Okay, so here is my rant about SUNY Albany and how I have come to despise the place.
First off, I am an accounting major/business minor and I am in my second semester of junior year. I will say this about SUNY Albany’s accounting program: it is phenomenal. If you’re looking to get a stellar education by some highly intelligent professors (I can only speak for the future accountants here), then Albany is definitely a place for you.
That being said…
I went to SUNY Albany part-time 3 years ago. I took two classes. Long story short, I did terribly; I did not even want to be in college, it was mostly my parents telling me to go. Afterwards, I went to comm college and now I am obviously back at Albany. I did alright first semester, but this semester I am killing it. I have straight A’s in all my classes right now, and combined with my GPA from last semester, I will definitely be at the GPA level to stay a student in Albany’s School of Business. However, the classes I took as a part-time student are preventing me from achieving the GPA I need to stay in the School of Business.
I have to go through an entire appeal process now and fight to keep my spot in Albany. IF Albany decides to keep me, then I will instantly be put on academic probation. If I do not meet the requirements of probation, then I will be permanently removed from the School of Business. If I had never taken those two God forsaken classes when I was fresh out of high school, none of this would be a concern (I literally did that terrible). The worst part? I took classes equivalent to the two classes at UAlbany as a part-time student at my comm college, but they won’t replace them.
What does Albany tell me to do? Apply elsewhere. That’s right; they’re holding my mistake from 3 years ago above my head. My cumulative from comm college was a 3.75. After this semester, I am 98% sure my cumulative will be a 3.4 WITHOUT the two classes from my part-time semester… and Albany may still kick me out.
So… to hell with Albany! I wanna know about Plattsburgh. How is the accounting program? How heavily are students recruited? What is grad school placement looking like? Anything and everything, tell me. I am looking forward to responses!
Sorry to hear about your experience at Albany. The good news is that you seemed like you really aced your classes. I assume you took intermediate 2 etc so that is no easy feat to get a good grade in that class. b or b plus even is hard to do. I have heard horror stories about that class. That is what I was always afraid of with the schools that had minimums to stay in the business school. Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo etc. They are excellent programs, do not get me wrong, but the pressure to maintain a 3.25 etc is a pain in the neck.
That said, schools like Plattsburgh, Oswego, Oneonta, and even Geneseo do not have a business school per se, so you only need a 2.0 to graduate. I know Plattsburgh has recruiters coming up there (not as much as albany) but the big 4 do go up there, and I know they have a co-op program with IBM. Getting into the big 4 is not the be all and end all.
My nephew went to Oswego, a while back and they have a very nice business program as well. The big 4 come up there as well. Their program is probably a little more well known than Plattsburgh, however, Plattsburgh is a nice school as well.
Let me know how you make out. I remember you giving me good advice for my high school son a while back. I think my son may want to persue something in business, maybe Accounting as well so it is good to hear your feedback about Albany. I may steer him away from Albany now that I heard your story. I know they have an excellent Accounting dept, however, to bust your balls over two courses is really not right. Maybe in the appeals process, they will let you stay on. It seems like you are mastering the material so if they do put you on probation, I am sure you will not have a problem, however, I understand you being pissed at Albany and want to leave.
I do know one thing for any potential student looking to go to Albany or any other school. Block out all of the “party” scholl nonsense. Any school can be a party school, and as you now see, Albany does have an excellent Accounting program. It is just a shame they are holding 2 courses against you. Good Luck!!
One correction. Oswego does have a school of business. It may not be as fancy as Abany etc, but I know you just apply for your major (you will definitely get in) and then you need a 2.0 to stay, like the rest of the college. They have a 4 plus 1 mba program as well if that interests you. You get your masters in Accounting after 5 years (in your case it would be less since you spent time at Albany and credits will transfer for you).
Sorry, I have been busy with finals so this is the first time I have been back on. @lostaccount yes I am definitely appealing because I really would like to stay at Albany. Though I now dislike the university for being so harsh and potentially wasting my time and money, the accounting program is so good here and plus I commute so I am saving tons of money. @euve69 I actually just applied to oswego the other day! However, I do want to stay at Albany though I am really mad that they are putting this added pressure on me for a history class and English class… That I took at comm college also! Well, equivalent courses. I am just worried because I was told that even if you have a 3.2 and you appeal, they can still say no. “It depends on the circumstances” whatever that I supposed to mean.
The only reason I may leave regardless is because if I appeal and they accept, that’s great. But if I don’t meet their requirements for the following semester, then I get kicked out permanently. At that point, I would be forced to transfer and I would have just wasted money because I have to take half my major requirements at my transfer school but next semester, I’ll be a senior. So I’ll already have entered the second half of my major requirements… Thus those classes would be thrown out the window.
Such a mess this all is. I am just trying my hardest and ttrying not to think about it
It’s too bad some schools put such pressure on students to maintain a certain GPAs but then don’t equate number of A’s given out by topic. That puts pressure on the entire system. You then have students telling profs that they must get such and such or they will be pitched from their program. I understand minimums to graduate but not higher requirements for majors. Obviously someone who is totally incompetent in a topic should not be majoring in it but isn’t that true in general. If your average is so low should you be able to major in English? Well you rarely hear people say they are barred from majoring in English because their English GPA is too low. Why, cause they give out As like candy in the humanities. Why are there different criteria for different subjects. Why should more A’s be given in English then in Econ? Are humanities so simplistic that expectations can be so low?