<p>Sorry, northeastmom, I meant "English" for my eng abbreviation. :-) It seems like a strong liberal arts school---although, I haven't researched that aspect in detail, since son's interests lie elsewhere. Good luck!</p>
<p>jolynne, Thanks, I did understand your post. I was just responding to the post underneath yours regarding another school (Clarkson).</p>
<p>drizzl, I thanks. I will send a PM to you.</p>
<p>Hartwick College in Oneonta has an excellent English department as well as first-rate opportunities for study abroad and off-campus January Term programs. It's worth a serious look.</p>
<p>elsat, Hartwick was the very first school that my son toured. Do you know someone who attends?</p>
<p>My daughter is looking into this area as well. We are in-state and she has applied to Bing, Cortland, , Geneseo, New Paltz and Ithaca. Syracuse is a maybe. She wants a musical theatre major and possibly double major/minor in writing, Communications or English. She has a 97 weighted GPA a 1740 SAT and a 29 ACT. I think the ACT might give her some merit for the private schools but we are hoping she decides on a SUNY. She loved Ithaca and Cortland. But let me tell you even Cortland wants at least a 90 average. New Paltz a 92, Bing wants at least a 95 and high SAT's and Geneseo is our state honor college and a real reach school for our daughter. SUNY schools are getting tougher every year.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, my son attends Hartwick College. I've been increasingly impressed by the school that Hartwick has become in recent years. They offer great support and lots of opportunities to work directly with faculty.</p>
<p>elsat, I just sent a PM to you. Thanks for any insight that you have about Hartwick.</p>
<p>ya if your not an engineering, science, or business major, then you should probs skip Clarkson, but SUNY potsdam is decent. They have some nice dorms, but also some awful ones. Potsdam is a tough place to go to school if you dont drink. There is legit nothing else to do around here. Its an ok school, a good backup for a B+ student.</p>
<p>My description of Postdam and area----dreary, muddy, gray, yuk.</p>
<p>At Ithaca College, as well as other schools, also look into their policy on taking applications for the less popular majors. Sometimes it's more possible to gain acceptance with a new, interdisciplinary, or less popular major.
At Ithaca, in my son's application year, he didn't get into the college for his desired major major (film school; very popular and competitive). But Ithaca, along with the rejection letter that arrived early in mid-April, offered him a second chance to quickly reapply for his choice from a menu of new, less well-known and less popular majors. He had frankly never heard of these other majors, but the college handled the communication with such cordiality that he applied for one as his safety, not knowing what would happen everywhere else. I recall one called Geriatric Studies, another called Culture & Communication, but there were others on the list that aren't popular among students. </p>
<p>Investigating the less popular majors at Ithaca beforehand, or some of the other schools you think might be too reachy, could be an admissions strategy to explore.</p>
<p>Another thing I liked about Ithaca was that they have majors for those who want to study History, or English if I recall correctly, but different majors for those who want to eventually teach these subjects in high school. If the goal is to eventually teach, there is a bit less emphasis on courses in research leading towards PhD applications, and gives time to take some education courses instead. I thought that was a good difference for someone in the liberal arts.</p>
<p>I also thought the administration and admissions people at Ithaca were exceptionally communicative. Had our son not gotten into his first choice major elsewhere, he surely would have gone to Ithaca in the second-choice interdisciplinary major, and he wrote them cordially following the admissions experience. They were impressive communicators there.</p>
<p>Northeastmom: Not sure what you mean by UC students looking up to SU or being envious of? Most of the UC students I know did not even apply to SU, mainly bc of the specialized degrees that UC offers that SU does not and I believe UC is a little cheaper. I do know, on the subject of aid, that there are at least 2 kids I know that are going to UC bc the aid was a substantially better offer than they got at Ithaca. My own D chose SUNY Fredonia over Ithaca bc of better aid as well.</p>
<p>I have no clue why Oswego suddenly became the hot school (but all of the SUNY's are pretty much getting exponentially popular due to the much lower cost). Of my D's friends, her class valedictorian is at Oswego bc she pretty much got a full ride. Another girl is studying biology, not sure on the rest. The "B" students that I know of that were rejected were not from our school (children of friends).</p>
<p>Okay, I had the feeling that some chunk of students at Utica were frustrated that they were not attending SU.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, I'm just reading this thread, but I want to chime in again with Wells and Hobart/William Smith. You have written that your H doesn't think Wells is a fit for your son, but what does your son think? It's certainly worth a drive by, I think Wells is one of those schools that, as soon as you see it, it's a YES!!! or a Get Me Out of HERE!! </p>
<p>As for the idea of men being at a disadvantage, I don't really see it. The Wells community is pretty tight-knit. There certainly are lots of women who were very upset about the school going co-ed, but I think ultimately they will support Wells students regardless of gender. And it's not like the school is so huge that you'd have 30 kids (or even 10) competing for that one great internship. And it IS fairly affordable.</p>
<p>You can PM me if you have any specific questions that I could answer.</p>
<p>Checkout Hartwick----the campus is right near SUNY Oneonta.</p>
<p>we old time new yorker's still haven't figured out how Geneseo became so selective. Trust me, Geneseo was never viewed any higher than the other SUNY colleges in the
1970's.
