I was accepted into both Marist college and Ithaca college and was accepted into both honors programs. They both gavd me good scholarships so one is not significantly more expensive than the other. I am going in undecided but most likely going to be majoring in business. I can’t figure out college has a better business program? I like Marist however it is only an hour from my house, yet Ithaca is far but I felt as though is was boring and more of a school for theatre/ communications. Any advise??
What do you mean when you say Ithaca was boring?
Just the overall vibe I was feeling from the campus and the students was boring/ bland. especially with it being winter time, everyone seemed kind of miserable.
I think Marist is a bit more of a party school than Ithaca.
I don’t think either schools are really “boring”, though. Ithaca has a wide variety of people.
Ithaca is an awesome college town and in my opinion better than Poughkeepsie, you get the perk of being able to take one class at Cornell if you have the right GPA, and their business school is AACSB accredited.
Marist is AACSB accredited as well. I have a family member attending there now. Ithaca is a great college town with lots of activities as MYOS stated. There is very little going on in Poughkeepsie but Marist has a large number of clubs and campus activities. With all else being equal, may I suggest that you visit both schools again, talk with current students, spend some time in the surrounding area and get a feel for where you would be spending the next four years of your life.
Just a suggestion, when someone posts their thoughts on a school, make sure that they have a basis for a statement. Is it backed up with facts and direct knowledge, are they a parent or student or are they expressing an opinion based upon information gleamed from websites.
If you prefer Marist, I’d go there. Being an hour away from home should not be an issue – just talk things through with your parents first. My S went to college about a half hour away and lived there – we made a deal upfront that we would not just pop by campus to say hi and would basically treat him like he was hours away (ex. he wasn’t expected home other than school vacations) and in return he would not come home to do laundry etc. He had a great experience and there was no downside to his being close to home.
One thing you might want to research is which school has more going on during the weekends. I’m not sure, but Marist may have a lot of kids like yourself who don’t live too far so you may find lots of people going home for the weekends. As for college towns, Ithaca is 1000x better than Poughkeepsie. As for academic comparisons, I have no clue. GL
Marist is definitely more of a party school, I applied and visited 3 different times and loved it. Did not end up attending, but it was definitely in my top 3 schools. they put a really big emphasis on career placement after school which i loved
Are you talking about me? If so, I applied there, so I’ve talked to a few students. It’s quite well-known Marist is a party school. I think my opinion is backed up just fine. 
@ECmotherx2