I did CS undergrad at UMass Amherst and I can tell you A LOT of students (and probably the OP) confuse a competitive program with a qualitatively better program

I did CS undergrad at UMass Amherst and I can tell you A LOT of students (and probably the OP) confuse a competitive program with a qualitatively better program. UMass Amherst rejects a lot of applicants, but that doesn't make it good. Recently UMass started to take Computer Science seriously, gave it its own school and is accepting a lot more students. I went to an alumn event last year and the enrollment numbers of the last 10 years shows hockey stick growth. We'll see if these moves improve or dilute the brand. In hindsight going to UMass for CS was a good decision, but back then my world was small and didn't know all of my options.