<p>Looking for a transfer school, and I'm considering Buffalo as well. Any current students here, or at least some who went there recently?</p>
<p>I'd like to know more about things like:
1. Classes. Is it easy to register for classes or they just get filled up too early? How are the profs, good teachers, available for students or not? Do we get insane workloads (homeworks), I prefer classes that challenge in quality, not quantity. Are the admins helpful or just available when we write the check?
2. Are the dorms any good on your campus or they simply suck? If apartment is a better choice is it easy to find a decent one?
3. What about the surrounding town. are the residents friendly? Or whether its safe or not over there. One more thing, any decent access to supermarkets, diners, movies, etc?
4. Its campus life. Are the students friendly towards foreigners and one another? What about social scenes, do they party all the time or never party at all? Not a party animal, but prefer places with social life.
5. Anything more, unsual, or any concerns I should know about?</p>
<p>Oh and is it hard to get into the school? I'm going for either engineering or architecture.</p>
<p>If you're willing to tell me more, feel free to respond. Any infos appreciated.</p>
<p>I can answer question 3 and 4.
3. I do not attend Buffalo yet but i will be this September. My friend told me that the south campus is dangerous while the north campus is perfectly safe. Markets, stores, and malls are easy access. There are also a few work out gyms around the school and near your dorm.
4. Friends tell me that the social life here is great and people are nice. My friends are foreigners too, Russian, and Asian.</p>
<p>I'd like to know more about things like:
1. Classes. Is it easy to register for classes or they just get filled up too early? How are the profs, good teachers, available for students or not? Do we get insane workloads (homeworks), I prefer classes that challenge in quality, not quantity. Are the admins helpful or just available when we write the check?
2. Are the dorms any good on your campus or they simply suck? If apartment is a better choice is it easy to find a decent one?
3. What about the surrounding town. are the residents friendly? Or whether its safe or not over there. One more thing, any decent access to supermarkets, diners, movies, etc?
4. Its campus life. Are the students friendly towards foreigners and one another? What about social scenes, do they party all the time or never party at all? Not a party animal, but prefer places with social life.
5. Anything more, unsual, or any concerns I should know about?</p>
<p>Oh and is it hard to get into the school? I'm going for either engineering or architecture.</p>
<p>If you're willing to tell me more, feel free to respond. Any infos appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks
</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you are transferring into one of the engineering programs in SEAS, an adviser will register you for your first semester classes. After that, registration priority is based on the number of credits you've completed (yes the credits you have completed at your previous institution count toward this number). Homework amounts very based on the course. Courses such as Statics will have homework due (consisting of three problem sets) at the beginning of every class, while classes such as Intro to MAE practices will have only 1 simple project, four simple exams, and a few homework assignments in a semester. If you need help with any issue on campus, there is someone to help you out.</p></li>
<li><p>I never lived in the dorms at UB, so I can't tell you which dorms are better than the others. Many students who live off campus, live in the University Heights/District area to the immediate west, south, and southeast of South Campus. Apartments in this neighborhood range from 3-8 bedrooms, $120-$350 per person per month, with or plus utilities, and range from nice quality to deplorable. Some landlords require whole apartment leases, and others offer individual leases. Some apartments are in majority student populated areas where you're likely to live near a frat house, others are on streets where your neighbors will be working adults and families with school-aged children. </p></li>
<li><p>The people in Buffalo tend to be helpful and good mannered. If you need directions to some place and ask a Buffalonian, they'll most likely help you. Buffalo is a safe city if you have street smarts. That is, keep your doors and windows in your house LOCKED at all times, only answer the door if you are expecting someone, when walking at night, either travel in groups or get a ride. Do not venture into unknown areas if you do not need to be there. If you drive, keep all your doors locked and keep your valuables out of plain sight. Carry your cellphone in case of emergency. This goes for whether you're at home, work or school. I'm not trying to scare you, but this goes for any locale, regardless of its Uniform Crime Report stats at the FBI. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>In the Heights, you will be within short walking distance to businesses on Main Street which include two supermarkets, an art house movie theater (art house= not commercial), many bars, many restaurants, bookstores, clothing shops and so on. The Metro Rail (our subway) runs underneath Main Street and has two stops in the Heights, one of which being South Campus itself.</p>
<ol>
<li>UB has a pretty social atmosphere. I already mentioned the number of bars near South Campus. Many Greek lettered Organizations and Student Association clubs hold open parties in clubs on Chippewa Street in Downtown Buffalo. But UB isn't just a school where students anticipate getting sh--faced at the next party. There are plenty of students who do all their partying in Club Capen (slang phrase for studying at the library). There are also athletics (both intramural and NCAA), clubs (ranging from international/cultural to recreation, to business/professional, to service, etc.), and events, such as concerts, and speaking engagements. UB has a large international student population, and there is no animosity between any large groups of people at our school, that I know of.</li>
</ol>
<p>It isn't that hard to get accepted by the SEAS(engineering) , but architecture may be more difficult to transfer into.</p>
<p>If you are planning on getting into the architecture department I suggest you start working on a portfolio now. I have no insight into Bufallo's standards, but as the mother of a HS student who had applied to a number of schools of architecture I can tell you that in general the standards are tougher than other majors. He got into some arch programs, while at other colleges he was accepted to the University but not into the school of architecture. </p>
<p>Buffalo was actually the exception because they admit freshman into their arch program as long as they are accepted to the university. </p>
<p>A few things you should consider:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Buffalo is not a Barch 5 year program, it's a 4+2, which means that once you get your undergraduate degree you need to apply to an March program (buffallo has one) and only once you have your March will you be able to sit for the licensing exam. </p></li>
<li><p>Bufallo's architecture program requires a design studio every semester (6 credits each I think). You need to find out how you will make up the first year of design classes (does this mean 2 summer sessions, or will it mean an extra year???) </p></li>
<li><p>If it looks like you need to go for 4 more years to get the bachelors degree, it means that you will have already invested 5 years in your undergraduate education and you still need to add two years for your masters. ANother option would be to get your undergraduate degree in engineering (assuming a lot of your credits are transferable) take a few art classes as electives to prepare a portfolio, and apply to an March program for students who's undergraduate degree is not in architecture. This is a 3 year program.
The reason I suggest this is because either way you may end up going to school for 7 years and this way you would have both degrees. </p></li>
<li><p>Maybe you know all this and I'm just rambling....</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hey btw I heard negative comments about the students there, many said most students are just too superficial and snooty, what do you ppl think???</p>
<p>Is it true that the dorms party like mad? I heard noone's stopping it either.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I also heard if I'm international I'm most likely to go south, is it true?</p>