<p>My B-Student son is exploring college and SUNY's are part of the equation. Binghamton & Geneseo are likely out due to their high admissions standards.</p>
<p>With regard to the other university centers, none really appealed to us. UBuffalo seems too big and the complaints of large class sizes & TA's teaching numerous courses was a turnoff. Albany turns up on too many negative rankings and Stony Brook sounds like too much of a commuter school.</p>
<p>From there we drilled down to the University Colleges. Most of these seem roughly on equal footing. New Paltz is "ranked" highest of these but the facilities seemed dirty & unkempt and there seemed to be a lot of lost souls walking the campus. While the others sound nice, we focused on Oneonta and Fredonia.</p>
<p>Both seem very nice and are good options. The more we looked, however, the more appealing Fredonia seemed. The facilities seem among the nicest of the SUNY's we've visited. The local town, like many SUNY towns, is small but seems neater and safer than some others, and has enough commerce for when parents visit. The administration seems to have their act together and I'm more optimistic about them dealing with the upcoming SUNY budget cuts. And though it sits in the middle of lake effect country, when you look at some historical snow totals of upstate SUNY campuses, it is not decidedly different than many of them.</p>
<p>In comparing Oneonta and Fredonia though, Oneonta seems to be more well-known, likely due to its "proximity" to metro NYC. Fredonia, on the other hand, is far from NYC and draws students primarily from Western and Central NY. That reduces its name recognition among NYC area families and businesses. I'm guessing then that Oneonta may have better internship opportunities and career placement in the NYC area.</p>
<p>All-in-all though, we find Fredonia to be very appealing.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’ve found a good potential fit with Fredonia - is your S a junior now? It’s always nice to have that warm fuzzy feeling about a school right off the bat! </p>
<p>As a UB freshman parent, just wanted to comment on one of your observations, which I hope will provide a little more insight into the big SUNY’s for you and anyone else interested:</p>
<p>"UBuffalo seems too big and the complaints of large class sizes & TA’s teaching numerous courses was a turnoff. "</p>
<p>UB is certainly large and can be overwhelming on a first/second visit (coming from a small town, it was very intimidating for my D) but it actually gets alot smaller once the student is on campus and in the flow of things. Their support staff is excellent and provides a very student-friendly environment. She’s also had to ask for help/advice from various offices and reports having easy and pleasant interactions, most follow up with her to make sure that she received what she needed or to let her know of additional opportunities.</p>
<p>I’m a bit surprised at the “complaints” on class sizes as I haven’t heard that from D or her friends at UB and it doesn’t seem to impact their ability to learn and do well there. For most majors at most schools, including UB, the class sizes shrink once beyond the 100-200 level classes. So far, her experience (with 4 sciences, history & psych) has been that TA’s teach the lab and/or recitation portions of the classes, while the professors handle the lectures. The 2 math classes she’s taken have been around 25 kids and the profs teach the recitation sections too. The lower level science/gen ed courses can have several hundred students registered (some don’t bother to attend lecture if it’s available online) but the labs and recitations are under 30 kids and that’s where the real interaction and Q&A happens. The profs all have office hours several times a week and seem to be good about spending one on one time with anyone who wants/needs it. There are also a number of other ways that kids can easily get individual help with any problems/questions - math centers, writing labs, science study centers, the AA’s who live in the dorms with them, etc. The only non-PhD profs my D has had are current PhD candidates and are definitely qualified to teach the into courses, though their teaching styles may not be as refined as the more experienced profs. YMMV…</p>
<p>I’m sure most of this would apply to the other universities as well, it’s a trade-off of size vs. opportunity, but size may not really be that much of a factor once the kid settles in! If I had to do it again, as a parent, I’d look more closely at course availability (ie are kids actually able to register for classes they need) as that can be a problem at the SUNY’s - both universities and colleges. So far it hasn’t been an issue for my D, but she knows people who started with fewer college credits and have been impacted by having later registration windows. That can be a real problem for majors with alot of specific or sequential pre-requisites and additional semesters/summer courses are an extra expense I’d want to plan for in advance!</p>
<p>Thanks for replying, sk8rmom. I’m glad your daughter enjoys UB and I’m sure most of the kids there do as well. And yes, you can plug any large university into my comments regarding UB, since that is necessarily the structure for such large institutions. My feelings probably derive from my own background of small schools and small class sizes, and my fear that my less-than-driven son #2 will get lost in the shuffle at such institution. As you imply, certain kids need certain environments to have the best chance of learning. I hope my son finds the best for him.</p>
<p>I also share your fear of class availability especially with the SUNY budget cuts in the NYS Budget. Here again, I’m trying to identify the SUNY college with a competent administration that is best able to work through these cuts. That ends up being a guess, unfortunately. I do like the fact that Fredonia does offer a plan called “Fredonia in Four” that guarantees a student class availability in their major in order to graduate in 4 years, assuming they do not switch majors. </p>
<p>Pursuant to the SUNY budget cuts, there is an interesting hint from NYS that they may let the SUNY colleges set their own tuition within certain guidelines. I think that will be a positive step. I know in Virginia, for example, kids who go to William & Mary will pay more than kids that go to VCU; both state schools.</p>
<p>clarence84: I’m attending my first semester at SUNY Fredonia right now. At the end of last year, I spent countless hours researching SUNY schools and visited a few campuses. I visited Brockport, Oswego, Fredonia, SUNYIT, New Paltz and Oneonta.</p>
