<p>Thanks Chocolate- 2 kids- 2 years apart. We did visit alot of the SUNY campuses over the past 4 years. boysx3- It might be a good thing that Public policy is on the downtown campus. From what I hear, there are a number of classes that are quite large- especially Freshmen Into.classes. My hubby who went to Albany many years ago- said that was one of the things he didn't like about Albany --but a big plus was that he was able to do Internships in the State Capitol. Public Policy definitely looks like a good solid program. Just apply- visit - learn as much as you can about the program over the next year --and see what your other options are. And Chocolate- my husband confirms the campus looks pretty much the same. He was there in the '70's and we visited the campus last month. But they now have a new nano-technology center which is right next to the main campus. So it has expanded. Contrary to our alma mater.. We visited Oswego about 4 years ago with d- it looked just as I remembered it. I don't think they have done any new construction since I graduated in 19--. Good luck!!</p>
<p>SUNY Albany has its drawbacks, but also its advantages. The campus was designed by Edward Durell Stone, who seems to have had an obsession with symmetry. Legend has it that his son designed the landscaping behind State quad. The father wanted the trees to be lined up in rows, but the son used a more natural design. Son would not agree to father's plan, so son was fired. Don't know if that is true, but I heard it for years.</p>
<p>While the architecture can seem a bit monotonous (especially in February), it is amazing when spring comes. The fountain at the center of campus is the place to be as soon as the mercury tops 50 degrees. The wind does blow, but it gave us a sense of being pioneers. Walking to class in the howling wind was the closest many of us would ever come to "roughing it" so we prided ourselves on avoiding the tunnels. I remember one guy who never wore shoes...ever. I can still picture him wandering around barefoot in the snow.</p>
<p>Like anything else, the place is what you make of it. There are plenty of opportunities to get off campus, but the campus has a lot to offer.</p>
<p>I loved my four years there.</p>
<p>Just for info, SUNY Oswego is undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation as we speak slated to be done sometime in 2007. That is part of the reason my D rejected her acceptance from them. She didn't want to deal with the extra noise and mess for at least a year of major construction.</p>
<p>Sorry for a double post, but I was 1 minute late in trying to get my edited post up. I had more comments after reading the entire thread...</p>
<p>As for Binghampton, she scratched them from the list after considerable pressure even at college fairs for her to be able to begin taking one graduate level course starting her Jr year and Albany was the same. Her feeling? C'mon already! I'm leaving high school with 34 college credits already earned. I don't want to totally miss my college experience by being pushed out the door too quickly.</p>
<p>End result she has accepted SUNY Brockport calling it one of the 2 friendliest college campuses we visited with UNC-Chapel Hill being the other. Make sure you visit Duke if you are looking at a combo program. After spending 5 minutes on their campus my DD was ready to leave. Her take? No one smiled, no one said hello and no one really mad eye contact just rushed to wherever they needed to be. Overall feeling for me, they were deadly serious.</p>
<p>That was <em>one</em> of the reasons my son didn't accept Wesleyan - couldn't stand the noise and renovation either!</p>
<p>hello everyone,</p>
<p>I have kind of been a lurker on this thread for awhile (mostly because of finals). I am currently a sophomore at Suny Binghamton, doing a double major/minor. If you have any questions feel free to ask me. I know that as parents yourself, I might be of some use :).</p>
<p>For those considering SUNY campuses and are interested in Math majors,Stonybrook just received a $25 million dollar gift (2nd largest ever) from its former Math dept chairman..he left to found a corportation and is now on the Board of Trustees..its to be used in the area of Math and computer science and directly for faculty,scholarships,etc..its not a building type endowment.</p>
<p>I visited Oswego in the fall and while it was undoubtedly one of the prettiest suny's out there, the construction killed it for me as well. </p>
<p>Plattsburgh is a decent city (extremely safe) but there's not a lot to do in the winter unless you're into skiing, ice skating, etc. The campus is actually pretty spread out, and the 'field house' is pretty far away, especially if you have the first chunk of dorms- definitely not a fun walk! However, students are allowed to have cars all 4 years, which definitely helps with the 'things to do' problem - burlington vt is about 45mins away and montreal is under 90mins away.</p>
<p>The decisions for the Class of 2006 are in- and the Winner is SUNY!!
D's HS newspaper came out yesterday where they list the schools that our seniors are heading to. From my Nassau county, south shore community, I'd say approx 1/2 of the graduating class of 300 kids is going to a SUNY campus. It looks like about 75 are going to Nassau Community College (and we have a good district- Intel Finalist and all) and around 6-10 kids are going to Binghamton-Albany-Buffalo-StonyBrook-Cortland-Farmingdale-Geneseo-Oswego-New Paltz. Less than 5 going to Purchase-Oneonta-Delhi-Plattsburg etc. This was the first year I noticed a sizable amount going to StonyBrook and Farmingdale and it did seem that less kids were going to Hofstra and Adelphi. In the past it seemed there were lots of kids (15-20) going to a few of the SUNY campuses (ie Binghamton and Buffalo). This year it seems more evenly distributed amongst many of the campuses. Also there seemed to be less kids going to U of Maryland and Towson and no one was going to U Delaware. Can't figure out if parents didn't want to spend the extra $ for these schools or if they are getting harder to get into. Guess I just wanted to pass along that SUNY remains a very viable choice for NY state kids, at least from my Long Island school district. Good Luck to the class of 2007!!
