Hofstra University reputation

I live on the west coast and I am disappointed to find that nobody has heard of the university over here, which makes me skeptical to go there. What is the university’s reputation on the east coast? Is it well known by employers? I am majoring in computer science.

Hofstra started out as a combination of commuter and suitcase school with most students coming from the NY met area. It was originally an extension of NYU to Long Island. But they built dorms and was the first school that made the entire campus wheelchair accessible. It was a large concrete campus with high rise dorms. It has since become much nicer-with gardens,etc. It is now a national university, not associated with NYU. But, despite it being “national” it has a huge NY presence (over 60%) which may be why people on the west coast don’t know about it. I’d guess that most of the out of state 40% are from states right around NY. It was known as a school that was a good pick for those who are in the upper half of their graduating class but not necessarily in the top 15% and how had middling scores (500s and 600s) who wanted to stay near NY but didn’t want to be in the city. It is private and very expensive. I’d bet they are keen to develop a more widespread rep so someone from the west would probably garner more merit $. Did you visit the school? How did you choose it?

@lostaccount Thank you so much for your reply. I have not visited but I want to; I might over spring break. (I live in California so it isn’t very convenient to visit.) I applied because they gave me an application waiver. If it wasn’t so expensive I would be more interested. They did give me a $10k/year scholarship but it is still out of my price range. I, eventually, want to live in New York so I am looking at schools that have a good rep on the east coast so that I have a good chance of finding a job/internship.

I wish they gave me a better scholarship.

Two presidential debates (2008 and 2012) are clearly designed to boost Hofstra’s national reputation – and reach. In In my experience, students from outside the NY area do indeed merit significant scholarships. The Honors College especially so. IMHO, the best thing about Hofstra is proximity to NYC : Hofstra students routinely get internships in Manhattan that translate into jobs. Manhattan is about a 35-40 minute train ride depending on the time of day. Many California students are at Hofstra. Perhaps Admissions could connect you with a current CA student?

@higheredmom Thanks for the reply. They are having a reception for admitted students near me that I will be attending. Hopefully that will help me with my decision. The price is still an issue though.

I graduated from Hofstra over 25 years ago and came from NJ. At the time when I mentioned I was going to be attending Hofstra, I was always met with the comment “where?” It’s shocking to think that in 25 years the university has not been able to elevate it’s profile out of the Tri-state area. Besides academics, great sports teams seem to be a key component in name recognition. In the recent years, Hofstra has been focusing its efforts and resources in other areas.

I’ve definitely heard of Hofstra- thanks to the amount of emails they send me about application deadlines and extensions and ANOTHER deadline extension.

I’m not sure that constitutes an enhanced reputation tho.

My daughter will be applying to colleges this fall. She is also interested in majoring in computer science. I was looking into Hofstra as a possible school for her, but was wondering how good is the cs program?