UMass Amherst is one of the major public research universities in America. Nestled in idyllic Amherst, Massachusetts, the campus is consistently ranked among the nation's top public research universities. It offers a rich cultural environment in a rural setting close to major urban centers.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is one of the nation's top public universities. We currently rank among the top 30 in a field of more than 700 public, four-year colleges and universities in the United States in the U.S. News & World Report's annual college guide.
UMass Amherst is the flagship public higher education campus in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, making a profound, transformative impact on the common good. Founded in 1863, we are the largest public research university in New England, distinguished by our academic, research, and community outreach programs' excellence and breadth.
Our students are bright, bold, unconventional thinkers. About 41,800 students applied for 4,700 seats in the Class of 2021. Academic quality remains excellent, with combined average SATs at 1268/1600 and average GPAs at 3.89. Our research expenditures in fiscal 2017 totaled $219.9 million. Among Massachusetts colleges and universities, UMass Amherst ranks fourth in research grants from the National Science Foundation, behind MIT, Harvard, and Boston University.
For the ninth consecutive year, UMass Amherst is among the 100 "Best College Values" in public colleges compiled by Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. Money magazine ranks us among the nation's best colleges based on the most bang for the tuition buck.
UMass Amherst has several core values articulated in the Joint Task Force for Strategic Oversight's Phase I Report, Innovation and Impact: Renewing the Public Research University (2014). These values speak to the campus's enduring commitment to forming and strengthening "socially just learning and working environments that foster a culture of excellence through diverse people, ideas, and perspectives.
As the commonwealth's flagship campus, UMass Amherst has been a leader in agricultural research and green education since our founding as a land grant institution in 1863. With over 100 major subject areas leading to bachelor's degrees, 77 master's, and 48 doctoral programs, UMass Amherst offers a vast array of educational opportunities for full and part-time students, both on and off-campus. Interdisciplinary majors, online learning, the Five College Interchange, and internships and international study add to the opportunities.
The College of Education offers doctoral, master's, and bachelor's degree programs and certificates that prepare leaders in education theory, policy, research, and practice. High quality, nationally, and internationally recognized programs of study delivered through on-campus, blended, and online classes award-winning outreach initiatives 68 full-time faculty and five research centers. A top-ranked college that prepares students for industrial, research, and leadership opportunities in Chemical, Civil and Environmental, Electrical and Computer, and Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, students are engaged in emerging areas such as bioengineering, nano computing, water resources, and off-shore wind energy. As the creative and cultural heart of the campus, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts (HFA) explores the ways, people have sought to express themselves and the world around them through classical humanities disciplines of literature, history, and philosophy to a world-renowned Department of Linguistics exceptional programs in the performing and visual arts and interdisciplinary departments considering language, identity, and biology.
The College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) offers a world-class curriculum in support of B.A., BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees. CICS is internationally recognized for its research activities and has one of the nation's highest-ranked and most competitive graduate programs. The College is distinguished by its culture of collaboration and leadership in multi-disciplinary research. CNS unites the life, environmental, computational, and physical sciences, and mathematics on campus. CNS strengths include cutting-edge research, top-ranked academic programs, award-winning, and internationally recognized faculty. CNS also serves the university's land grant mission for Massachusetts.
The College of Nursing prepares candidates to enter the nursing profession at the baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral levels while developing vital nurse educators and researchers to inform and educate future generations of nursing students. The online graduate program has been ranked among the top 25 countries by U.S. News & World Report. Central to the university's academic heart, SBS bridges the sciences and liberal arts. Each year SBS educates thousands of students in the culture, society, and individual behavior while promoting citizenship and global understanding.
Commonwealth Honors College is a community of scholars that offers the advantages of a small college plus access to a nationally recognized research university's opportunities and resources. Isenberg is accredited at the highest level by the AACSB and is ranked 20th among public universities by BusinessWeek. The school offers seven undergraduate majors as well as rigorous MBA and Ph.D. programs. Isenberg's world-class research strengths include alternative investments, quality management, large-scale networks, organizational change and culture, and behavioral accounting. The SPHHS is the only state-supported CEPH-accredited school of public health in New England. It offers B.S., MA, MS, MPH, AuD, and Ph.D. degrees in Communication Disorders, Kinesiology, Nutrition, and Public Health. It addresses pressing cross-cutting issues such as obesity, diabetes prevention, women's health, global health, aging, environmental exposures, and autism spectrum disorders. The historic Stockbridge School of Agriculture offers hands-on, intensive AS, BS, and graduate education in fields relating to agriculture and landscapes and a vibrant spectrum of teaching, research, and outreach programs. It resides within the College of Natural Sciences.
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