I’m currently a first-year at UC Davis and have been searching for a school to transfer to next year because I’m not a fan of Davis so far. I’ve discovered SUNY ESF from a “top green colleges” list and after reading up on it for a handful of hours, I’m intrigued and interested. However, I literally did not know this school existed until about 48 hours ago, so I would like to hear some honest opinions about the school (like the stuff you can’t find on their website) and some thoughts about how I might fit in.
To give you more information about myself, I am interested in conservation biology / wildlife, and might want to pursue vet school. I’m very into the environment and sustainability (and all my ECs revolved around this), so I don’t think having a “hippie vibe” to a school is a bad thing. I’m from the California Bay Area and I’m Asian, and ESF is obviously mainly NY residents and white, so could that cause a problem for me? Would I be too out of place? I’m searching for a small school with a close community, which is something I’m missing greatly in UC Davis. How are the transfers in ESF treated – is it harder to make friends?
ESF is a great school at a great price tag. I think the thing for your to consider is the city of Syracuse coming from CA. The weather is brutal and it gets a lot of snow. The advantage of ESF is that you get a small school that is part of a big school - Syracuse University. The ESF dorm is right next to the Carrier Dome. If you like sporting events and to follow basketball this is a huge plus! You can also participate in and take classes at Syracuse as an ESF student. Another big plus. The ESF education is well respected - great for the sciences. I don’t think you would feel out of place. This is New York state - an Asian or international student is no big deal. ESF has only one dorm (the nicest dorm I’ve seen on any campus visit) so if you live on campus you will get to know people easily through the dorm.
I would suggest visiting. We thought ESF was the perfect school for DS and on paper it was. But for him the campus was not what he was looking for and the city of Syracuse was a no-go. But everyone’s opinions are different and most people I know love SU.
My daughter transferred to ESF as a junior, and it is pretty common for students to transfer in, either from community college or 4 year colleges. I think fitting in as a transfer student and making friends would be no problem at all. It is a pretty small, tight knit community of students and it definitely has a hippie vibe.
I don’t think the ethnic breakdown would be that big a deal, while there aren’t a ton of Asians at ESF there are quite a few at SU, and the two schools share a campus. And while the school is mostly from NY there are students from all over and my daughter roomed with a student from Israel for a while. I agree your biggest issue would be weather. Syracuse winters can be brutal, and some years the lake effect snow never seems to stop.
If you want wildlife or conservation biology it is a great school, but I wouldn’t recommend it for pre-vet. I mean it is fine if you are from NY, but not worth coming from California with that goal. Grading is tough and I don’t see any advantage to ESF if you really want to be a vet. The school’s strength is in hands on environmental and wildlife fields, not in animal care.
have you gotten your transfer admission decision from ESF yet? I submitted mine and I’m just curious how long the decision takes
@CuseMan44 nope not yet! Good luck to you
@forest2021 Good luck to you as well! Can I get a general estimation as to when you submitted your application? I submitted mine about 2 weeks ago. I’d be interested to know how long your decision has taken without a response. I’ve gained various answers from other students, some even saying they’ve already gotten a decision from ESF for Fall 18.