<p>What are the chances of me getting off the waitlist? How does the waitlist work?</p>
<p>How are the dorms? are there community bathrooms or does each room have its own bathroom</p>
<p>Satisfying the Core Components Curriculum and the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) requirements together with completing a major seem to severely limit a student’s ability to choose courses. How much of a problem is this?</p>
<p>My D has been accepted into the class of 2013 and is considering being a math major. She and I noticed in the course catalog that many of the math courses were available during only one of the three terms or were not available at all during the 2008-09 academic year. Are there complaints about being unable to take the courses needed (or wanted) for graduation?</p>
<p>With the current economic conditions, I wonder how the course selections may be further limited.</p>
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<p>I’m not familiar with this program…you might try searching Union’s website?</p>
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<p>I’m not affiliated with the admissions dept so I can’t give you any real details. I imagine the waitlist works the same way it does at any school: as commitments come in from accepted studentsand the class is appearing either too small or people decide to break their commitments the school will offer spots to people on the waitlist. If you want an opportunity to get in off the waitlist you probably have to send in a card saying that you would attend if taken from the waitlist. Some of my friends in high school got in off the waitlist as late as the summer. I’m sure there’s plenty more info on playing the waitlist game on this site.</p>
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<p>The dorms are pretty much what you might expect when imagining a ‘college dorm’…not all in perfect shape but definitely not run down. The rooms are reasonable size, generally a little larger than the rooms were at my boarding school. The freshman dorms (West, Richmond and Davidson) all have communal bathrooms, one per floor (two if the floor is coed). The bathrooms are generally kept clean…my friend at Yale said that they were cleaned much more often than the freshmen dorm bathrooms there.</p>
<p>I really liked the freshman dorms, I felt that they were definitely a part of the ‘college experience’ and felt like more of a home than some of the renovated/new ‘too-modern’ dorms I’ve been in at other schools.</p>
<p>Beyond freshman year College Park Hall becomes available in the housing lottery, it is a converted Ramada right across the street from campus and has very large, very nice rooms with private bathrooms, showers and per-room air conditioning/heat. You can also live in a minerva house (recently converted fraternity houses on campus), with shared bathrooms but very nice rooms, hardwood floors etc.</p>
<p>The school also own nearly an entire block of beautifully renovated old houses facing campus. These become available in the housing lottery and through ‘theme house’ applications as an upperclassman. They’re awesome, to be frank.</p>
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<p>I don’t find the core components curriculum to be limiting at all, really. We take 9 individual classes per year and most majors require 12 courses within the department. This leaves quite a bit of room to explore, and you can fulfill requirements by taking electives. I took a geology/climate class my freshman year simply as an elective…it also satisfied a science requirement. Really I think the spirit of the core components system is to encourage people to take a larger breadth of material rather than limit them, it encourages people to take advantage of the fact that this is a liberal arts school and has a lot to offer in every department.</p>
<p>I don’t know of anyone who has really run into trouble taking all of the courses needed for graduation…occasionally there will be a full course or one that is difficult to schedule (though with only 3 courses there aren’t a ton of conflicts). I missed out on Politics of Religion last year but I understand that it will be back next year…it has never seemed like a very big deal to me.</p>
<p>As far as the economic climate goes: the school isn’t cutting professors, so I don’t think that breadth will be changing soon.</p>
<p>What is the research outloook for freshman? I want to go and start some research so as to have publications, but are there any teachers known as good research professsors?? Where does one go to get research?</p>
<p>How serious is the academic climate? I love Union but I been feeling a little burned out from high school and I’m afraid that Union might be more rigourous than I’d like. I got into a few other schools that are harder to get into than Union but I’ve decided not to go to them because the students seemed so serious. Would you say that it is neccessary to be studying all of the time durring the week? How hard would you say the psychology and sociology majors are? Also, it seemes like eveyone is very busy all of the time with a million different activities. While I deffinetly want to participate in some of these activities, do you think that it is possible to have some down time at Union? Or is everyone always going from class, to a club meeting or a sports game, to a party, ect. Would you say there are any laid back people at Union?</p>
<p>my son also has Hamilton and Union to decide about. so far from my perspective, its Hamilton hands down, but I’m interested to know why you chose what you chose…</p>
<p>For someone whos lived in a very warm climate their whole life, what is your take on similar students adapting to the cold at Union</p>
