As a transfer student, I’ll most likely get placed into Alumni Quad. Apparently all of the transfers and international students are placed here which seems to be a great way to make new friendships. However, Alumni Quad is quite far from the main campus as taking a bus or car is needed. Alumni Quad is right next to downtown and I haven’t heard the best things about the safety there.
That being said, is Alumni Quad itself ‘safe’? I have a class or two in the evening so I’m concerned about my safety. If anyone here has experienced living on Alumni, please let me know about them.
So I am not a residential student; I am in fact a commuter student. I live in Albany and I have lived here for the passed 4 years. Before, I lived in a town called “Guilderland” which is literally right outside of Albany (uptown campus is actually somewhat within Guilderland). I know this area extremely well, so I feel like I can help.
Let me just start with this: I walk home from my friend’s house on State St all of the time at varying hours of the night and I have NEVER once felt threatened. I have never had any of my friends tell me that they were threatened within the area either. Cops are constantly patrolling the area to ensure safety, especially of the students. Alumni quad itself is very safe; there are no intruders lurking. The area surrounding Alumni is the “college ghetto,” which is where all of the college students live in the downtown apartments. Trust me, you will be okay. I don’t know why Albany is considered to be so dangerous.
Yeah, Albany has it’s issues like any other city but nothing extreme. You will be perfectly fine; the most you will see is a bunch of drunk college kids running around or someone playing music loudly in their car lol
As someone who just lived on Alumni the past 2 semesters I can say that you shouldn’t be worried. First off, with regard to your travel worries, the buses run right in front of your buildings on Western Ave directly to school and back. It is a little under 15 mins to get from Alumni to the school. You really get used to it after a week and if you have music to listen to or a person to talk to it isn’t bad at all. You’re a mere 15 feet away from the bus stop to a door inside your building. The buildings are all locked and the doors unlock by swiping your SUNY card. The only way someone who shouldn’t be in there can get in is if someone holds the door open. Thursday-Saturday nights has a lot of people around as most kids come from Uptown to Downtown to party/go to bars. I have never seen anything that made me feel in danger. You likely will witness many random drunk people. Also, right next to Alumni is the College of St. Rose. Their security office is right across the street from Alumni and that area is very safe.