Student Stories

Coming into UMass as a Psychology major, I genuinely thought I had my path figured out. I took AP Psych in high school, loved it, and pictured myself doing something in that field long-term. The conversations we had in class …

If you had asked me during my first year how I felt about my major, I probably would have told you that everything was fine and I just needed more time to adjust. That was the easy answer. But that …

One of the most important parts of college is finding community, especially in a place as large
and busy as UMass. When I first came to UMass, like many first-year students, I lacked a clear
sense of purpose and struggled …

Global experience, adaptability, communication, independence, teamwork, and cultural
appreciation, the list goes on. These are skills that employers look for in interns and employees.
Studying abroad developed these skills in ways that I could not have imagined. Hundreds of
different …

As an international student, moving halfway around the world and living in a dorm room was
already a challenge. I had always been quite independent, since you have to be somewhat
comfortable living on your own if you want to …

As new (or returning students), we spend much of our time in our dorms and in class, and often find ourselves feeling like we’re in a bubble; stuck in the school world, and stuck on campus. The routine of going …

Moving from a place like Boston, MA, where my Starbucks was only an 8-minute walk away, to Amherst, where I have to take a 20-minute bus, was not what I was looking forward to. I had thought that coming here …

Summer before sophomore year I spent casually perusing the UMass student job board. I was busy with an internship and food service job in my hometown over the summer, but every few weeks I would open up the list of …

The first year spent away at college can feel  like a make-or-break time in a student’s life. I didn’t apply to any clubs, or use any of the student resources offered to me, and I spent hours in my dorm …

When first exploring the options of college majors before committing to UMass, I didn’t have a clear possibility in mind. Going off my experience in classrooms previously, I chose Journalism because I knew I enjoyed writing and I assumed doing …