University of Massachusetts Dartmouth — Local services in Dartmouth

I attended UMass Dartmouth immediately after graduating high school in 2010 for environmental chemistry. I stood from Fall 2010 to Fall 2011 before transferring to Bridgewater State University in the Spring 2012 where I am about to graduate from with a bachelor's degree in geological sciences. I tried my absolute best to appreciate UMD for what it is, but to this day, I WILL NOT recommend it to anyone unless they are an engineering major. Firstly, I found the chemistry students horribly mean. HORRIBLY MEAN. This may seem dumb, but I minded my own business day-to-day and would overhear people talking s@#t about me. I have no idea why because I didn't know or talk to anyone. I commuted from fifteen minutes away and sped home as fast as I could every day after school. That is NOT what I want out of my COLLEGE experience. Apparently, these people weren't mentally mature enough for college. They were stuck in high school drama club. I also found many of the teachers rude and/or pompous. I LOVED Dr. Timothy Su. Dr. Melissa Silvia and Dr. Catherine Neto were nice too. They are the only teachers I actually liked in the chemistry department because I either found other rude or I did not know them. The advisers were nice people as well, but not very helpful compared to the amazing adviser I have not at BSU. Secondly, I could not exist in such a stone, cold school (this is literal). UMD is made out of concrete. All of the buildings are dark, gray concrete and they leak when it rains, especially the Science and Engineering Building (Liberal Arts was the lightest and least leaky, in my opinion). My sophomore physics teacher actually had to let class out early because our lecture hall was so cold, we could see our breath. That is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE for over $10,000/year. The campus was not very pretty either. I know some students don't mind not having lots of greenery around campus, but when you're paying good money for a good education, you deserve to be in a nice and healthy environment, not one with trash and concrete. Finally, I found the administration rude. I only met a few people that were nice. The woman who handled my federal work study was extremely coarse to me and my work study supervisor (who was an off-campus supervisor and a personal friend of mine). The people in the office where you get your transcripts are rude just because like many so-called "customer service" people. I don't know what it is about this school. Maybe all the darkness and concrete gets to everyone, but 99% of the people I met were jerks and I hardly spoke to anyone! I know UMD offers a great education at an in-state rate for Massachusetts students, but I find that everything that comes with the education is not worth it. I feel bad for those who lived on campus while I commuted. I was forced to stay in a single, freshman dorm for my freshman orientation. The dorms were so hot during July without proper ventilation (even just a window that opens all the way) that I slept completely naked with no sheets on the bed. Good ventilation only comes for upper classman dorms, apparently, because those were gorgeous, like apartments. Unacceptable for the price. I'm sorry. I hope others have a better experience than I did. I tried my best to appreciate UMD, but it took a serious toll on my not being able to make friends with such...

Wouldn't recommend, buildings were designed for asthetics and not functionality as a priority. Some rooms are like a freezer in the winter while others have no windows and super hot.

The equipment for labs and the engineering department are either old, disfuctional and/or not up to industry standard. I was in an ENR101 class doing basic a circuit with a power source, momentary switch, and a load. I needed to measure the voltage drop across and load and measure the current draw of the circuit. The multimeter we used was a cen-tech brand which is sold by harbor freight and the current meter was an analog meter. I don't think anyone even uses those any more unless they are a collector of vintage electrical test equipment. Atleast give the student equivalent equipment that is used in the industry so you are at least up to real world scenarios.

Even in my Solidworks class, the computers has like Pentium 4 processors with 2GB RAM and integrated graphics to do 3D parametric modeling. Are you kidding me? It took more time for the computer to extrude the feature than turning the computer on.

The layout of the campus is fine but during the winter, there is a wind that cuts through the center of the campus between the buildings because of where the buildings are positioned. Parking is very restrictive in the sense that visitors are only allowed to park in a small lot and need a pass before hand to even park in the lot.

The freshman dorms are all rundown and the heat is controlled like how the "Chinese control heat in buildings" in China. Don't ask me how I know. It comes on and stays on with no individual control per room/zone. Sophomore year, a certain individual was intentional breaking the emergency exit signs every weekend only to be replaced and rebroken the following weekend and every resident on that floor would have to pay the bill for a replacement plus the labor for the union worker to install. Utterly no self control and very shameful.

I am very critical of this school because if you are spend a great deal of money on a higher education for a someone you better know what you are getting. I was a student here between 2011 and 2013. And remember the Boston Marathon bombing where the bomber was a student here? What a...

DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID IN GOING HERE!!!!!!!! it may seem like an awesome place to go to school but in reality it is far from it. Unfortunately the staff whether it be at the registration office or at the umass pass office are absolutely awful. One women screwed up my housing so bad that I wasn't able to get into my dorm with my keycard for 2 months!! it took over 6 visits just to keep reminding her it wasn't working. The advisors here are terrible once you pass sophomore year ESPECIALLY in the business school. Every teacher is foreign and many lack communication skills with very broken English. The food is terrible to the point where buying a meal plan is pointless and a waste of money. The dorms are awful with constant wifi outages and the facilities are always dirty. I have found a hypodermic needle inside one of the bathrooms in the LARTS building. Then on top of everything there is a ridiculous ticketing issue where cars with decals are ticketed for not having decals for no reason. Oh and did I mention how all the dorms have the heat stuck on year round? This university never ceases to amaze me on how much my tuition goes to waste and how much of a cesspool the campus is. Thank you Umass Dartmouth for providing a terrible college experience. I will never forget how dirty this campus is and how little the staff actually care about you. I hope to god this university closes its doors in the future because of how much this campus feels like a scam. Most importantly thank you for highering a staff...