<p>So, I made the decision of choosing Albany over Geneseo and here is how I feel about my choice now:</p>
<p>WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?</p>
<p>The influential factor in choosing Albany was the fact that I live practically next to campus and that I could save a ton of money by not having to live on campus. Now, I feel like I have sacrificed my happiness to save some money, which I could have done at Geneseo if I applied for scholarships/was an RA.</p>
<p>Here are a few reasons why Albany is not the place for me:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Wayyyyy too big. I have 380 students in one of my classes, with the rest having over 200. What? Also, I AM A JUNIOR. I thought the class sizes got smaller as you progressed? Guess not.</p></li>
<li><p>Professors (mine anyway) do not want to deal with you. All (besides ONE) of my professors never email me back. The times I have approached them after class, they are quick to dismiss me. I keep hearing "go to the TAs," BUT THEY DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH ME EITHER! They don't email back either!</p></li>
<li><p>My professors will literally bull**** for 1.5 hrs; you won't learn a thing. Then they assign homework that has nothing to do with what they have taught... What? If all I have to do to succeed in the class was read the book, then what the heck are the professors for?</p></li>
<li><p>Construction. Is. Everywhere. Such an ugly place. You honestly cannot look around campus and find a single place that doesn't have caution tape and ripped up concrete/dirt.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I know I am gonna get hit hard for this post, but this is seriously how I feel about UA. IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO IS COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT AND DOES NOT SEEK HELP FROM PROFESSORS, then UA might work for you.</p>
<p>Oh, and good luck dealing with this idiotic students downtown! If you like seeing fights every two seconds, then this place is for you!</p>
<p>Sorry you are upset about your choice. I work at UA and know many faculty. Most of the profs I know have regular office hours and are happy to meet with students if you need help. Maybe showing up for office hours will get you better results than emailing.</p>
<p>Large class sizes are an issue. You get that at most large, public institutions. It sucks. You very much have to be self-motivated and persistent and proactive about getting help when you need it. I’ve got one kid who is a high school senior and I hope she doesn’t end up at Binghamton (her second choice) because I don’t think she would take the steps that are needed to succeed in large lecture courses.</p>
<p>Yes, construction is everywhere. Sometimes that’s frustrating and there’s nothing pretty about it while it’s going on. But it does signal investment in the campus, and that’s a good thing. I came to campus in the evening last week, and walked in by the circle with my teenagers. They were impressed by how pretty it looked. The new business building, improved landscaping, the new fountain all are an improvement. The architecture is very polarizing. Either you love it or you don’t. I’m not a fan of stark modernism, but I do think the place looks better than it has looked in a long time, and the continuing construction will only improve things for the future. It is unpleasant for the students who have to live through it though.</p>
<p>You are still saving money if you are living at home over paying room and board, even if you did get a TA position. My older teen is applying to Geneseo as her first choice and that’s what she wants to do. But she knows it’s a more expensive option.</p>
<p>The thing is, I just knew from the beginning that UAlbany was not right for me. I was afraid of debt and I am extremely grateful to be saving so much while getting a reputable degree; UA’s accounting program is nicely ranked. However, I just don’t understand this university sometimes!</p>
<p>For instance, the class average in my intermediate accounting class was a 65… Terrible. The professor curves the FINAL GRADE, meaning that if you scored “around a 65,” consider yourself having a B in the class (this is what he told us.) How can a failing grade amount to a B at the end of the course? I understand that curves are more about your rank in the class, but how can UA boast a strong accounting program when the class average on a test, not even a final, is failing?</p>
<p>I know that at big research universities like UA, independence is necessary in order to succeed. But I get angry sometimes because when I struggle with an assignment - like today - it is so hard to talk to a professor about it. There are literally lines flowing down the hallways sometimes when I try and go to a professor’s office.</p>
<p>The whole construction thing is pretty annoying, but you’re right; UA is probably going to look awesome when it is completed! But there is just sooo much going on right now; you can’t even walk on one side of the center of the campus as of right now.</p>
<p>I guess my overall point is just for students who usually seek help from professors on a regular basis, a big university may not be the right fit. That is why Geneseo was my first choice; it was the perfect size! </p>
<p>Good luck to your children, Bing and Geneseo are awesome choices! Let her know that I absolutely loved Geneseo; such a welcoming student body and a beautiful campus full of enthusiastic and intelligent students! Ugh, makes me sad to think about haha</p>
<p>Yeah don’t go outside by yourself too late. You’ll be in one of those fights whether you want to or not… that or followed by what looks like Neil deGrasse Tyson in a tutu (please for the love of god tell me you’ve seen this guy). I got beat up pretty bad in my first semester on my way back from the library. I love the professors though actually… at least in my major. What was with the staff cuts though in the last few years? If you can’t afford staff then quit adding stuff that’s absolutely useless to me, like the football stadium or the campus center or the fountain etc etc etc etc etc.</p>
sunyjim, thinking that the class should get 90s on tests and that a 65% can’t be a B is so high school. Yes you spent years taking tests where you knew a grade in the 90s was an A and you learned to focus on tests and not material and you got to expect that your grades will be predictable-no uncertainty. But now you are in college. Some instructors like to construct challenging tests that stretch students. Most students at SUNYs who are pre-professional don’t understand the purpose of that for the reasons you mention. You attend a university with overcrowded lecture halls in an overcrowded underfunded large public institutional system where there is little dialogue between students and instructors. At smaller private schools, there is dialogue between instructors and students. A tough test is welcomed by those who are extraordinary students because it challenges them. An instructor can learn which are those students. In a test where mediocre gets a 95% correct, how does the instructor know which are the extraordinary students? When do those students get to be challenged to think? If the instructor designs the test to be hard but then tells you that a 65% is a B, what is the problem? Should the prof have simply left the difficult questions off the test so that you did not have to deal with the reality that there was material you did not know? Would you feel happier if the test were 25% shorter with those questions you missed left off-but you still got a B?