<p>Please give feedback on this school strong academics or not</p>
<p>Try to send a PM to Marny1. She says that she will be on cc less now, but she will check in every now then. Her D will be attending this fall. I have heard some good things.</p>
<p>SUNY Cortland is not known as an academically challenging school. It has retained its flavor as a "teacher's college" particularly in preparing physical education teachers. It seems to admit B and C students from high schools across the state. The city of Cortland is rather non-descript with little to do beyond the bar scene. However within 45 minutes you can get to Syracuse and Ithaca and several of the Finger Lakes towns. I think there are many better SUNY schools overall, although if phys ed and sports are of interest, Cortland might fulfill an academic niche for the right student.</p>
<p>OK --was on vacation and did Cortland Orientation last week so this thread passed me by. mol10e is correct in some regards. Cortland has maintained its "teacher college reputation" as has most of the SUNY colleges. The most popular major is education followed by phys ed and then sports management, which is what my d is majoring in.<br>
I do think that most of the SUNY colleges continue to be a strong school for teaching. But they do have many great programs that could meet the need of even the highest achieving student- including sports management at Cortland- Crane School of Music at Potsdam or the Performing Arts division at Purchase. So though most SUNY colleges may not be the most academically challenging environmentl, there may be particular programs within SUNY which may be exactly the right program for your d.</p>
<p>I am not trusting this new format- so I am now adding more to the thread.</p>
<p>I do not agree with Mol10e about the quality of student at Cortland or ANY of the SUNY colleges. From metro NY/ to gain admission to SUNY, you pretty much need to be a solid B student with SAT's around 1000. That is pretty much bare minimum. The C student has got to apply to a community college of technical school like Delhi as a safety as it would be unlikely for them to get into a 4 year SUNY. I also wonder if Mol would characterize Colgate or Hamilton as non- descript towns with little to do beyond the bar scene. That is the nature of alot of upstate towns regardless if it is a SUNY town or not. I also just spent a few days near Williamstown MA- by Williams college. The stores may be more expensive, but that too isn't a town that has too much going. After you visit the Clark or MassMoca- there isn't much to do other than the bar scene. Let's face it, unless you go to a school near an urban area, that is often the environment you have to deal with. </p>
<p>Back to Cortland--
Cortland does have an very interesting combo program in environmental science with Duke U. Apparently you can get a BA from Cortland and a Masters from Duke U in environmental science. That to me sounds like a pretty sweet deal. I guess if the good folks at Duke find the student quality at Cortland acceptable, I guess the rest of us should too. </p>
<p>If you are interested in a campus environment- 4,000-8,000 students, I strongly suggest you check out the "colleges of distinction" website. They really have a very nice array of colleges to check. The website is FREE-IMMEDIATE ACCESS and it does have a lot of the same schools that CTCL recommend. As they mention alot more schools in the NE and some in urban areas, I liked this site alot better than CTCL. Good luck.</p>
<p>I would suggest that Clinton, NY (home of Hamilton) has a miniscule downtown area and Hamilton, Ny (home of Colgate) is more quaint and interesting than Cortland. To say that all upstate towns are like this is not an argument that Cortland has much to offer. The arrangement with Duke says nothing about the overall quality of students. It just points out that students who meet certain criteria at Cortland may gain access to this MA program at Duke. C students at high schools across NY are represented in places like Cortland. while some certainly attend community colleges, others do get admitted to the SUNY Colleges. As noted in my first post, I think Cortland is fine for phys ed and sports management. Buyer beware on other programs.</p>
<p>I personally know a student who was rejected by Cortland last year with a B average and a 1075. Most SUNY's require a B avg and their sat ranges start at over 1000 (old sat) The state schools are becoming more and more competitive due to the rising cost of private schools and the sheer number of students applying to college. I think I read on CC that this year's HS seniors represent one of the largest classes in many years. </p>
<p>My own daughter is in that class. We know that for the average student, getting into a SUNY is not a given anymore.</p>
<p>Mol- I do not know what part of NY state you are from- but from Long Island and the rest of the metro area- C students are not getting into the 4 year SUNY's like Cortland-Oswego-New Paltz- or even Buff State. Maybe we are geographically overrepresented in SUNY admission and are held to higher standards- but C students aren't getting into 4 year SUNY's. I'll admit I haven't been to Clinton or Hamilton but I did spend 4 years in Oswego and did visit friends at other colleges in NYS. Quaint and interesting towns can only hold a kids interest for so long . At least Cortland has a Wal-Mart and Applebee's.</p>
<p>Marny1, good point about the SUNY Cortland - Duke University joint program. I would think that Duke has literally hundreds of colleges to choose to partner with, so it chose SUNY (and others) for a reason.</p>
<p>Another under-appreciated SUNY is Plattsburgh, a place where the average SAT and GPA standing of the entering class rank may fail to impress some folks.</p>
<p>The psych department has some strong professors. Marion1, what are your interests?</p>
<p>in upstate NY, the SUNY Cortland population was composed of mostly B to B- students (with a few C's in there every now and then). Before reading this thread, I never knew that Cortland had a 'specialty.' It's not rated among the best SUNY's, but generally perceived as higher than a few others. A friend there says the academics aren't exactly challenging, but they aren't a walk in the park either. </p>
<p>As for the town, there's a bit more to do in Cortland than Hamilton or Clinton, though the town isn't as nice. Syracuse is about 30-40 minutes away, Ithaca is about 30 minutes away as well.</p>
<p>hahaha, cortland is upstate? </p>
<p>Oh well, Cortland definitely has a solid reputation as being a 'sporty' college - lots of physical therapsits and physical ed. teachers come out of there! Academically, it's known as being average - nothing phenomenal. The area is beautiful, but the other posters were quite right when they said it was a boring area - at least for kids who are used to shopping/sports events/lots of restaurants/concerts, etc.</p>