Geneseo: The "SUNY Ivy" it once was?

So yes within the Ivies there are preferences and Brown likely resides in the “next five” category among the most elite schools in the country. Per Parchment…
Brown 77% Cornell 23%
Brown 56% Dartmouth 44%
Because you seem focused on Brown but relevance to thread?

Also may want to consider limited data pool for sites like Parchment unless of course it supports a position you sought. The real question was Ivy League vs SUNY. The real answer is Ivy students are of a higher caliber as a generalization and the Ivy schools have greater prestige recognition, resources and afford better career opportunities. Once again 6% acceptance rates, need blind admissions vs 40-75%acceptance rates. Let it go because no reasonable person thinks of SUNY and Ivies as comparable.

@Nocreativity1 <> Many NYS applicants like my kids with Ivy-league credentials come from families who have too much income (based on CSS Profile and FAFSA) to receive need based aid but not enough income to afford to be full pay (since Ivy’s —for the most part—don’t give merit aid). These families, especially those with debt, can’t afford to pay $70,000 plus per year without depleting savings and taking a second mortgage and raiding retirement funds. So SUNYs Binghamton and Geneseo or else elite or second tier top 40 type schools that offer large merit aid scholarships become attractive alternative options.

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@trackmbe3 -I am not diminishing any individual kid. I am sure some SUNY kids have IVY credentials and might have been able to to be competitive Ivy candidates. Congratulations on your son’s hard earned achievements. I don’t however see this as a large portion of the SUNY student population.

I was responding to the generalization put forward by Merc81that SUNY kids are “Ivy Calibre”. As a general rule that is not the case in my opinion. We can agree to disagree and I will respect your view.

@Nocreativity1 I don’t think we disagree here. My point was to recognize that every year there are students, perhaps not thousands but likely hundreds, who are accepted to an Ivy league or top 20 elite school, as well as accepted to the top SUNYs-- SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Stony Brook, and, to a much lesser extent, University at Buffalo, Albany and Geneseo, but family finances dictate that they cannot afford to attend the Ivy or top 20 elite school if they don’t qualify for need-based aid and don’t receive enough merit aid.

@Nocreativity1: Are you on this thread for any reason other than to make a case for Brown?

Geneseo certainly has a prettier campus than most SUNYs because it was co-opted into the SUNY system rather than being built by it. it was initially charted in 1867 as Wadsworth Normal School. Many of the old historic buildings remain. But in terms of IVY Bunk and State PR. The State aggressively markets Geneseo and a few other SUNYs that way and it is pure propaganda. They even pipe the message (and similar) on speakers in buildings and on the phone when they put people on hold. Geneseo is certainly better than others, and it is a great buy. You can say Motel 6 is a best buy 4 Seasons and Geneseo and Binghamton are best buy Ivys. They are fine. They do the job. they have utility. Sometimes it makes no sense to pay for the 4 Seasons even if you have the money.

Personally I didn’t find the campus to be all that attractive.

The Binghamton U campus gets slammed, but I liked it better. SUNY has put a lot of money in there, lots of new buildings, dorms being built, nature preserve in the back…
From what I read I may be the only one who feels like that, but maybe the main naysayers were from before the big building boom.

.Besides that, when S was looking, Geneseo’s reported class sizes were surprisingly high. Seemed to me like a school with the poor course selection of an LAC, but without the benefits of the small class sizes of an LAC… But all applicants are forced to make decisions without perfect information, so I may have been mistaken.

Regarding financial aid, I know a number of NYC metro area residents who have apparently high income (though it doesn’t get them that far in that area) but large mortgages,. Financial aid equations do not give them appropriate credit for negative equity. They will not qualify for “need-based aid” due to income, but if they spend all their $$ on college tuitions they won’t be able to buy a place to live in retirement, or to retire well. That tends to cause them to look to the state universities in preference to private colleges, top-rated or not.

When I worked in I-banking there were a number of people there who attended one of the SUNYs for undergrad but a tippy-top grad school afterwards. Obviously their grad schools, and the I-bank, thought they were pretty smart. Not all top-20 university grads are admitted to those grad school programs. IIRC some SUNY grads get admitted to medical schools, while not all applicants from top-20 private colleges are admitted. So there must be some overlap in capabilities, no ??

I think the whole “Geneseo is Harvard” thing gets taken out of context. As Harvard is to private institutions (arguably the best), Geneseo is to SUNY institutions (arguably the best). In that context Geneseo is “like Harvard”, the best of it’s class. However, nobody ever meant to say that Geneseo and Harvard are anywhere near equal institutions, in terms of academics or student body. Not even close, and I say that as a successful Geneseo alum. It’s a really good school, and a great value, and my son is choosing between Geneseo/New Paltz/Plattsburgh. The question of whether Geneseo is the “SUNY Ivy” it used to be is fair though. The stats aren’t quite what they used to be, and I’ve heard some negative comments from a few different sources. In addition to Geneseo you now regularly see Binghamton, New Paltz and Albany in the discussion of top tier SUNY schools, with stats to match.

But of course, for that interpretation to work, you would have to ignore all the DNA evidence presented on this thread.

I’ve heard it called ‘The Harvard of the SUNYs’…not actually being compared to Harvard.

@trackmbe3 This is us. Elite Liberal Art Colleges became a non-option for us, because myself and my spouse have very good jobs. So, good out of state schools that offer merit money are an option, as are ‘lower’ liberal arts colleges that offer merit money. Elite liberal arts colleges provide need-based funding only.

@midmichparentt - this is us too, though at this point, I thinkj my ex husband is regretting setting a budget. Oh well. Have you visited St. Lawrence? We’ll be going this month.

@Trixy34. Yes, we did visit SLU. Had a great tour guide. A very personal greeting as well. Nice staff/administration. It is, of course, very isolated, and quite small. Our vibe was the students did not seem too smily/friendly. I know that’s the opposite of what some have experienced. Our concern is the 5-6 month winter, combined with my son not playing sports there. Will he have that much opportunity to find his ‘tribe’? That’s our question. I encouraged him to go to SLU again, and do an overnite, to really get a feel for the place, but he has not gone for it. He’s leaning towards UVM (Honors College) right now. I’d really like him to visit Geneseo (even though he’d be the rare out of state student). It’s not too far from home by car (a day’s drive), and seems to be a real good size, and a real good school. And affordable. But he hasn’t gone for it yet!