Geneseo Not What I Expected

Colleges and Universities A-Z SUNY at Geneseo
1

<p>I just realized that Geneseo has it's own thread, so I am posting this here, although I also have it in the selections forum.</p>

<p>I have lurked here for some time, but the college process has been so difficult, that we were just going to apply ED to Geneseo. It's close to home, small, supposedly one of the best publics in NY, and affordable.</p>

<p>A girl that I know has recently transferred out of Geneseo to go to Canisius because she said that they made her dorm with upperclassman and it was "a party school". I was shocked, given the admission requirements.</p>

<p>We went to visit on the weekend. I have some serious concerns. </p>

<p>They said that applying ED will not increase your chances of getting in. You just save yourself a wait. They do not consider weighted averages. </p>

<p>The campus is dead on the weekend. We were there several hours, where the heck was everyone? </p>

<p>I am no clean freak by any means. But I deeply concerned about health.</p>

<p>I saw some sort of black mold or mildew all over the ceilings in the athletic facility. I think that they are racquetball courts, those rooms that you can walk into and hit the walls. But you can actually see into them on a walkway. The pool is close by, perhaps it is that humidity. That's another thing, the pool was closed on a Saturday afternoon.</p>

<p>I cannot remember the name of the dorm now, but it was not far from campus. Chip wrappers and large crumbs all over the floor when you come in. What the hell? One student in the entire lounge area. Kitchen area is nothing but a tiny stove like I've seen in ghetto apartments. The dorm room that I saw was tiny for two, the roommates had actually decided to create a bunk situation. Which really makes me wonder how the heck they triple up "when needed". </p>

<p>The dining area central to campus was closed and we did not get to see any other dining areas. That's nice that they have tacos, pizza, subs, but that is not how I want my kid to eat. Given that the food plan is required, and very expensive at that, they should have shown a dining room that is actually active. I did note that they have a student comment board, and I read some of the comments. Complaints that food is not ready when it is supposed to be, one comment about flies! In fairness, it does look like they write back to the students, and leave these things posted.</p>

<p>They focused a lot on the surrounding area, telling us to look down the road, talked about who has come to visit the school. I can get that stuff on the internet. I wanted to see the place, to see what my child would experience. The guide seemed to feel that it was important that one building used to be an elementary school, and that they were maintaining the character. I was not impressed with that building at all. Dingy, dark.</p>

<p>And on the way back to the admissions office, it was all uphill. I workout 5x a week, but this was unreal after a 2 hour tour. And there was not even snow on the ground. </p>

<p>So now I am really disturbed because we were all set to apply ED. On the one hand, maybe the focus is really academics and to hell with the rest, you get what you pay for, right? On the other hand, if her chances are no better ED, maybe we should keep looking, even at a "lowlier" school. She absolutely does not want to be in a big research university, but is willing to apply to Binghampton because it has high academic standards. We've always been around here, we don't care about snow. I know that some of the state colleges are only a step above a community college. My child has about a 3.67 GPA, which would actually be higher if senior year were considered. She is undecided, leaning towards the sciences. Band and chorus are important to her, but she does not want to commit to a music major.</p>

<p>So what would you do. New Paltz? Fredonia? Brockport? Plattsburgh? No party schools. Help!!</p>

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<p>I would seriously consider Binghamton. Binghamton is more of a moderate sized University (Smallest of the SUNY's) rather than a very large institution. Binghamton is strong in the sciences and I believe as a decent music program, and have academic standards equally as good as Geneseo. One advantage a university generally has over a college is the amount of courses available to choose from in a given field of study. I've been on campus a number of times and considering some of the negative comments I have heard have been somewhat impressed with facilities, dorms etc (Maybe this was due to low expectations). With regards to a party school that may be hard to define, almost all schools will have an element of that so I would concentrate first on the quality of education, courses of study, and academic admittance standards. Of course you need to visit the school and make your own assessment, what is a good fit for one person may not for another. If high academics standards are your main issue in my opinion Binghamton would be the only alternative to Geneseo in the SUNY system. And they have plenty of snow there also.</p>

