Umass Amherst or Umass Lowell for BSN

U.S.A. Massachusetts

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My daughter is trying to decide between a lot of nursing school acceptances (lucky her!) front runners are Umass Amherst, Umass Lowell, Worcester State and Saint Anselm. Anyone have first hand knowledge? Lots of benefits to Lowell (small scholarship, location to us, etc) but I feel Amherst is a better school. So hard to pick! It's also hard to find people that attended these programs. Any suggestions on how to compare? Thanks so much!

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Lowell most definitely has Boston clinicals. I worked at a Boston hospital and we had nursing students from UMass Lowell all the time. UMass Boston and UMass Dartmouth, too. Never saw any UMass Amherst students around.
Amherst goes to Springfield and Worcester.
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Thanks so much for this information, it is a big plus for my daughter. Lowell is becoming a much stronger choice lately!

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Specializes in OR.

I'm a current student at UMass Amherst and I love it! Like your daughter, I was deciding between Amherst and St. A's last year. What it came down to for me was price and overall experience. With UMA I feel like my money was really well spent - the Nursing building is brand new and adjacent to two new state of the art science buildings, and the new Honors dorms are a huge plus. As far as the college experience goes, Amherst is really the total package - college town, great athletics and community. Another thing to think about when choosing schools is the size; you can make a big school feel small, especially with the nursing major, but you can't make a small school feel big. While the location in Western Mass is inconvenient for clinicals in the Boston area, the opportunity is still there if you push for it. Just somethings to think about. I wish her the best of luck! :)

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I would agree with the other posters who stated to consider costs first since the programs are comparable. If you live close to Lowell is it not an option for her to be a commuting student? That would save a lot of money. To be a successful nursing student studying will be very important and for most that does not leave much time for socializing. Campus life could have a lot of distractions that would negatively affect grades/standing in the program. That is just my personal opinion of course. My student loans total roughly $40,000 and the payments are over $400 a month. Looking back, I wish I had gone the more affordable route so I could work a little less overtime and enjoy life a little more.

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She and I would both prefer her to live on campus, at least the beginning. She is looking for the college experience too. Although if she goes to lowell she can certainly live at home junior and senior if she didn't think it mattered much anymore. I want her to have the whole package experience!we do know the program requires a lot of work, having students in the same situation on campus will help. Will probably join the first year programs at either school. Saint anselm is moving down the list due to cost! We went to UML accepted student day, included a hockey game. She said she felt comfortable with the other students. Going to UMA on the 21st, and St Anselm on the 15th. Nice to have a choice I guess!

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neclaudia, how was your first semester? We're your gen Ed classes big? Are you in Commonwealth and are you in the nursing RAP? Visiting on the 21st.

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