<p>Hello,
I thought I would report on our recent visit to Alfred with our prospective art student. We drove out on Thursday night because our D was set up to attend an 8 am class on Friday am. The drive was easy, but long (about 5 and a haf hours). We arrived @ 11pm and checked in to the Saxon Inn which is right on campus. It was very nice and they offered a continental breakfast as well. D was escorted by a student to a freshman sculpture class and H and I headed out to explore the area.<br>
First we drove around the campus a bit. It is set on a hill, and has a variety of beautiful buildings that range from a castle to more modern brick buildings. Then we drove through the small but cute village which had a good variety of shops for such a small town. The SUNY School is set on another hill right across the street from the University.<br>
After exploring campus and town we decided to drive to Hornell to see how long it took to get there and what stores and services were there. It is a very easy drive and took us about 23 minutes. Once there we saw several chain stores and places to eat such as Wegmans, McDonalds, Friendlys, Pizza Hut, Applebees, Walmart, Subway, Lowes,Verizon, AT&T and a movie theatre and several hotels.
We then returned to campus and accompanied D on a tour of the art facilities. Our tour guide was a sophomore art student who was very happy to be @ Alfred. She showed us all 5 floors of the art building starting with the student gallery and another that is used by visiting artists and faculty. Although the studios are large and well equipped we did think that the upperclass studio spaces seems very crowded compared to other upperclassman spaces that we have seen @ other schools. We were impressed with the # and variety of kilns and the glass blowing area. D also liked the "repo" area where people can drop off and/or pick up items that can be used for projects.
Next we had lunch with the swim coach and also were introduced to a a few of the current swimmers. The swimmers took D's # and told her they would try and meet up with her later in the evening.<br>
Then we rushed back to admissions to take the general campus tour with spiffyiscool's D! She gave us a great tour of the whole campus and town. She was very enthusiastic and knowlegable about the school. We started out on foot and saw the freshman residence halls, the academic buildings, dining halls, student center, and athletic center; then we hopped into a school van and got a guided tour of all the hot spots around town.<br>
@ 3pm D met up with another art student who hosted her for the night. She and the girl had dinner with the swim team and then headed over to the art studio so the student could get some work done. While D was doing that H and I headed downtown and ate dinner on the deck of the Collegiate. It was a beautiful evening and the streets were filled with seemingly happy students. We then walked across the street to the Terra Cotta for a cup of coffee and split a huge chocolate chip cookie. D texted to say that she was invited to meet up with some of the swimmers @ the pool and her host was walking her down. She hung out with them while her host worked on a project.
The next morning it was raining, so we were very glad we had taken the tours the day before. We attended the Accepted Student Day morning activites and then headed back out to Hornell to show D right after lunch.
D reports that she liked it much more than she thought she would. She thought the campus was beautiful, and that the people were very nice. she liked the art facilities except for the crowded feeling in the studios. She is also concerned about the rigidity of the Freshman Foundation program. She says she understands the concept, but feels like it is unfair to have no access to the ceramics facilities for a whole year when that is what she is going there for to begin with...So I guess we will be heading to 2 more accepted student programs in the next week @ U of Hartford and New Paltz to see if she can finally decide!
Sorry this is so long, but I thought some of you who are considering this school but couldn't get there yet might like the info!</p>