University of Massachusetts-Amherst Top Questions

Personally I was in a Fraternity, but in no way is Greek life the majority of the school. I would say that there are so many different types of activities and groups that none are "popular", but there is a niche for every person here.

Not sure which is the most popular, but I joined many groups while on campus including my favorite so far Engineers Without Borders Kenya.

All of them

Students in the dorms leave their doors open, its a very open campus.

All of the groups and clubs at UMASS are important. The ones that I have gotten involved with are greek affiliated and the student government. I was hoping to be apart of an intramural sport too because sports are so popular around campus.

There are many popular activities and groups on campus. Hockey games are a lot of fun and often very well attended; UMass has an excellent, division one hockey team. In the fall, football games are often well attended, as well, mostly for the attraction of pre-game tailgates. Greek Life certainly has a presence on campus; there are always fraternities hosting parties over the weekend. However, it's definitely not as strong as it is on other college campuses. The pressures to join a fraternity or sorority is not high at all. I just became a writer for the Daily Collegian, which is the UMass daily newspaper. It is also the largest college newspaper in New England, so it is a very well-known student group on campus. UMass has a party school reputation, and it is certain that plenty of kids party - some party much harder than others. However, there are plenty of students who don't party. UMass is such a big school; you will find all types of people here.

I think the most popular club, in terms of size, is the outing club. I've done a trip with them, and there all about the outdoors-hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting-you name it they probably do it. We also have a popular ski and snow board club, and clubs for every sport from tennis to quidditch. I'm in a few groups, one that's a sort of natural science community outreach (resume builder, but seems kinda cool too), and in another one we are raising chickens in a much more natural way than the food industry does so I'm really looking forward to eating that chicken because I've been a vegetarian for over a year due to previously mentioned conventional chicken. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday it's summer or I am doing a ridiculous music video-ish project for an honors seminar (true story, well it was actually a monday but if you youtube "Honors 291A" project you'll see the proof). Plenty of people party and drink on the weekends, myself included sometimes, but I know people that don't. If I don't drink on a weekend I generally have to study or do something productive, but sometimes I'll go out to a party sober and it still can be fun. I met my closest friends in the marching band, there are some pretty cool bandos out there.

I think the most popular club, in terms of size, is the outing club. I've done a trip with them, and there all about the outdoors-hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting-you name it they probably do it. We also have a popular ski and snow board club, and clubs for every sport from tennis to quidditch. I'm in a few groups, one that's a sort of natural science community outreach (resume builder, but seems kinda cool too), and in another one we are raising chickens in a much more natural way than the food industry does so I'm really looking forward to eating that chicken because I've been a vegetarian for over a year due to previously mentioned conventional chicken. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday it's summer or I am doing a ridiculous music video-ish project for an honors seminar (true story, well it was actually a monday but if you youtube "Honors 291A" project you'll see the proof). Plenty of people party and drink on the weekends, myself included sometimes, but I know people that don't. If I don't drink on a weekend I generally have to study or do something productive, but sometimes I'll go out to a party sober and it still can be fun. I met my closest friends in the marching band, there are some pretty cool bandos out there.

I wouldn't say anything is more popular than anything else because there are so many groups and so many people. I guess hockey may be relatively big, and football as well just because they're sports and school sports tend to draw the most attention. To say how important fraternities/sororities, what events happen, what is there to do on the weekend is completely subjective. It's like every other school, just bigger.

