individualize.
The third is to study in the five college consortium. The five college consortium has four small selective liberal arts colleges that partner with us that allow students to cross-register. So that's a way for you to take classes at those schools that might not be offered at UMass. And you can, again, individualize that experience. So those are very easy to do. Those are very easy ways for students to individualize your experience at UMass.
So those are my tips, get involved in your academics, seek out the different programs that we have, talk to your advisors, and think about those other ways outside of the academics like research, internships, and the five college consortium to help you figure out what you want to do for your four years. Because like I said, no two UMass students are alike and we want you to be able to follow the passions that'll help you reach your goals. Thanks again for tuning in, have a great day.
UMass spends over $200 million a year for student research projects. We work in conjunction with academic, government, and private partners to assure that our students have access and opportunities in research. So the easiest way, I'm going to give you some tips to get involved in the research.
And my biggest tip is when you come to campus, start talking to people. Talk to your RA, talk to peer advisors, talk to academic advisors, go to office hours of your faculty members, talk and listen a lot. If they are working on a project, offer to get involved. If they know someone in their department or in another department that's doing work that you're interested in, ask them to connect you. It's very easy to get involved in research here at UMass. And sometimes all it takes is opening up what seems like pretty simple conversations about your interests and listening what's out there to be offered.
The second way which is also very easy is to go to our, we call it our OURS office, which is an acronym for the Office of Undergraduate Research Study. That office is located in our library, so you can find it easily and you can go there and get matched up with research in an area that you're interested in. So many, many students find research with this office. It is their sole purpose on campus, is to help you find research. So please also go visit the Office of Undergraduate Research Studies. And then a third way that students often get engaged in research is by listening and paying attention in classes because sometimes faculty members will just ask and they're looking for students to be engaged in their project. So that's another great way.
And then a final way is by taking courses that might be research-based. I know a student that wrote a graphic novel for an anthropology class last year, and it was a great project and research-based, but it was part of his coursework. So being able to weave in your interests right into your academic courses, keep an eye out for research-based courses as well. So I get the pleasure of working with about 60 tour guides every day. So I know students in every discipline that have participated in the research. I know a student in animal science working on a project now, a student who was a nursing major last year who just graduated but was published and presented his findings of research at a national conference. I know students in public health and engineering, political science, all across the campus who are engaging in research and doing it very early on just by those simple tips of having a conversation with people, visiting the office that supports research for you.
It's easy to get involved in research, and it's a great way for you to personalize your UMass experience, to get great skills. Because while you're doing research, you are learning how to synthesize and analyze large amounts of data, you're learning how to work collaboratively and you're learning how to communicate those findings. And those are all things employers and graduate schools want to see these days. So absolutely get engaged in research, find something that you're interested in, dive right in.
So it really depends on where a student is coming from. A lot of times it's gonna specifically relate to a student's specific circumstances.
For general admissions, we're largely looking for students to have a 2.7 or higher GPA, and then additionally, if they're in their first year of college, we're looking for them to have around a 3.7 high school GPA, which is recalculated.
Additionally, even for non-competitive majors, when we do the review of an application, what's really important to us, I think overall for admissions, but especially for transfer students, is the holistic review. We're able to look at a student's specific situation because that informs our decisions as much as what GPA they have, and so part of that is looking at grades and courses related to the major, so if you're in a biology major, you're trying to apply for biology, I'm gonna wanna see how are you doing in calculus, how are you doing in your intro to biology courses, you know? If you had some not as great grades in your humanities courses, those are still important, but you're excelling in your science courses, which shows that you're ready to succeed.
Now, the requirements for students in the MassTransfer program are usually different. So for our general majors, we're looking for a 2.5 or higher GPA if they're in an approved MassTransfer program at one of the state community colleges in Massachusetts. They can go to the Mass Transfer website to check out, see for the major they want, what majors are approved and which programs. They can also talk to one of our counselors to kinda discuss what makes sense for what they want.
In terms of what makes a strong transfer applicant, a lot of it has to do with, again, we go back to the major that they're applying to and what experience they're bringing in.
A strong transfer applicant is somebody who is meeting the GPA requirements, is applying on time, but really has those courses that we can look at and shows that the student is prepared to be successful in the major that they're looking for.