<p>bristolstomp- I am not sure this will help, but here is my two cents. Way back when, I had to choose between Hamilton and Union. I chose Union and have never looked back. At that time, Hamilton was still Hamilton and Kirkland was still Kirkland. Not good. Clinton, New York was then and remains extremely isolated. The only more isolated campus seen recently was Colgate. When D came around to look at schools (two years ago) we looked at Hamilton again. It was just too remote for her. Also, fwiw, at least according to the Gourman report (now a bit dated) Hamilton was never as well thought of as Union. My graduate work (law) was done at a large, well respected public University ranked in the top ten. I went to school with many, many people from HY&P. In my estimation, the quality of the education I received at Union was equal to or surpasses their educations at the undergrad level. While Schenectady is no Shangri La, it never comes into play, in a negative way, when one attends Union. Finally, and from a parent’s perspective, given the world we now live in, I wanted to be able to retrieve my child in a pinch if necessary. That is very difficult to do when you are located in Clinton.</p>
<p>Not sure I would consider Hamilton College to be isolated, it’s about 6 miles from the NYS Thruway Exit 32. The city of Utica (similar in many ways to Schenectady) is about 10 miles away from Hamilton.</p>
<p>The area surrounding Hamilton is more rural than Union with horse farms and hiking trails. If the outdoors are your thing Hamilton might have the advantage but I have only gone directly to Union via the Thruway, I didn’t get to check out the surrounding area. My son will attend Union this Fall so I am sure I will have a chance to check out Schenectady.</p>
<p>I’m not sure you can really compare Schenectady to Utica. Similar sized small cities but Schenectady is part of a metropolitan area of about 900,000 people and in proximity to a fair concentration of colleges: UAlbany, RPI, Skidmore, College of St. Rose, Siena, Russell Sage. You can take public transportation to most all of them. Albany has a fair number of amenities compared to many cities its size due to its’ location and by way of being the state capital. </p>
<p>You are right, however, in saying that isolation is all relative. Hamilton isn’t isolated at all compared to Clarkson, Alfred University, St. Bonaventure or Paul Smith’s College.</p>
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<p>I think I addressed this earlier in the thread, however my answer was pretty simple: I’m not sure what research opportunities there are. Freshman year is not very research oriented, and any research opportunities that do exist are specific to the departments anyhow.</p>
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<p>You pretty much make your experience what you want it to be here. You can challenge yourself and take difficult classes, join lots of clubs, pledge a fraternity and play sports, or you can take easy classes, skip out on the organized activities and have lots of downtime. It’s pretty much entirely down the individual and I think everyone finds their niche and an appropriate level of commitments.</p>
<p>In general I’d say there are stressful times when you have a lot of work or during exam week, however it’s very easy to find a couple of hours to just sit outside and toss a frisbee, play a round of campus golf or watch a movie. Having downtime on campus with my friends is an important part of the college experience, at least for me.</p>
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<p>Don’t get me wrong that I absolutely loved Hamilton, I think it’s a great place and still would definitely have gone there. My gut instinct wasn’t telling me to jump for either Union or Hamilton over the other, and it wound up coming down to two things: Union sweetened the deal with a considerable academic merit scholarship (I didn’t apply for it or anything), and I re-visited Union on a hot, sunny spring day. It might have been the same at Hamilton (I visited Hton twice, both times there was about two feet of snow on the ground) had I toured in the spring, however I came away from the spring tour absolutely in love with Union. The campus explodes with life on sunny spring days, people are everywhere, music is playing, frisbees are flying, campus golf games are underway. The campus is big, open and green, the campus center is open and breezy.</p>
<p>I kind of got a feeling after that tour that if I didn’t go to Union would actually be missing out on all the cool stuff going on on that big green campus…right then I felt that it would really be a shame to turn my back on that feeling and the sum of money that Union had offered.</p>
<p>So…as you can see, not necessarily a rationalized, clear cut decision, but definitely one that fits the ‘perfect match’, ‘gut feeling’ tests that many college counselors like to talk about.</p>
<p>Also: Union’s location directly in an actual populated place meant a considerable shift in my lifestyle…I grew up in small town Connecticut and went to a rural prep school, all of my life it has been a considerable drive to go to a grocery store, movie theater, pretty much anything. Now they’re all nearby, there are places that are open 24/7! Even if Schenectady isn’t a stellar college town it certainly is a shift from what I had before and that was quite alluring. Clinton, NY struck me as being a little too similar to my hometown, though a lot farther from New York City.</p>
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<p>It certainly has to be an adjustment, to be frank. This winter I walked back to my room late at night, checked my computer and it said it was -16ºF outside. Throughout January it rarely got above freezing and it snowed many times, we had a heavy layer of snow on the ground for a good part of the winter term. Despite the bitter winter it stays warm well into October and the weather is beautiful by the middle of April (a good part of the school year). </p>
