Impressions of Ithaca?

<p>Hello, I just wanted to know what people thought about Ithaca College attending and/or visiting? How is their Biology Department?</p>

<p>Hi, I’m a hs senior and I was just accepted RD, my older sister went to Ithaca (graduated in 2008) and loved it! Even though I was accepted, I don’t think I’ll enroll (it just isn’t for me). I think its safe to say I am pretty knowledgeable about the school watching my sister go through it for four years.
I’ll give you a quick overview of Ithaca.
The size is great, not too big and not too small. That is to say that you can walk around on campus and see people you know, or you could meet someone for the first time in the dining hall. The students are generally very friendly and outdoorsy when the weather is nice. Just realize that you’re in New York and there will be a lot of snow. I’ve heard that classes are challenging yet engaging and fun, you have to make an effort in class, if you do it is easy to make friends with professors which can be beneficial in getting letters of recommendation later on. Ithaca has amazing facilities that they keep building, and they have two very new environmentally friendly buildings that they always boast about. </p>

<p>some more pro’s:

  • Great Nightlife
  • Safe Campus
  • Great college town
  • New buildings (ex. pretty new fitness center)</p>

<p>some con’s:

  • Greek life sucks (no sororities)
  • Athletics
  • Price (at least 50k)
  • Winter weather</p>

<p>Thank You for this information, it was most helpful, im going to be visiting in late march hope it goes well, btw i have been accepted also</p>

<p>We visited Ithaca yesterday. We woke up in the morning to find 5 inches of new fallen snow, which was quickly cleared in the city and campus. Everyone was in good spirits: snow is a way of life in this part of New York. Although it was cold and windy, the campus is quite navigable in part by a series of glass tunnels and stairs that lead from one building to the next: many people we saw did not even have coats so I guess they have found indoor shortcuts to their classes. We thought the campus was very beautiful, especially the view of the lake. Notable and impressive from the tour: reported small class size and TA’s do not teach classes or grade papers; reported immediate “hands-on” experiences in most classes rather than pure reading and lecture; excellent physical facilities and amazing new fitness center coming October 2011; strong emphasis on sustainability; reported diverse and accepting nature of student body; good sports teams. Music, communications and physical therapy programs are extremely competitive to get into. The city of Ithaca reportedly has “lots of restaurants” … I’ll just note that the two we were interested in from reviews were both closed on Sunday night! Also, the “Commons” was a bit of a disappointment… it was only 2 blocks long and had limited shopping and eating. Overall, however, we really liked the school. LookitsBoston: My older D is a senior at Mount Holyoke and absolutely loved it, all 4 years.</p>

<p>I think we may have been there the same time as bluemomo and were also very impressed, especially given the lousy weather. Facilities looked top notch, particularly in the Park School of Communications where we saw state of the art TV and radio equipment. I was also happy to hear about the extra help program in math…we may need that one. Room size impressed me as well. We saw double at Skidmore and Marist and the room at Ithaca was surprisingly big. On campus dining options seem very impressive as well as the nearby Commons eateries (we dined at one spot where prices must absolutely reflect college town. Very expensive for a small city).Despite a lengthy commute (we drove back to MA South Shore after the visit) we consider the visit as time very well spent.</p>

<p>Weather has been all kinds of wonky this past week and they will continue to do campus tours. It snowed 8 inches last night and it was a complete whiteout early this morning and I still saw tours walking around and people going to classes.</p>

<p>@bluemomo
Thanks for telling me about your Impressions on Ithaca it was well considered, on the other hand Mt. Holyoke is one of my tops schools a reach though but I,m being optimistic. At first I did not want to go to an all female college although I know males take classes there. MHC is just great and with the neighboring colleges I would get a great college experience and maintain a social life :)</p>

<p>Thanks, I’m glad that another MA resident is looking at Ithaca because out of 220 senior at my school I am the only one that applied, not complaining because I did want to get away from here and start new in a way</p>

<p>We attended an info session after our tour and the Ithaca folks conducted a quick survey. At least a few MA families, also PA NH and CT.</p>