I think science majors are a really good example, in that, if you're looking to do biology, but you've only taken chemistry or a physics, those are still lab sciences, and so you can still be a strong transfer applicant if you have good grades in your Intro to Chemistry, or your Intro to Physics, or whatever, even if you're not applying to those majors because the course content or the types of things you're going to be doing in those classes are going to be similar. And so really it's showing us what you have that's going to make you a good part of this community and be a successful student here at UMass.
One of the big things that transfer students can use to do that, is the essay. Essays on the application are always important, both for freshmen and transfer. For transfer, a lot of times that's your best opportunity to give me, as a reviewer, a look at who you are. Because your experience really does matter to us. 'Cause that life experience is as much knowledge as grades are. So, really it is that whole student that really matters.
In terms of frequent questions that we get from transfer students, the ones that are pretty usual are how do I get into this major? and how are my credits gonna transfer? For both of those, it's really a perfect opportunity to connect with one of us because then we can really get into the details of the classes you're taking, the major that you want to apply for, 'cause even if there are courses that are not requirements for me to admit you to the program but are classes that are gonna better prepare you to be successful when you get here, those are conversations that we can have.
And so, a lot of students are like, how are my credits gonna come over? am I gonna lose any credits? let's have that conversation and then you'll have that picture ahead of you and then also be able to know what maybe makes sense to take in the following semester.
And so, for most of our frequently asked questions like that, it's connected with us 'cause for transfer students even more than freshman, it's your specific journey is gonna be so much different than everyone else and so I'd rather have that conversation.
In terms of common mistakes, I think it really does go back to not contacting us early enough. You know, if there's an issue or you have something that you're worried about in your academic past or something that you think is gonna prevent you from being admitted or getting something that you want, it's better to have that conversation earlier with us so at least you know the whole picture of what you're getting into. 'Cause either way, the decisions gonna be the same. But if we can handle it early on, then that's usually gonna work out better than you know, after we've admitted you to your second choice major, or not giving you the honors program or whatever, asking us months after that happens, and so I think that's the biggest mistake is thinking that they can't, even before they even started taking college classes, start talking to us. I think that's probably the biggest mistake.
If you are a U.S. citizen, you will be applying as a U.S. citizen, no matter where you have been living. You will also have to submit TOEFL or IELTS to demonstrate your English language proficiency, if English is not your first language and your school is not following the American or British curriculum. As for the transcript or credentials, you will submit whatever your school's curriculum offers. For example, if you are a U.S. citizen living in India, following the CBSE curriculum, you will have to submit your TOEFL or IELTS, along with your official class 10 marks statement and your 11th grade transcript.
If you are not a USA citizen, or a green card holder, you will be applying as an international student, regardless of how long, you have been living in U.S. However, some international students, maybe in notable for in-state tuition. Such as DACA ,H-4 holders, along with many other visa types. International students on F1, F2, J-1 and J-2 visas, will not qualify for in-state tuition. The eligibility of in- state tuition for international students, is determined based on the residency of the parents. If both the parents have reside outside Massachusetts, then international students will be classified, as out state students, for tuition residency purposes.
Transfer students who graduated high school or earned a high school equivalency diploma and subsequently enrolled in 12 or more credits must use the Common Application.
Students who are completing an associate degree at a Massachusetts community college in an approved MassTransfer program must use the MassTransfer Application.
Transfer up to 75 credits. You’ll receive the estimated number of credits that will transfer when you are admitted. An official evaluation will be available to you a few weeks later. Our Transfer Navigator tool will help you see which credits you can transfer, and how they will apply to to your degree.
We offer need-based financial aid to eligible students. For more information on financial aid and to get an estimate of your cost of attendance, please visit the Office of Financial Aid Services.
Interested in applying? Join us for a Transfer Thursday Session to learn all about the application process, and what our admissions counselors are looking for. MassTransfer students transferring from a Massachusetts community college after completing their associate degree are also welcome to join these sessions.
Curious about UMass Amherst? During the Virtual Student Guided UMass Visit you'll spend an hour with current students, hear about their experiences, and learn more about all the university has to offer.
Transfer Question & Answer Panel
Experience a virtual Q & A session with our student ambassadors in this series of videos.
If you need help navigating through the tour, check out the video below. It explains how to move through the campus, and also how to find bonus content at each stop.
If you have questions about being a student at UMass, please email our student fellows at tours@umass.edu.
Transfer Spotlight shines a light on people, places, and programs throughout the UMass campus that offer resources and suport to help transfer students succeed. Listen to the Podcast Watch the Videos