<p>For someone who has no tolerance for cold I would say that the winter here could be quite difficult. Off of the top of my head I can’t think of anyone here I know very well who is from the south.</p>
<p>All that said there’s something pretty incredible about a bitter cold day and snow drifting across the campus. It certainly makes you appreciate it when the sun comes out the leaves grow back!</p>
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<p>I’d agree with most of this…the Hamilton/Kirkland thing was in some way a turn-off for me as well: the campus is divided with a considerable hike between sections, and the freshmen are relegated to the dorms and dining hall in the Kirkland portion, which has some particularly painful brutalist buildings.</p>
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<p>I think the feeling of isolation is pretty relative and for people not used to it Clinton can feel quite lost. It is a small, sleepy town near a rather disconnected city. The highway is there, but it is a considerable drive in any direction to get to bigger population centers. The capital region has quite a bit to offer even if Schenectady has its downsides. It’s not only Schenectady but also Albany and its suburbs. You don’t have to go far to find what you’re looking for here…be it a mall, an IMAX theater or a Broadway show.</p>
<p>Clearly this perception is different for different people, but even though I grew up in a small town I was always a metro-north train ride outside of new york city. When I’m far away from things I get a sense that the world is no longer instantly at my fingertips. Maybe it’s just me. I’m digressing. As for the outdoors comments, it’s true and not so true. Hamilton is more directly accessible to the outdoors, but there is a lot to be said for the Adirondack Park and the skiing in Vermont, which are reasonably nearby.</p>
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<p>Agreed. Even without public transport this area is a mess of highways and many if not most Union students have cars, bringing the benefits of the Albany area one step closer to campus.</p>
<p>Does the school give you your own computers? How many people do you share a dorm with? Do you get to choose who your roommates are, or do they do a survey type thing like some other schools do?</p>
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<p>The school does not give you your own computers though you can get discounts through the school bookstore.</p>
<p>The freshman dorms vary in size from around 150 to 300 students, split into halls with 20-50 students. Most rooms are doubles shared between two people, some of which are part of suites with two doubles and a larger common room. There are some singles for freshmen but not an appreciable number. Freshman year you do not get to pick your roommate (though I think there may be special considerations if you really want to live with someone you already know), you’re given a survey about sleeping habits, smoking, music etc and they place you accordingly.</p>
<p>After freshman year you have lots more control over who you live with and where. I’m living with 3 of my friends in a school-owned apartment in a cool old victorian house facing campus next year, for example.</p>
<p>So, i’ve already send in my deposit to Union but thought I’d ask anyway-I’m from a middle-class family in FL, so i’m worried I won’t “fit in” at Union because I’m not from Long Island, rich, nor can I afford burberry or anything like that. Should I be worried or is this just a silly thing?</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t worry if I were you. There are certainly people on campus who flaunt their wealth, but that does not mean that you will not fit in if you are not wealthy and from the northeast. You definitely don’t have to worry about not being able to afford burberry…trust me on that. There will be people here who are both much wealthier than you and who have much less than you…and a lot of the time you might not even be able to tell between them.</p>
<p>I honestly just got back from a “party” night at union. it was an absolute joke, they call union a “party” school when in reality it is just a drinking school…</p>
<p>and if no one believes me, im willing to post pictures, my transcript, describe things no one else would know just to prove i go here.</p>
<p>like how only minervas were open last night (4/25) and breazzano got shut down…i think that should prove it for you</p>
<p>wow. i’m sorry to hear you hate union so much :(. but i’ve already sent in my deposit and worst comes to worst i’ll transfer. why specifically do you hate union so much???</p>
<p>also, for manwich, thanks for your help. I just have one last query! Which dorm is better-west or richmond? I don’t want it to be too loud or crazy but I don’t want to be in webster.</p>
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<p>I honestly don’t appreciate your invasion of my thread with loud and irrational attacks on the school.</p>
<p>I started this thread because I felt that people would have questions and that I could answer them, which I think I’ve done reasonably objectively. Clearly this school is not perfect, however I think it truly is a good school and I have absolutely loved my three years here.</p>
<p>It’d be great if you could chill with all the hate.</p>
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<p>I’d definitely take West over Richmond. The rooms are nicer and it traditionally has a better social atmosphere, though it varies year to year.</p>