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<p>seriously, every school has a good amount of party people. You're not going to get away from that. It does not mean it's a "party school"...it's not.
Every school says ED won't increase your chances because they don't want people to apply ED just for that reason. And I was actually told a different story by a rep who came to my school. She said applying ED would help me.
They don't look at weighted average but they do take APs into consideration. They see what the regular gpa is and then they see how many APs the student took. It's actually smart they don't use weighted because every school weights differently. It would be unfair
I visited Geneseo and I have no idea what you mean by the health concerns. The school was gorgeous. Obviously, a college campus is never going to be spotless.
You have to consider the time you went. If it was dead on a weekend and it wasn't late in the day, it was probably because the students were still sleeping in (probably why the dining hall was empty too). College kids stay up late and sleep in late. That's how it works. There's plenty to do on campus and the students can also go into Rochester.
Who cares if there's a lot of hills? Most schools have hills. So your kid gets exercise...big deal</p>

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<p>In response to Binghamton, I can tell you firsthand that Binghamton is much more of a party school than Geneseo. There's a large number of people who go out almost every day to drink. It also has one of the largest Greek populations in the area.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for your posts. I think that I am just being a nervous parent because my child has never been away from me. And the beauty of being young is that the young usually do not care about the things that I pointed out.</p>

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<p>I'm a freshman at Geneseo and I'm having a great time. The dorms are very nice compared to the other SUNYs. When I visited my friends at Binghamton the halls were very plain and designed like dungeons. </p>

<p>The food is pretty expensive, but good for college food. The dinning hall you saw was probably MJ, which is only open for breakfast and lunch on weekdays. There are two main dinning halls, one on South Side of campus and on North side of campus. Theres also food in the union and at the library. </p>

<p>If you visited Saturday afternoon, people were probably still sleeping or lounging around. The hockey games at night are really big. </p>

<p>The education is top notch. So far I've had professors who don't assign busy work and are very dedicated to teaching. They frequently have office hours and answer emails promptly. . You might want to check out other state schools. But if you are set on a SUNY, i think Geneseo is the place to be.</p>

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<p>I'm another freshman at Geneseo.
The dorms are just as nice as you are going to get anywhere, and even though I got stuck in a triple due to overenrollment, its not that bad.
The academics are outstanding, plain and simple, it is quite clear that Geneseo has spent its money on academics, at the cost of other things, but they are a state school, go to Brockport and you will see really nice dorms, but crappy academic buildings, Oswego and you will see a brand new dorm and a brand new hockey rink, but old as hell academic buildings. Geneseo has amazing academics, and the new science center is absolutely pristine, but it has come at the cost of some other things.</p>

<p>The food there is terrible, abysmal, absolutley awful, it's overpriced to hell, and I can't wait until i can just order stuff from local eateries everyday.
I also hear that they may up the residency requirement to 3 years, which is absurd, it is too high at 2 years, it is just total money grubbing on the college's part.</p>

<p>As for the party school idea, yeah, Geneseo is a work hard, party hard environment, almost everyone parties friday and saturday night, and many on thursday and sunday nights, and there are often open parties during the week as well. I would venture to say that Geneseo parties harder than any SUNY not named Albany. This is why it's so dead on weekend afternoons, people are relaxing, regaining their stamina, my friends and I usually watch football/play Halo 3, just chill all day. They try to have other stuff available, but to be "normal" at geneseo, you have to party, not all the time, but its an experience, its part of college.</p>

<p>I am considering transferring to a better school farther away, because I am overqualified for Geneseo and it is too easy for me, but for most (I am a Math/Chem major) it is very hard. I would strongly reccomend Geneseo to any one, but Academics come first, if you want more of a balance, go to a private school, thats where your tuition goes.</p>

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<p>I'm a sophomore at Geneseo, and although its taken a little while, I've really warmed up to the school.</p>

<p>First, Geneseo is not really a "party school." Partying and drinking goes on at every campus. However, it does not mean you have to be a part of it. My friends and I don't drink, and there are other people on my floor who don't either. Sometimes we go to the late knight activities (I'll admit though- sometimes they are a little pathetic). Otherwise, we just find something to do...whether its hanging out in the dorm, going out to the midnight movie, going up to Rochester, or playing pool and video games in the union.</p>

