Clarkson U -- Size, Ration, Location

Colleges and Universities A-Z Clarkson University
1

Hey everyone, after visiting Clarkson I really liked the school however i’m hesitant to attend for a few reasons

  1. The schools is very small. Im worried that I will end up getting sick of the small size and want a bigger school
  2. The male to female ratio is about 70-30. This is concerning because I do not want to always feel surrounded by guys. Is this noticeable and is it something to worry about?
  3. Clarkson is about a 6 hour ride from home and being that its small and surrounded by a very small town I fear that I would feel isolated in kind of the middle of no where. Furthermore, it is very cold during the winter months so I fear that the coldness will add to the isolated feeling in a way.

Thanks for your help!
Footballman123

2

[QUOTE=""]
  1. The schools is very small. Im worried that I will end up getting sick of the small size and want a bigger school

[/QUOTE]

Certainly a valid concern, but if you are going into engineering you will find that the size of the engineering school at Clarkson is larger than the size of the engineering school at other bigger colleges. Other schools often have “learning communities” where they do something like group all of the incoming STEM majors in a specific dorm. At Clarkson they don’t have to do that - the school is like one big STEM learning community. While Clarkson does offer other majors the big focus is on STEM. If you want to talk politics at a coffee house with a poly-sci major you will need seek out a SUNY Potsdam student. Both Clarkson and SUNY Potsdam are a short walk (< 1 mile) from Market street (i.e. downtown Potsdam).


[QUOTE=""]
  1. The male to female ratio is about 70-30. This is concerning because I do not want to always feel surrounded by guys. Is this noticeable and is it something to worry about?

[/QUOTE]

If you are going into engineering you are going to faced with this just about anywhere. Granted there are some elite colleges with single digit acceptance rates that are able to get a 50 - 50 mix, but for the rest of us mere mortals we are going to find the engineering field to be heavily male dominated (at least for right now).


[QUOTE=""]
  1. Clarkson is about a 6 hour ride from home and being that its small and surrounded by a very small town I fear that I would feel isolated in kind of the middle of no where. Furthermore, it is very cold during the winter months so I fear that the coldness will add to the isolated feeling in a way.

[/QUOTE]

When I was going to grad school (at a different school), I was heading out of town one weekend with some friends. One friend, a sophomore undergrad, told me it was his first time off campus, which really shocked me considering he was from truly the opposite side of the globe. My point being that no matter where to school much of your life will be spent on campus. Make sure you like the campus and the community at the school, that is the most important thing. When you do venture off campus the beautiful Adirondacks are nearby and if you want to go to a big city for a weekend, Ottawa is only about an hour and a half drive, Montreal is a bit over two hours. As for it being cold, it is, the snow squeaks when you walk on it, but the buildings are nice and warm and there are plenty of meeting / gathering spaces.