The State University of New York College - Geneseo

Date: May 14 2012
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
My experience at this school was not pleasant. I truly believe that Geneseo attempts to promote itself as a much more prestigious institution than it actually is, and is willing to fabricate the truth to attract better students than it would be able to otherwise. Academically this school is adequate, but most of the departments outside of the premedical sciences and education seem fairly mediocre (and trust me, once you declare a major and are mainly taking classes in a specific department, you are going to be caring a lot more about how good your department is).

Geneseo also completely lies about their class sizes on the internet. 200 and 300-level classes often have forty or more students, even in subjects such as sociology or philosophy. Geneseo also attempts to make its student body seem more competitive than it actually is by listing the most recently accepted class?s SAT score profile on their website. This is deceptive because the profile incorporates all of the students who were admitted, not necessarily those who have decided to enroll, upwardly skewing what the school?s average SAT scores look like. The school claims it is on par with esteemed institutions such as Colgate, New York University, and Cornell, but neither the education provided nor the student body are truly comparable.

Socially this school either suits people or it doesn?t. It is perfectly situated in the absolute middle of nowhere, and if you do not own a car you will find yourself stranded. The lack of exciting activities both on and off campus leads many people to join greek life, and it often feels like greek life dominates the social scene. Even though I am a white female from New York, like the vast majority of people on campus, I didn?t really feel like I fit in with the student body. I found that a lot of people came to Geneseo with high school friends and didn?t want to make new ones, that there was a lot of petty drama, and that people could often be two-faced, or nice to you one day and nasty the next. Although this can happen anywhere, it surprised me how often it occurred, and how immature many of the students could be. The drama I generally avoided in middle and high school finally caught up with me in college.

To add insult to injury, most of the people I encountered did not strike me as particularly intelligent in conversation, and I would be doing a disservice to prospective students if I neglected to mention that the student body as a whole does not appear particularly progressive. I don?t think I have ever witnessed so much racism, homophobia, or anti-Semitism in my life before coming here, and it was often subtle or done in passive-aggressive ways. Religious organizations also play a major role in campus life, even though this is a public school. The people who claim this is a liberal or diverse school are probably white, Christian, and have never been exposed to diversity before attending college.

In short, Geneseo is an okay but not amazing school overall with good programs in the sciences and education, but socially it either suits people or it doesn?t. If you like greek life and/or are a cookie cutter kid from Buffalo, Rochester, or Long Island, you will probably be fine. If you don?t fit this mold you may want to consider looking elsewhere.