<p>My daughter got accepted to Albany ( insert smiley face here ) .
Does anyone know how good ( or not ) the communications program is?
My daughter wants to be an art director for an advertising firm so she is interested in visual arts/photography and communications, possibly double major, possibly major/minor...</p>
<p>Any advice is appreciated.</p>
<p>My daughter also wants to go into communications, although in a different field. Albany is a mediocre school. I don’t mean that as an insult but it is what it is. I actually graduated from there many years ago. Daughter got in but almost definitely won’t go. However, there’s a difference between how good the school is and how good a specific program is. Albany re communications is interesting. The program itself appears to offer a combined BA and Masters. The course work is fairly typical (communciations programs tend to either be more sociologically focused or more vocationally). Albany is the former. However, because its Albany, you have interesting opportunities for internships and potential jobs. Ultimately thats the goal. For example we were looking at Fordham which appears to also have a ‘good’ program but gives you NYC for opportunities. While Albany is not NYC, its position as state capitol does have benefits over other “good” programs that are located nowhere. hope all that rambling helped.</p>
<p>A mediocre school…I disagree!</p>
<p>Albany is great choice…it’s a state flagship! The NY system has 4 flagships…Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook. Each gets some sort of bragging rights. Some of the positives about Albany:</p>
<p>Writers Institute - This is one of the best programs I’ve seen anywhere! Visiting writers - classic films - community writer workshops - Authors Theatre - Poet Awards</p>
<p>RNA Institute - Just started last year…$12.5 million biomedical research</p>
<p>Cancer Research Center - Forensic Institute - Atmospheric Research Institute </p>
<p>Cypress Institute - Archeological events in Cypress!</p>
<p>Rockefeller Institute of government - premier think tank.</p>
<p>Honors College - Small selective program with the usual benefits of small classes, separate housing, early registration, special activities, Honors courses offered in a variety of subjects offered by some of the best professors at the University, and special library staff.</p>
<p>College Town - Lots of students everywhere!</p>
<p>Consortium of schools - There is a consortium of 20 colleges in the greater Albany area where you can take courses, if they are not offered at Albany (Albany though does have an extensive offerings) …For example, Albany doesn’t have a great Dance Program, so you could take dance at say, Skidmore.</p>
<p>Internship Opportunities - Great career center and NYS capitol offers unique opportunities. </p>
<p>Competitive Admission 47% admit rate - The average hs gpa was 91 with 22% in the top 10% of their hs. They also had 241 presidental scholars admitted and 140 students entered the honors college…all large increases over previous years. 30% of the incomming class last year were students “of color” and their is about a 50:50 male to female ratio. There are over 200 student groups, or it’s easy to start a new one.</p>
<p>Great Scholarships - Presidential Scholarships are available to students with a 90 GPA at $4,000/year.</p>
<p>Speakers Series - So far they have had - Colin Powell, Karl Rove, Howard Dean, and President Bill Clinton will speak next month.</p>
<p>College Traditions: Fountain Day - Over 10,000 people in the fountain with food, grammy award artists…students love it! Big Purple Growl!</p>
<p>Library - One of the top research libraries in the US with over 2,000,000 items.</p>
<p>Camp Dippikill - UAlbany’s Student Association also owns Camp Dippikill, located in Warrensburg. It is an 850-acre wilderness retreat facility with a 20-acre pond and 7.5 miles of well-groomed trails.</p>
<p>There is alot more than what I’ve listed here. </p>
<p>This is not a mediocre school. This is a quality New York State Flagship.</p>
<p>Take a closer look at Communications and Art/Visual Art…you might find something! Their Museum/Gallery is great!</p>
<p>Thank you for the marketing blurb. I don’t think there is any intent to diminish University at Albany in any way.
I simply want to know what people think about this specific program…</p>
<p>Isd
Both my wife and I went to Albany and I like the town. However the school is not what it was years ago. They have some good programs but NYs “flagship” schools don’t mean alot. Binghampton is good, but then it drops. Albany is known now as a party school. That doesn’t mean you can’t get a good education there, or have good opportunities but its simply not that highly regarded, in general. As I said before, programs at various schools may exceed the school itself, depending on what ther person is looking for. An example is Newhouse at Syracuse. Good school but great program. Re Albany. Look at its acceptance rate as compared to other schools, mean SATs etc… It is what it is, a medium level school.</p>
<p>dad1993 - I’m sorry but it wasn’t my intent to hijack your thread. I realize that your looking for opinions and specifics about your daughters intended program. It’s just that I feel UAlbany gets quite a few offhanded comments about not being a good school, and I felt the need to reply to the mediore school comment. It wasn’t meant to be a marketing blurb, but rather to make a point. I certainly have no interest in who attends Albany. I’d like to think that I’d stick up for any of the SUNY/CUNY schools as I think their great. My suggestion though would be to speak with the faculty and administration directly about thier program. I’ve found that the staff at most schools , public and private alike are very honest about what you can expect from thier program. For example, my son sat down in private with department heads at all four university centers and spent over an hour with each one of them discussing his concerns.</p>
<p>jsimon- I’m certainly not looking for an argument. I however don’t feel that you’ve made your case…I don’t believe that magazine rankings, SAT scores and acceptance rates are are true measure of a schools worth. I wouldn’t ignore the statistics…but Albany has good stats. If a school has better stats, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a better school. If you can get a good education, then it’s a good school.</p>