Sports teams are pretty big. The Programming Council and Student Government Association are also popular, I think. There are so many groups though that I don't really know what is most popular. I am on the Ballroom Dance Team, in the co-ed fraternity Phi Sigma Pi, a volunteer for the Boltwood Project, and sometimes a dancer in the student choreographed dance show. My closest friends are those from my freshman year dorm, plus some of my hometown friends, though I am getting closer to the people in the groups that I am involved in. Greek life isn't huge, but relatively present on campus.There are always dirty frat parties happening on weekends, but there are other things to do as well. I hardly ever go to them. There are a few frats that are not simply social. APO is a coed service frat, and my frat, Phi Sigma Pi, is a co-ed honors social/service/academic fraternity. I wasn't originally interested in greek life, but PSP is service-oriented, doesn't haze, and is an overall friendly and welcoming group that I've happily found a place in. As for the other things to do, UPC has friday night movies; there are acting groups that give shows, performances at the FAC, theatre productions, concerts, etc. There are tons of faculty lectures happening all the time in every department it seems. CommColl has weekly lectures and workshops. Off campus has plenty of opportunities: movies, shopping, eating, shows and concerts, rallies, museums, etc. Basically you can always find something to do here.

SGA, the student government, is very popular, along with sport clubs and intramurals. here is literally a club for anything: from sky-diving club to debate club, from a cappella and dance groups to cultural and religious clubs. Theres even a quidditch team.... Students always leave there doors open and are always welcoming; athletic events are very popular and always filled to the max with crazy fans; partying is popular on the weekends, but during the week is strictly a studying scene. However, there are many people that do not drink and there is plenty for them to do on the weekends.

SGA, the student government, is very popular, along with sport clubs and intramurals. here is literally a club for anything: from sky-diving club to debate club, from a cappella and dance groups to cultural and religious clubs. Theres even a quidditch team.... Students always leave there doors open and are always welcoming; athletic events are very popular and always filled to the max with crazy fans; partying is popular on the weekends, but during the week is strictly a studying scene. However, there are many people that do not drink and there is plenty for them to do on the weekends.

Many start going out thursday night till saturday. But you can always spot the wasto around campus on any given day. You'll just find 10 times as many from thurs till saturday/sunday morning. There aren't many popular clubs or anything only a few known ones. Frats and sorities are mainly there to supply their house for parties, in my opinion anyway. The sororites are really cliquey (most), and think there too good for you. The frats just always want to get wasted, and most are sleezy.

John of the Republican Club discusses what the political atmosphere is like at UMass and what students are talking about politically.

Our football team is pretty damn good, basketball is good, and hockey games are fun. Last years spring concert sucked. Parties are pretty big, if you're not partying on a weekend you're studying or being boring. There's pretty much nothing off campus except a mall, but springfield has a pretty good clud scene.

Greek live isn't a big part of the UMass scene, especially since frat row has been demolished. A lot of kids are into intramurals or community service groups. Hockey games and football games are huge. In my experience, the first few years everybody partied a lot. Nobody was in serious relationships. But as we got older, our priorities changed and things were different. Everyone had jobs, teaching or research assistantships, or were involved with one particular extracurricular group. We still went out, but less frequently, more to the bars rather than at our place or at other house parties, and the quantity of drinking decreased. I think everyone just grew up. On a Saturday night, if you're not drinking, but you still want to go out, there are really cool concert venues/clubs in Northampton that are accessible via PVTA.

Go out and get involved. It helps to make a large school feel much more personable and less overwhelming. There is a club for almost any interest group. If you want to join the chess club because you love chess and your roommate smokes pot all day- do it! If you want to join the cannabis reform coalition because you need marijuana more than ever due to your super lame chess-playing roommate- be my guest.

there are activites EVERYDAY all day.

There are tons of intramural sports teams. Tons of clubs, art lessons, ballroom dancing lessons, music lessons available for cheap. As a freshman it's good to live in an all-freshman dorm because doors are always open and everyone's looking to meet new friends. you get to be very very close to your floormates. People party all the time. Not all people. But enough that if you feel like partying on a Wednesday night, you can successfully find/ make a party if you're really up to it. There are a couple fraternities who frequently hold parties. There's a good greek scene at Umass but if you're not interested, they won't bother you either.

There is a club or everyone. It is easy to get involved even if you are shy like I was initially. I loved residence hall life and still all these years later have close friends that I met at U. Mass. Again, you can party harty or study........ the choice is yours.