Hi i am currently a Senior in highschool and i got all my college acceptances and I am deciding where I want to commit. So basically i got into SUNY ESF in syracuse and i really like it. I get to pay a cheap SUNY price (about $25,000/year) for a college that’s connected to Syracuse University which is usually much more expensive (+$60,000/year). From what I’ve heard about ESF is that you are basically apart of syracuse university but you take classes in a different building. To me that sounds like a very good option but my other choice is to go to binghamton university. Unfortunately i am on a waitlist to attend binghamton in the fall semester but i did get accepted for the spring 2018 semester.If i dont get admitted for the fall i could always go to ESF and then transfer after the semester.
What i want to know is if this is a good plan and if i’m allowed to commit to both schools? Also if i decide i want to stay in ESF, am I able to uncommit to Bing spring 2018? Or even if Bing tells me i’m accepted off the waitlist for the fall semester, would i be able to uncommit to ESF and go to Bing full year?
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@devinmiller12 What’s your major? It sounds like ESF is a really good option, is there any reason why you’re considering Binghamton instead of it?
Hi I just recently graduated from SUNY ESF in the spring of 2016. While I did really value my time their and I learned a lot and met a lot of great people, I do have a few things I think any one that is attending or plans to attend ESF should know. Probably the most important thing that I think everyone needs to consider when attending ESF is if the school is really right for them, ESF isn’t your typical college, as the name suggest it is very heavily if not entirely focused on environmental science (hence the name) This being said ESF doesn’t have many of the typical majors you will see at other schools, for instance they do not have English, math or education majors, but they do have environmental science, bioprocess engineering, and landscape architecture. So basically what im trying to say is that make sure you really know what you want to do when you go, because if you end up wanting to change majors you are very limited in terms of what is offered and they dont have many regular majors that people often switch to.
Another thing that I feel is important to mention is the relationship between ESF and Syracuse university. I dont know if the school still says this but when I went to visit when I was a high school senior they made the relationship seem like the greatest thing in the world, they said that ESF students were free to take whatever classes at syracuse they wanted. This to me seemed awesome, this was until my first semester when I actually got their and learned the truth. As an ESF student you are given a limited number of credits that you are allowed to take over at syracuse. If ym memory serves me right the maximum number of credits you can take is 16, however if you transfer in either from another college or come in with any high school college credits then the number will be less ( I came in with a few college classes from high school and was given 12 credits to take at syracuse). This also includes any classes that you have to take at syracuse, for example I was required to take physics 1 and 2 with labs over at syracuse as part of my program, this used up 8 of my credits leaving me with only 4 left to use ( I did eventually use them and took an intro level astronomy class). Thats another thing about ESF I found was that it was somewhat lacking in electives to take, their were very few typical electives to take and I found myself struggling every semester to find classes to that interested me and fulfilled my gen eds and free electives (they had a ton of biology electives but lacked electives in other areas, so I was stuck trying to find ones that interested me) .This all being said you can still go to Syracuse events and use their athletic facilities because your ESF ID basically acts like an SU ID, so you do get that benefit and you also get their student prices at their events including those in the carrier dome.
This all being said though I want to mention the good things about ESF, the school is know to being very challenging, they will push you in ways that you havent been pushed before, but you will absolutely learn a ton if you put the work in and roll with it. Also while the school isnt super well known it has been rated rather high in terms of quality of education and bang for your buck. Also a lot of the people that attend ESF are pretty like minded individuals ( a lot of science majors) so thats a plus. Finally if you are a science major like chemistry or biology their is a lot of opportunity to do research as an undergrad their ( in fact as a chemistry major you have to do research your senior year) the college is incredibly well funded in research for its size and they even have masters and doctoral degrees. I apologize for the really long post, but I really wanted to let you know about ESF and some of its pros and cons, again I really valued my time their and I am in no way trying to deter you from attending, I just wanted to let you know some of the stuff about the school that most people don’t learn about until they get their. Again I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck in making your decision. 
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@rebeccar I plan on having a biological sciences/ biomedical major. I want to prepare myself incase i decide to apply to medical schools towards the end of college. The only major that interests me at ESF is the Biotechnology program which seems to be a good fit for what i’m capable of. If i go to Bing i might change my major to Biomedical engineering because that too is a field im very interested in and i believe would prepare me for Med school. ESF does not offer a Biomedical Engineering major but i assume biotechnology isn’t too different, considering they both require credits in math, bio, chem, and engineering.
@swartzy I really appreciate your post and honesty about your experience at ESF. I wasn’t aware of this syracuse credit limit which seems unfortunate but i still really like everything else you said about this school.
All i really would like to ask is if you knew anyone who was in the Biotechnology major at ESF? That is the only major that appeals to me, plus it’s the major they accepted me in.
Also this isn’t that important, i’m actually a serious student who takes priority in my future careers, but would you say the activities/events/party scene in syracuse is a major benefit?
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It’d slightly concern me that there’s only 1 major you’re interested in. Are you set on it, you know what it entails, and you know what it’ll lead to career-wise? I’d just be nervous that if it isn’t a good fit for whatever reason, you don’t really have other options to change majors to.