<p>My impressions were as follows: SUNYIT made me feel like I was at a business park. There was a lack of art, shubbery, and overall character. It’s a small school, which was appealing, but I couldn’t overcome the feeling I got from being there. New Paltz I really like; it’s a really fun college town, and there are a lot of opportunities for outdoor activities. Unfortunately I was not accepted.</p>
<p>My sister attended Oneonta so I’d been up there a few times. It seemed like a good college environment, well maintained, small student body… but I didn’t find their computer science program to be appealing.</p>
<p>Oswego was another pleasant place that seemed to be well-run, but it felt too big for me. Fredonia felt right as soon as I arrived. The school is very well maintained, the campus is the prettiest SUNY I’ve been to and faculty is very involved with the student body. The compute science program offers classes in a wide variety of areas. I’ve found the learning center(tutoring) to be extremely helpful. I’m pretty happy about my decision to attend Fredonia.</p>
<p>If you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.</p>
<p>Thanks, incubusfan. It’s good to hear that you like the school. I also agree that the campus is very nice and the general facilities looked to be in good shape.</p>
<p>My son’s interested in majoring in Communications and when I read some reviews on ratemyprofessors for the Comm. staff they didn’t sound too good. Do you know any Communications majors and, if so, are they happy with their professors, the Comm. facilities, etc. The Oneonta Comm. faculty seem to rate-out a bit better and there are more of them, although they do use adjuncts while Fredonia didn’t list any in their Comm. dept.</p>
<p>Also, I know all SUNY schools are considered party schools, but where would you say Fredonia falls in the spectrum of things.</p>
<p>I am surprised to read your response to New Paltz. We really liked NP - the town is artsy and funky and filled with restaurants and shops all geared toward college students. The schools attracts a really down to earth and friendly population. The communications dept is top noch. My son transferred to NP and his professors have been great for the most part, class sizes small. I think the school has a lot to offer. It sure has become very popular and harder to get into. The location is great too.</p>
<p>clarence84: Fredonia is pretty much known for its music program; I don’t know much about the quality of the Communications program here. I haven’t heard anything about it, positive, or negative. My sister is an alumni of Oneonta, majoring in Communications and she absolutely loved her experience there. She goes back there for their alumni weekends whenever she can.</p>
<p>In terms of Fredonia being a “party school”, things are more tame than I had expected. I’m older than most students here(24), and not interested in the party scene. There hasn’t been anything crazy going on here in the few weeks that I’ve been here. </p>
<p>Oneonta is probably the better choice if your son is hard set on majoring in Communications, IMO.</p>
<p>Very much appreciate your observations, incubusfan. Good luck with your studies.</p>
<p>No offense intended, LilyMoon, in my observations of NP. It is a very hot college and ranked higher than the others my son’s considering. Despite my negative vibe when we visited I still encouraged him to apply due to its growing reputation but he just didn’t care to. My older son, a college soph, reported friends that are also very happy there.</p>
<p>Best wishes to your son for continued success.</p>
<p>My good friend has a daughter at Fredonia. She is a freshman and absolutely loves it. She also knows 2 or 3 others from our Long Island high school that are also freshmen. She has no complaints. You are correct, it is one of the lesser known SUNY’s but I don’t think that will negatively affect employment. SUNY colleges are SUNY colleges and SUNY Universities are SUNY U’s whether or not someone is familiar with that particular school or not. Maybe Fredonia is an advantage as the name recognition is lower downstate!!</p>
<p>As far as UBuffalo. My son is a freshman. Doing very well and is very happy. All of his large classes have a recitation section which is very small. He has not complained about the size of the lecture classes.</p>
<p>Another parent of a happy UB student (soph D – who made a very smooth transition to a big environment from a tiny high school, graduating class 45). Keep in mind it can be surprising how many different small “niches” exist at a big school. </p>
<p>Another thing that people often don’t realize: don’t automatically dismiss the presence of TAs. Depending on the subject, the class, the professor’s interest in/skill at teaching as opposed to research, and a TA’s talent, eagerness and ability to teach/connect/inspire, a TA can sometimes provide a more enriching learning experience for the student.</p>
<p>I know happy students at Fredonia and Oneonta. As mentioned earlier, Fredonia is well regarded for its music program, one of the stronger music programs in the SUNY system. Oneonta does have a solid communications program. In my professional position, I’ve hosted several strong and well-prepared interns from the Oneonta communications program over the years. UBuffalo also has a good communications program, kids in that program seem very pre-professional , polished, seriously business-focused (according to my quirky, artsy, humanities D)</p>
<p>UB is a large school…
However, the floors in the dorms are co-ed which I believe is the first place freshman find friends. Doesn’t matter how big a school is… I keep reposting… A school is only as big as your group of friends. (This is my take as someone who started at a SUNY college, 6000 kids, and transferred to a Big Ten School, with roughly 40,000 kids. Loved my SUNY. Great floor where we bonded well, though nothing compared to my Big Ten experience, great kids I bonded with on my floor upon transferring. I had some big lecture hall size classes at both. Depends on the major.</p>
<p>HI TO SK8RMOM and ORCHESTRA MOM!! Hope you are having fun with your kids on break.</p>
<p>Hi crazed! Yes, it’s fun in short bursts as she has several tests next week to study for and has been doing more shadowing to figure out if she wants to change her major (getting burned out on chem already!). Is your son doing any summer classes? I’ve been assigned the job of researching the “what do I need to take if I change my major?” and scrambling since UB doesn’t have an extensive offering of online summer classes. Back to TAURUS…hope your break week is going well!</p>
<p>Hi crazed and sk8rmom
Yes, I’m having a great time with orchestragirl home…in fact we’re heading to NYC today for a girls’ getaway, museums, shopping, opera tonight…</p>
<p>So glad your kids have both settled into UB this year. I can’t believe how fast time is flying by and my D is planning her JR year classes already!</p>