maybe this generations "hot" Suny will be oswego-- but the winters are so intense.
The first time I was in Oswego my senior year of HS, the lake was so frozen and covered with snow, that I thought it was the football field. I swear, you didn't see any part of the lake. It was just mounds of snow as far as the eye could see.
The lake never did freeze like that again during the winters that I was a student at Oswego-
I still ask myself why did I go to Oswego over New Paltz ?? (though I think the answer was that NP was just a bit too close to home for me)</p>
<p>jude, thank you. Hobart is on my son's list, but I was also trying to find some financial safeties and less expensive options too. </p>
<p>As far as Wells, my son does not even know it exists right now. I will speak with him about it. I do know that he does not want something completely remote, and I believe that Wells is pretty remote. He would like to walk to a couple of places, or have access to a shuttle. I think that Wells might have some shuttles, but do not know. Also, we do feel that with the thousands of schools out there, our son should be at one where the alumni connections will be there for him. I really don't know if they will be there for men in the near future. Perhaps they will be, and perhaps they won't be. Honestly, I don't think that is a complication that he needs to get involved with, but that is my opinion. Most other schools with alumni associations are not going to worry about his gender. Also, this school is a bit small for his taste. My son would like a small school, just not that small.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, I can completely understand the 'not that small' thing, it IS a very small school. As far as things you can walk to and shuttles, you can walk to the village, which has a pub and an inn, a small grocery, a pizza place and a deli. There is also a shuttle to Ithaca that runs on a very regular basis. My D is thinking of putting Wells on her list, and I keep reminding her that it's REALLY small.</p>
<p>I've just stumbled upon this thread, found some useful information as we are currently exploring colleges in the SUNY system. I'm amazed that some of the SUNY's are so selective, what other choices will we have?</p>
<p>My D. was most interested in small LACs, and we visited Hamilton and Colgate last fall. Her Dad and I liked Colgate's academics and semester abroad program, and even though it's really bigger than a LAC--it's Div. I in sports--it still seemed close-knit. They seemed to promote themselves as a school for confident kids, for leaders. Hamilton has a beautiful campus and friendly admissions office. The school has a lot of emphasis on writing, and SAT scores are optional is that's importance. The didn't offer merit aid, which was a definite negative. Both schools are in remote areas which may eliminate them from your son's consideration. Our D. applied to Hamilton, but ended up at her ED school in the Midwest.</p>
<p>jude, Wells is now off son's list. I talked to him about it, and he definitely wants a larger school than Wells. Also, although he likes the female: male ratio, he thinks a school with only 125 males is not something that he wants for himself. He realized that it comes to only 31-32 guys per graduating class!</p>
<p>Scrappinmom, it is not easy. Maybe you can look at your hs's naviance scattergrams for some guidance regarding chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>kcphobo, thanks. I feel that Colgate and Hamilton are too competitive for our son.</p>