UMass Amherst Ranking?

[eilonwy21]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows what the ranking/reputation is like for UMass Amherst? I am applying to the Sociology program, and I keep hearing differing opinions about it. US News ranks it 36 in Sociology and 75 National. My professors suggested I shouldn't even bother applying there, but I think at the time I may have accidentally told them Amherst College (which is not the same). 

I am applying to UMass as a safe school, but I still wanted to know, if anyone can pitch in.  Thanks a lot!

[limonchello]

I can't speak to the reputation, but it's actually #30 on graduate school rankings of sociology programs on US News. This is right outside of top tier, which is a very good program. Depends on your profile but for some people this wouldn't actually be a fall back but more of a middle of the road goal. Could even be a reach school! 

For comparison, I'm at Arizona, which is a top tier, but I was denied from University of Hawaii which didn't even make the rankings and UC Santa Cruz which is way down in the list. Obviously a lot goes into acceptances, but my already convoluted point is that it doesn't need to be a fallback because it's a very good school! 

[cowgirlsdontcry]

On ‎10‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 3:35 PM, eilonwy21 said:

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows what the ranking/reputation is like for UMass Amherst? I am applying to the Sociology program, and I keep hearing differing opinions about it. US News ranks it 36 in Sociology and 75 National. My professors suggested I shouldn't even bother applying there, but I think at the time I may have accidentally told them Amherst College (which is not the same). 

I am applying to UMass as a safe school, but I still wanted to know, if anyone can pitch in.  Thanks a lot!

I don't believe UMass is a safe school for any field. I attended there for a year as an undergrad in the National Exchange Student program and found the professors very similar to my home school. There were a lot of students in the exchange that year. Some went home early because of the difficulties they faced. Only a couple of us finished even a semester and we were offered the opportunity to stay for the spring semester. Cannot say what their sociology program is like, but their English grad program is hard for outsiders to crack from what I understand. It's a great school to attend.

[eilonwy21]

@cowgirlsdontcry & @limonchello thanks for your responses! This definitely gives me some perspective. However, I also discovered yesterday that apparently UMass doesn't really offer a stipend package at all for tuition - except through loans. Compared to everything on my list, this is the only grad program that doesn't offer a possibility of direct stipend. That's kind of disappointing =|