<p>Muffy, I have never seen any of the other SUNY's besides New Paltz. How does it compare to the others? One of the reasons my S is only looking at NP is because of the ease of getting home. The other upstate SUNY's are pretty far away. He also likes the smaller size as a transfer he feels it would be easier to meet people in a smaller knit community. On our last trip up to look at housing, we took a trip over to Poughkeepsie since we had never been there. We were pleasantly surprised to see so much going on. Every conceivable shop and so many restaurants along route 9 S and we checked out one of the big malls which had everything. Further down a ways there was another big mall. So, at first I thought NP was in the middle of nowhere and then I realized that there is everything 15 minutes away in Poughkeepsie. made me feel a little better.</p>
<p>Oneonta is about the same size as NP but all the buildings kind of look alike. And the kids look different. It seemed like 90 percent of the kids walking around Oneonta were skinny, well dressed but dressed alike white females with really nice hair. New Paltz had a lot more diversity, although I didn't think it looked like a Grateful Dead campground which is what I had been expecting from others!!!! I think NP would be good for going into NYC for the day, although I don't know if kids actually do that. Albany is very weird physically. Really weird. But it is walking distance to a mall and I think it would also be convenient to go to NYC (2 hours?)</p>
<p>Thanks for the comparison of the other SUNY's you saw. My S knows a lot of people that go to Albany, Buffalo and Bing. He only knows 2 girls that go to NP, and he doesn't know them very well, but I think that is part of the appeal, it is sort of a clean slate where he doesn't feel he has to hang out with those he knows. I think he likes the offbeat vibe at NP yet he is a little afraid of the drug culture there. Anyone have any feedback on that?</p>