<p>I would check out Albany. I know kids who like it there. You never know. With the party school rep, there is a social life there, unlike some schools that are suitcase in nature. Also, Arizona and USouth Carolina are both state schools that are pretty reasonable in cost and have Russian programs. I would think the department would be small, so a large school may not be such a problem. Sewanee has merit money, and I believe, a Russian department. Pitt does have good merit money if you have the academic stats. I suggest getting a comprehensive list of schools with Russian as a major and then cross check with USN&WR for tuition information. There are some state schools out there with reasonable out of state rates.</p>
<p>Also, Suny at Buffalo offers a special Russian major in consultation with the languages dept. I would imagine that may be a small niche in a state u. Buffalo is generous with merit money. It is also pretty accessible by air. James Madison is reasonably priced and a school on our list. It offers Russian as a major.</p>
<p>yes it makes sense to study Russian in Buffalo because it snows here like Moscow (beautiful spring, summer and fall, however)</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo is a much better college town than Albany . You really should fly out and visit : we found the UB people very top for visitors . I lived in both towns ( Albany & Buffalo ) and Buffalo is very " in " these days -- pretty diversified , two campuses and lots of money these days . They are thinking of making it the flagship SUNY soon .</p>
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They are thinking of making it the flagship SUNY soon.
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<p>Not to be argumentative, but I would like to see a citation for that.</p>
<p>Methinks the PR machine is working overtime. :)</p>
<p>I only know SUNY Buffalo from an area resident's point of view, but here are my positive impressions: two campuses, the "South campus" which is actually on the northern edge of the downtown, and "North campus" in the prosperous suburb of Amherst, NY. Shuttles connect them. I think (but am not sure) that the professional schools (nursing, doctor, dentistry, and more) are on South campus but most of the undergrads live and work on North campus in the suburb. Although Buffalo as a city doesn't have a subway, there is a special shuttle link from the campuses to the cool downtown area of Buffalo where college students go to, y;know, whatever they do...club, party etc. around Elmwood and Chippewa Aves. College nightlife but in a gentrifying downtown area, in other words.<br>
The City of Buffalo is in economic decline, like many big cities that hug the Great Lakes, due to the demise of American manufacturing, espec. the steel industry. So the BUffalo area as a whole lost 30% of its population since the l950's, so is in similar circumstances with Cleveland, Erie, Detroit. I'm not sure that matters to students. There's a poverty core between the downtown gentrifying area and the universities, but I think most students don't interact with it much because the shuttles go right through it without stopping. No comment. There's a separate city bus system that stops at every corner.
The weather is what stories are made of! Deep snows, lake-effect, but it actually brings the community together when it happens. Everyone helps everyone else. Strong community ethic here. As I said earlier, the non-winter seasons are beautiful.
Look up weblinks to excellent cultural resources: Albright Knox Art Museum, Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, Irish Repertory Theater, Shea's Theater.
Students seem to recreate a lot at Niagara Falls (Canadian and U.S. sides) or take weekend trips to Toronto, 90 min away including by greyhound. You need a passport to cross that border (since Jan. 1 2007).
Lots of students have cars but lots do not.
Surrounding townspeople exceptionally friendly, down-to-earth.</p>
<p>Considering all suggestions! We made a quick visit to Allentown last June, but the situation wasn't really such to give a fair impression. My daughter had an interview at Lafayette, but due to a big flood and detours, we missed the first tour and had to leave the second one early (after interview) to make it to her appointment at Dickinson, happened to hit a dud of a student tour guide at Lafayette, you know how kids that age let that type of thing influence them.....also looked at Lehigh, which like Lafayette, didn't make the list -- she's really not an outstanding applicant compared to their normal pool, plus things just not going well on the visit to that area. </p>
<p>I'm sorry now that we didn't look at Muhlenberg. Can anyone make any comparisons between Muhlenberg and schools that we know my daughter likes? (Dickinson, Brandeis, Conn College, Goucher, American, Wooster)</p>
<p>Muhlenberg is hot in this area. Kids seem to have it on their lists a lot. We did not visit, as it was cut from our list which was for schools with strong performing arts programs. It was recommended by our counselors in a rigorous private school where many kids go to highly selective colleges, and the counselors are always looking for schools they believe have comparable quality.</p>
<p>@paying...</p>
<p>Although SUNY Buffalo is split into two campuses-South, which is adjacent to the northern city limits of Buffalo, -and North, which is in the town of Amherst. The Schools of Architecture, Nursing, Medicine, Dentistry, and Public Health are located on South Campus. the College of Arts and Science, and the Schools of Engineering, Management, and Education are located on North Campus. Most undergraduate students except those majoring in architecture, have their classes on North. There is a bus that connects the two campuses, in the case students need to get from one campus to the other. However, There is not any shuttle that takes kids from campus to the city's hot spots. Students wishing to see the sights take the subway (which the City of Buffalo does in fact have) or the city bus to varying places throughout the city. </p>
<p>@ OP...</p>
<p>There are Russian language and literature classes taught here every semester, which have in the past year or so, have become very popular amongst students looking to fill their foreign language requirements. It is possible for your D to major in Russian through the Special Major Program where qualified and capable students can design their own academic major program with the mentorship and guidance of a faculty member.</p>
<p>For more information visit the following websites: <a href="http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/academicprograms/spma.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/academicprograms/spma.shtml</a>
<a href="http://wings.buffalo.edu/cas/students/special_majors/%5B/url%5D">http://wings.buffalo.edu/cas/students/special_majors/</a>
<a href="http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/academicprograms/rus.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://undergrad-catalog.buffalo.edu/academicprograms/rus.shtml</a></p>
<p>There is a bus that takes kids shopping or to some "hot"spots that leaves from South Campus but not daily. My son goes to UB and have seen schedules and flyers about that bus, but never looked at it in detail, so I don't know exactly where it goes. </p>
<p>As Constantillusion (I love that name) says, Russian is available through a special program, which would be a good deal for someone looking for personal attention and small classes within a large university. I was not too happy about my son's choice in school as I wanted a much smaller school for him, but his program is very small, has small classes and a lot of attention and opportunities, more so than had he gone to a smaller school that has a large department in his major. The only large classes he has had are the two terms of World Cultures which is required of all freshmen. But then he APed out of most of the academic core requirements, and I don't know what other required frosh courses are like in terms of size. Buffalo does give some nice merit awards that can complement what they give in need money. Though they do not guarantee to meet need, and gap most kids, they seem to generously take care of their most highly desired kids. SAT something they really eyeball. My son has a number of friends who have done well in getting full need + packages, but those kids do have the higher end stats of the entering class.</p>