<p>The campus usually seems pretty dead on weekends until around 4 or 5pm. Most people sleep in and hang out in the dorms. The meal plan isn't great, and healthy options can be somewhat hard to come by. </p>

<p>I would say that Geneseo is your best bet. The other schools you mentioned (New Paltz, Brockport, Fredonia) party just as much, if not more than Geneseo.</p>

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<p>I would look more closely at New Paltz. It is gotten much more selective and was named best small state school by Newsweek. My friend's daughter was going to apply here and was told by her guidance counselor not to bother since she has a B average. He told her New Paltz is not looking at applicants under an A average. If your D does decide to consider music, they have a very good dept. for this. Personally I think this is a very up and coming school. They have a brand new fitness center. The town is very hip and fun and a few minutes walk from the school. I am hoping my S transfers here. I think it would be a good fit for him.</p>

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<p>I'm a sophomore at Geneseo right now, and while the school definitely has it flaws, for the money it's worth it.
The truth is any school is going to be a party school, higher academic standards don't necessarily have any effect on that. I personally am not into the party scene, and I have a lot of fun on weekends just hanging out with my friends in the dorms watching movies or going into Rochester for dinner or shopping or anything.
Also, the tour on the weekends doesn't take you anywhere where things are actually going on- the campus looked dead because people were probably still getting going (don't expect to see anyone out on campus on a weekend before at least 11 am) and the dining hall on the tour is closed on the weekend.
In all honesty, the food isn't very good, but it is edible at the very least. I have found that there are always a few standbys I can go to when nothing else at dinner looks good- there is always a salad bar, sandwiches, stir-fry, and a grill (grilled cheese, chicken, burgers, etc).
As for dorms, some are better than others. The one I lived in my freshman year was very old but had fairly large rooms. My building this year was renovated relatively recently, so the rooms are nicer, but also much smaller.
It's really a give and take thing, and for me in the end I chose Geneseo for the academics rather than the campus life.
I also faced the decision between Binghamton and Geneseo, and I chose Geneseo because it felt to me more of a small liberal arts school than a big state university. So for me, the choice between the two was just purely personal preference, though I feel that Geneseo is stronger than Binghamton in some of the areas in the humanities.
As for the hill, I have learned to accept it as a part of my daily commute. Geneseo's campus is actually much smaller than that of some other schools, and walking up the hill isn't really then end of the world. You get used to it, though I will be the first to admit I sometimes plan my day around making as few trips up the hill as possible.</p>

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<p>No offense, but your complaints are mostly unfounded. If your daughter goes here she'll have to walk up hills. So what? The campus is still small and the only reason you would have a problem walking to class is if you are really old or obese. You mention that the campus was dead on the weekend. Most people don't wake up until after noon on the weekends, and if you went when it was cold outside (which it is a lot of the time), you aren't going to see people lounging around. Furthermore, the dining halls do have salad bars and vegan selections, and pasta. The majority of college kids want pizza, tacos, burgers, etc. so that is mostly what they serve, but there is plenty of healthy stuff too. </p>

<p>No offense again, but it seems like you are trying to pamper your kid and think that college should be like a five star hotel. She has to learn to deal with walking to class, finding foot to eat, living in small dorms, and choosing not to party. In your description of Geneseo, you probably also described 95% of colleges in America.</p>

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<p>Kuggy, I assure you, as a student, that there is very very little in the way of "healthy" eating options in the dining halls, so if that is a concern then you may want to look elsewhere. But other than that, you are right, it is just minor squabbles with the college that many have. The hill sucks, but it would be just as bad to walk a mile to classes on flat ground every morning.</p>

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<p>My daughter also looked at Geneseo. My husband took her for the visit and he LOVED it! His bubble was burst when they finished the tour he was 100% sold and she looked at him and said "I hate it here"! For her it was too "Wonder Bread"...not enough diversity and too much like her high school atmosphere. She is a sudio art/english major now at SUNY New Paltz in the honors program and loves it! She was also accepted at Hamilton, Bard, Carnegie Mellon and Tufts SMFA. She agonized over her decision in the spring, but now feels so confident that she has made a good choice. New Paltz is a great college town. She has awesome profs and opportunities in the honors program.</p>