The State University of New York College - Geneseo

Date: Dec 16 2009
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
My experience at Geneseo has overall been quite good, although it has not been without a fair amount of frustration and I can understand why people complain about it. It is perhaps my own patience and ability to pull a few strings here and there that make my experience less irritating than it could be.

I should start by saying that Geneseo, although it has many flaws and is quite underfunded, is a very good deal for the tuition you pay. I transferred here my junior year from a very expensive private college and found the overall quality Geneseo to be comparable or superior to what I found in my previous school. The price difference was definitely took a load of stress off.

The quality of the faculty ranges greatly. Some are highly professional, thought-provoking, clear-spoken, and approachable while others are downright arrogant, condescending, and though generally very knowledgeable, care much more about impressing their knowledge upon you and overwhelming you to tears than actually helping you learn anything. They can sometimes be hard to contact though. Coursework is heavy and teachers can be tough graders. If you are a good student and if you can build good relationships with your professors, your experience will be substantially easier.

Administrative formalities, graduation requirements, and overall organization have by far and away been the biggest pain during my experience here. If you are transferring from another school, the experience becomes a living hell. Registration is ridiculously hard, and course availability is scarce at best. The core curriculum is, in my opinion, excessive and probably just meant to build character rather than actually teach you anything about the subject matter. If you are double majoring, it is quite unlikely that you will graduate on time.

The student body is generally friendly, intelligent, and open-minded, although like anywhere else it does have its share of idiots. People here tend to be very hardworking, and I find that I can run into at least 20 people I know every time I go to the library. Some students seem to skate by despite the fact that they party all the time, while many more are workaholics, hopped up on caffeine and other stimulants. If you make an little effort to be social, you will definitely meet some great people. Some of the best friends I have ever had are the ones I've met here. Greek life is quite a different story. A select few of them actually serve their purpose to contribute to the community, but most of them are truly an embarrassment to the school. Despite how much they will try to convince you otherwise, they are the source of at least 90% of the school's misogyny, racism, homophobia, date rape, alcohol poisoning, meaningless drama, and just everything you looked forward to getting away from in high school. Thankfully they do not completely dominate the social scene, and I have never felt even a little ostracized by not being in one. Nightlife is mainly limited to drinking, as there is not much else to do in Geneseo. Unfortunately, the party scene has been greatly dampened this year after a student died during a fraternity hazing.

The surrounding town of Geneseo has little to offer, but then again I am personally not a big fan of small towns. It has a few good restaurants, a Wegman's, a Wal-Mart, and a movie theatre. If you need anything else, from shopping and entertainment to decent health care (campus health services are quite sub-par), you'll have to go to Rochester.

Geneseo is definitely worth a look. It is not perfect, but with some hard work and patience it will surely leave you a more disciplined, knowledgeable, and well-rounded person than you were before.