<p>I'm assuming you visited Union during the Junior Jump-Start day, and are therefore a junior and this comment isn't too late to be of any help. I was a freshman this past year at Union.</p>
<p>The overall political atmosphere of the school is pretty much moderate / mixed. The more liberal students are usually the more vocal students politically, but good portions of my friends are conservative, liberal, and moderate. Political leanings don't usually make or break friendships at Union because, really, no one cares unless it's election time. Union's legendary student apathy encompasses politics, too. It's definitely not a liberal campus, but it's definitely not conservative either. Apparently, there are College Republicans and College Democrats, but they're not given money by the college and I've never really seen them active on campus. The only real political organization on campus is Campus Action, which does an annual exhibit where they put stakes representing deceased soldiers in the ground in front of the Nott.</p>
<p>Don't let anyone tell you differently, fraternities and soroties COMPLETELY dominate the social scene. If you look on any of the college review websites, it'll tell you that something like 45% of students go greek-- however, freshman are not allowed to pledge, so the actual percentage of people-who-do-to-people-who-are-allowed bumps up to more like 70%. A typical weekend for most students at Union is to pregame in a dorm room, go to the hockey game, leave after the 2nd period and pregame some more, and then go to the frats for the night. Other than those aforementioned things, there's really not much else to do at Union on the weekends. UProgram, one of the clubs on campus, is given a fairly large budget to have one alternative entertainment option on campus each weekend. They'll bring in comedians, magicians, and have alcohol-free parties for a few hours on one day of the weekend. Except for the large parties, only a few people actually show up to the shows (and mostly, they're drunk). Most people love the way it is at Union, since beer is pretty much free with tutition (or at least the running joke goes), but if you're not a big partier, your best bet is to try and find the few other people who don't drink in your class and hang out with them on the weekends. There are other things to do in the surrounding area (Saratoga is great, and Crossgates Mall is always fun), but most students don't really take advantage of it.
Also, as someone said above, the Minervas were a thinly veiled attempt to try and reclaim some of the social life from the fraternities and sororties, but have mostly failed at that. The students who were in the Greek system when the Minervas were unveiled bore an unparalleled hatred for the new system, and the tendency has been passed down to the newer members: that Minervas are the enemy and were created to destroy the frats. Students in general don't really actively use their Minervas unless they a)live in the Minerva (they are some of the best dorms on campus), b) live close to their Minerva and use their kitchen (despite what the antiquated virtual tour might say, none of the freshman dorms have working kitchens) or c) are a member of the House Council and therefore have to plan and be at the events they put on. 3 of the 7 houses are not in convenient locations around campus for (b). Also, to be quite honest, the Minerva Councils are moving away from putting on smaller events like the original idea was (since no one shows up), and instead are putting on huge parties with alcohol, since those are better attended. Which, of course, basically makes them another frat.</p>
<p>The arts at Union... well...
If you're going to major in an arts field as your primary major, you're better off somewhere else. Union's ranked high in everything else, but is not really a great arts school. If you're thinking of double majoring in, say, a science or history and also music or theater, then you may be better off. Union's music department just got a brand-new renovated building with a new concert hall. It's really nice in there, and they have a brand-new music technology lab that music theory students get to use. (If you go to Union, take Music Theory I. It's a fun class with a great professor.) They also have a bunch of brand-new Steinway pianos in the music building for students to practice on. However, arts at Union are almost always put secondary to sports. Sports coaches get paid almost six figures while clubs, especially arts, have to fight to get $4000 to run the club with for the year. As for theater at Union, the theater department usually puts on 3 shows a year, but usually no musicals-- the head of the department thinks they generally aren't worth performing. Rarely are outside performers brought in, and they NEVER use the theater-- it's not large enough, and is basically just an enlarged black-box. The student-run theater group on campus (Mountebanks, no one knows why they're called that) tries to sponsor trips to NYC, a few productions of their own, and usually a talk or two, but they're mostly all theater majors anyway and are usually busy with the department's shows. The people are nice, but there's not many of them and there's not a lot offered. Most people are depressed and wish they had transferred while they could.</p>
<p>Other things you might want to know:
-lots of "hot" guys and girls, not a huge gay community.
-campus is <em>mostly</em> safe, but Schenectady is not a great city and you have to keep your wits about you
-if you join more than one club, are enthusiastic about them, and stick with them, you will be hailed as a hero
-most people wish they hadn't gone there, and Union is a lot of people's second- or third-choice school.</p>