Union Student Looking to Transfer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Union College - New York
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<p>As the title of this thread alludes to, I am a current student at Union that is considering transferring out before my Junior year. As of right now I am less then thrilled with my college experience so far. The main problem I have currently with the institution stems from the general education requirements that I feel are to demanding and prevent me from exploring academics like an adult. They do not seem to stimulate learning but rather stifle it. The student body is extremely homogenous, (rich kids from Connecticut and Massachusetts) and does not seem to be particularly intellectually curious. Lastly Union's recent drop in college rankings from 29th to 62nd on forbes, and its constant hovering around the 40th position on the US News scale is troubling. </p>

<p>Perhaps I am reading to far into the drop in rankings, I actually hope that I am, and that someone reading this thread can shed some light on why there was a drop and if it is significant. Union's admissions office was not aware of the drop nor where they of any help when I called recently and asked them about it. In my opinion, (and I can be entirely wrong) I do not feel as though Union is doing enough to keep up with, and surpass its peer institutions, and this is reflected by its stagnated position in the US news rankings. I would hope that if I continue to work hard throughout college, I can expect to get a good job, because I think that is what an elite liberal arts college's degree should earn someone.</p>

<p>With all this said I am still on the fence with regards to transferring. This is because for all that I dislike about Union, there are still things that I enjoy. The campus is beautiful, the school has a great history, the political science department is small yet strong, and a huge emphasis is placed on studying abroad. </p>

<p>The schools I am currently looking to transfer into are Hamilton, Wesleyan, and perhaps Vassar. Hamilton and Wesleyan are not only exceptional colleges, but also offer an open curriculum which makes them extremely attractive destinations for me.</p>

<p>I am hoping that perhaps alumni or parents of alumni can shed some light on the Union experience with regards to employment opportunities and graduate school admissions. Is the school highly regarded in the professional world? If so, what would be the schools it is typically compared to? This is a stressful time for me and so any help or advice someone can provide me with would be appreciated.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t pay a lot of attention to the rankings, and certainly wouldn’t transfer because Union’s Forbes rankings falls or the US News ranking doesn’t go up.</p>

<p>I won’t go into the details, but anyone with any training in statistics would laugh at the methodology used to determine those rankings. Among countless other problems, they are comparing unlike institutions and unlike student populations. With US News, West Point is in the same category as is Union. RPI is in the same category as Harvard (and Clarkson is called a national university, when a better description would be a technical college). I could go on and on, but the ranking systems they use has the same flaws that created the Dewey Wins By a Landslide headlines.</p>

<p>Wesleyan, Vassar and Hamilton are more prestigious than are Union, and will be somewhat better known nationally. All three have a somewhat more national student body, but will will have many rich kids from the Northeast. Each will have a different flavor (especially Vassar – the residue of being a former women’s college makes it much more strongly aimed at the arts and gives it a bit of a different feel).</p>

<p>I’m not a Union grad, but grew up near the campus. I’ve seen many successful alumni emerge from that school. One high school friend / Union alum is now one of the senior executives with one of the major TV networks. Another friend’s son, a Union alum, recently got his job with a major law firm because of a Union alumni contact. Union students fare well in professional school admissions.</p>

<p>As for transferring, if you don’t like the school, you can certainly consider doing so. Most liberal arts schools have some type of general education requirements; most of the time, the areas in which you’re required to take courses are pretty broad (Union’s are) and you wind up taking courses in most of those areas anyway, even without the requirements. There are good reasons to broaden your scope, anyway.</p>

<p>To sum it up, I would transfer if you really don’t like the location, the kids, the professors or the overall atmosphere. I wouldn’t transfer because of some loose general education requirements, and especially wouldn’t do so because of something as meaningless as rankings.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the response. It is interesting you brought up a friend’s son that was able to get a job through an alumni contact because another area I have been disappointed with so far is alumni relations. I have had a hard time getting alumni to contact me back or show an interest, but I have not let that concern me too much because my Union career is relatively young and I still have time to meet alumni. I must say that academically, Union probably is on par with the other schools mentioned (although obviously I can’t say for sure) because most of my professors have been terrific so far.
Anyway it sounds like from your experience, Union has been able to produce successful people recently and that is comforting for me.</p>

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<p>If you’re struggling with getting alumni contacts, try meeting with the alumni relations people and tell them you’re having trouble. I’m sure they’ll give you some guidance, and they’ll also probably recommend doing things like volunteering at certain alumni events. Making the contacts now will help you down the road, like any networking does.</p>

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<p>I’ve been to the career center to find some alumni in fields I am interested in and got their contact information, but of the ones I have contacted, I either never got a response or I received a curt reply that was difficult to do anything with. I will definitely find out about some alumni events though.</p>