We asked UML students on Instagram to tell us about their favorite courses. We received over 80 responses to the poll. A handful of current students and alums reached out directly to give us more details about what made those classes their favorites.

Here’s what we found…

The list of students’ favorite courses

The favorite courses students mentioned more than once

Covering a range of topics, these are the courses that more than one of our student responders said were their favorites. The size of the bubbles visually represents how many students said that course was their favorite.

What are students saying about these courses?

“Typography I and II with Assoc. Prof. Ingrid Hess were my favorite classes. Not only did Ingrid make the classes enjoyable, I came out with tons of really great portfolio pieces for future jobs—in part because of her support. I’m so glad to have made such a great connection with her—she really inspired in me an interest in Typography.”

-Levi Theirrien ‘23, Graphic Design

“My favorite class was Manufacturing Lab taught by Assoc. Profs. Glenn Sundberg and David Carignan. This was my favorite class because it was the first time I got to manufacture and use the machines that I would be using in my job after college.”

-Tiana DeCrescenzo ‘23, Mechanical Engineering

“My favorite class was Geomatics with Assoc. Prof. Chronis Stamatiadis. Using geometric concepts to design road layouts that fit with specific points in the already existing infrastructure was a fun puzzle to solve.”

-Frank Feltes ’21, Civil Engineering

“My favorite course was Organic Chemistry with Assoc. Prof. Khalilah Reddie. I was always terrified about learning chemistry, but she changed my mind—she made me feel confident in my own abilities to learn and to be open to learning something challenging and new. She had a passion and energy that was contagious!”

-Erika Nadile ’16, ‘19, Biological Sciences

Who responded to the poll?

Since most responders took the poll on Instagram (and we’re not about snooping into their personal accounts), we can’t tell you identifying details about them. That’d be creepy.

However, we used our big brains and figured out that…

• Each of the six academic colleges at UML (plus the Honors College) offer courses that end up being student favorites
• Responders belong to a wide-range of majors and minors
• They’re working towards various degrees at UML

What does this mean for you?

No matter which of the 120+ majors or minors you decide on, no matter which college you belong to, you’re going to take interesting courses with countless opportunity for hands-on learning. You’ll learn from passionate faculty who care about your academic, social and future success. You’ll graduate prepared to take on the world.

The classes you take, the professors who teach you and the friends you make at UMass Lowell will have such an impact on you that you will remember them for the rest of your life.

You will make lifelong friends. We’re not over exaggerating about that, either. Shout out to Yong-Chyuan Yeoh ’97, who, as an international student far from home, made such good friends in his first-year psychology class, that he invited them both to his wedding in Singapore just over two decades later (that’s some serious friendship goals!).

Being totally honest about all this…

This all started as a quick poll on Instagram. In the poll, we told participants that we’d like to hear more and requested that they reach out if they wanted to share. We thought high school students, like you, would be interested in hearing about students’ experiences here.

We were hoping we’d get two or three responses—just enough to be able to write a blog post about it. Instead, the Admissions Blog email inbox pretty much blew up.

We underestimated how passionate UML students are about what they learned and all they achieved in their time with us.

We were blown away by the amount of current River Hawks (undergraduate and graduate students), alums and Double River Hawks who wanted to share their happiest classroom memories with us—with you.

We wanted to take a second to thank and recognize everyone who hopped off Instagram and got in touch directly:

• Jakub Jablonka ‘21, Marketing and Management, Graphic Design
• Pranim Magar ‘21, Criminal Justice, Psychology
• Frank Feltes ’21, Civil Engineering
• Jennifer Bello ‘22, Criminal Justice and Spanish
• Levi Theirrien ‘23, Graphic Design
• Mina Lam ‘23, Business Administration
• Chris DiPietro ’21, Public Health
• Tiana DeCrescenzo ‘23, Mechanical Engineering
• Jeremy Cangiano ‘25, M.B.A. – Information Technology
• Casey Harding [19, ‘21, Civil Engineering, GeoEnvironmental Engineering
• Liz Cochrane ’20, Psychology
• Emily O’Brien ’17, ‘19, Business Administration – Marketing Management, Business Administration – Marketing
• Amanda Hemond ’16, Psychology
• Erika Nadile ’16, ‘19, Biological Sciences
• Analissa Iversen ’12, Sociology
• Yong-Chyuan Yeoh ’97, Business Administration – Management Information System and Finance
• Becca Crivello ’17, Music Studies – Education
• Sokley Oeur  ’03, Environmental Studies

Every day, UMass Lowell students find their place and passion here. They gain hands-on experience in their fields, develop their portfolios and graduate prepared to take on the world. They make friendships that last a lifetime with their peers and professors.

All of this is within your reach, too. We’re a quick email away if you want to find out how.

Check this out: Virtual Tour, but make it personal