Marny</p>
<p>Marny, I know someone from your area who is going to UDel. He was waitlisted at UDel and was going to go to a more expensive private school in another city. He just got into UDel. I think this school is harder to get into, and it has been for a few years. Hofstra is trying to become more nationally recognized. Perhaps they are accepting fewer students from LI, but I don't know if that is the case. When we visited that campus we met a lot of students from New England states.</p>
<p>I think you are right about UDel. It seems to be extremely popular here on LI and may be much more difficult to get into. Hofstra is the type of school we just take for granted on LI. It's possible they are trying to gain a more national reputation so they are taking less kids from LI but I do not know that for sure. SUNY Farmingdale has expanded their campus greatly in the past few years, so that may be part of the reason more kids are considering it. It seems 8 kids are going to Cortland this year from my d's HS. I do not think she realized that so many of her classmates were going too. I do not think they ever had as many kids going there from one graduating class.</p>
<p>Best of luck to the graduating classes of 2006 = the incoming SUNY classes of 2010! The SUNY system is an extraordinary academic resource for New York and the above post certainly seems to bear witness to an increasing awareness and appreciation of that - more and more people are, with reason, "rethinking SUNY". </p>
<p>Just came across another interesting SUNY program. While doing a check for another NY mom- I was directed to the NYS College of Ceramics (SUNY Program- probably like Cornell and ILR/Human Ec etc) at Alfred University. Alfred's NYS College of Ceramics is affiliated with their School of Engineering and other programs. Though I know little about it and my college search days are over, it does seem to be an interesting program at Alfred which probably has reduced tuition rates (as Cornell programs cost less too). So if you are a NYS parent whose kid may be interested in ceramics/art/engineering, you may want to check out the program at Alfred U (which is different than Alfred State.) If anyone does get specific info, it might be good to list it here, as we do get the attention of the NYS parents.
Can't believe it- but it is soon time for Orientation at SUNY Cortland. My posting days at cc will soon be over (I am not adding to any NEW posts) so I wish you all well.<br>
Marny</p>
<p>I LOVED Alfred when my son was considering art. Excellent program with wonderful facilities, super grad placement. Known for their supportive faculty. The best bargin we found.</p>
<p>jasmom, From what I have seen in tuition at some art schools, I would have to agree about this being a bargain. Can I ask how one gets home from there?</p>
<p>Location was its downside. This is from a couple of years ago, but there may be a bus that gets the students to more populated areas. That would be a great question to their (very responsive) admission folks.</p>
<p>jasmom, Thanks. We did investigate this school on the boards for a brief time, and it seemed like the location was a negative, so we never investigated further. The education sounds excellent.</p>
<p>Blumini - Just wanted to echo the thoughts of some that SUNY schools do primarily draw from LI, so there's not necessarily alot of change from one's hs, as opposed to other state schools where the draw is from all over the US and world. H graduated from Albany and I did three semesters there before transferring to William & Mary, so we have discussions about this all the time. We both majored in accounting and he felt he got a great education for the price. While I agree, there was no comparison for me between the two schools (both state institutions) in terms of academics, class size, school spirit, school pride, professor-student interaction, etc. The best way for me to describe it is that at Albany I attended college while at W&M I lived the college experience, if that makes any sense at all. Of course
Albany is larger and I may not have felt all of these differences if I had attended a smaller SUNY college.
As for the Albany campus, I actually liked it, at least back then. I never felt claustrophobic and the academic podium setup was great during the snow with all of the tunnels. And this is the opinion of one who loves historic, old buildings and was in heaven with the three hundred year old buildings at W&M.
I think the best you can do is visit as many SUNY schools as you can that meet your academic and social needs, but also consider some oos public and private schools. Some have financial aid packages that will rival the costs of a SUNY education.
Good luck in your decisions!</p>
<p>Another Oswego grad here with a positive experience. Could have something to do with meeting my husband there. We both lived on 9th floor of Hart Hall (parents - beware of coed dorms!) We both enjoyed our experience there and felt we got a good education.</p>
<p>That said... when it was time for my son to look for a college, he was not interested in any SUNY schools. Main complaint would be the lack of a flagship campus. He was looking for the "football-rah-rah" kind of school. We made him apply to SUNY Buffalo as a safety school, but I knew it was his last choice. He ended up picking Clemson University in South Carolina. It is a state school, but much nicer than any of the SUNY schools... beautiful campus, nice weather, good football team, great engineering program. The choice was easy. And best of all... it came with a scholarship that includes a waiver of OOS tuition differential. So we pay about the same as if he went to SUNY Buffalo!</p>