krcuschieri

I need help choosing between the two to apply to. I haven't visited either school, but I'm looking for a good pre-med program. I'm drawn to both schools because of their location, but besides that, I know almost nothing about either one.

When I say I'm look for a "good pre-med" program, I mean the opportunities I would receive as an undergrad with research, internships, and other pre med oriented things, like a student run EMS service for example. And of course, a strong science department.

And besides their pre med program, I wanted to know what both schools are like in other aspects. Hows the weather/people/location (around a bad neighborhood, in the city?) /atmosphere etc?

Please excuse my ignorance, but I really want to get to know as much about both schools as possible to decide which one to apply to. Thanks guys!

barrons

Neither will win any awards for location/weather. SU has more going on with sports, etc,. RU has a better academic rep but could be deadly for fun times. Somewhat cutthroat. Lots of pre-med Ivy rejects working too hard.

bkbmom

Syracuse has much more snow. Every year they keep track of which is the snowiest city along I-90... Buffalo/Rochester/Syracuse. Hands down, Syracuse wins. Both actually are right next to relatively bad neighborhoods. I'd take UofR's neighborhood, though, over Syracuse. They've been building it up more and have plans to do even more. Every time we go to a 'Cuse game, you see panhandlers basically on the edge of campus. There's a lot of crime across the river from the UofR but for the most part it stays across the river (Genesee). UofR has a big Greek life so there are parties. Living in a Roch suburb, we know many students who go to both schools and all of them are happy. It just depends on what you're looking for. I would agree the UofR has a better reputation but Syracuse has the big sports vibe.

askjeeves

Up state nothing to desire too much about. Rochester is an excellent academic school with, what I've gathered, a very good pre-med program.

ecouter11

Hey, don't be hating on the Roc My thoughts on the city is that it's a great place to live/raise a family but not the most vibrant city for college.

Syracuse is pretty sketchy. Rochester is somewhat less sketchy.

U of R has really good Pre-Med. Research is really easy to get, the hospital is a 10 minute walk from main campus etc. etc.

Not going to comment on the Ivy rejects thing.

Creekland

Middle son is at URoc and loving it. He hasn't seen anything cut throat about it and is involved in both study groups and fun activities as well as being pre-med. There are parties if you want them. His group is happy without them. They prefer various games or movies, etc. It is not heavily Greek there. It is actually low Greek compared to most others schools of similar caliber (but I don't know how much Greek Syracuse has). He plans to start research soon (as a freshman).

A friend of ours has a daughter who went to Syracuse. She loved it too, but it was definitely not as good of a neighborhood - and definitely more into sports. URoc has more "nerds" (a plus for my guy).

It all depends on which atmosphere you're looking for.

Chedva

Rochester is significantly smaller than Syracuse. Rochester has 2 undergraduate schools: Engineering and Liberal Arts (3 if you want to count Eastman Conservatory). Syracuse has 10. Rochester has a very small graduate school. Research for undergrads is easy to get at Rochester - there aren't enough grad students to do the work required.

Also check out the Rochester Curriculum against the requirements for the school of your choice at Syracuse.

firsttimelisa

My daughter (current high school senior) was positive RU was her first choice for almost a year. After the third visit, she suddenly realized that she was isolated on campus (so she thought). In an effort to prove her wrong, we spoke to several students that day about "where to go if you want to leave campus." We went searching for a cutesy downtown area in Rochester and really didn't find much. (I would LOVE for someone to tell me otherwise - please!). Ideally, she wants to be able to walk to a coffee shop, drugstore, etc... off campus.

After that disappointing visit, which she moped her way through, we were driving home and I saw the signs for SU. She was sleeping - I woke her up and asked her if she wanted to drive around. We did and she loved it. We stayed the night, took a tour (in the pouring rain) and she still loved it. Yes, the neighborhood is not the greatest, but as I told her, it is reality and I don't mind that. We went back again to interview and she still loved it.

You really need to see the schools. Personally, I am still rooting for Rochester because I feel it has a better academic reputation. They are both beautiful campuses. My daughter realized she wanted more of a city school and she will certainly have that at SU. Please go see for yourself if you are able.

bgmargate

Rochester is ranked #33 with middle SAT scores of 1860-2140. Syracuse is #58 with 1570-1900. Rochester is by far a better acaddemic school.

BeanTownGirl

We visited both s few years ago. At Syracuse we had lunch on the main commercial street near campus (I think it was Marshall St.?). It did have a decent selection of restaurants/take-out places but it wasn't great... a fair number of homeless people. We asked some students on campus and got two reactions - guys said they went to Marshall street sometimes, girls said they were afraid to go off campus.
At U. Rochester we walked across a pedestrian bridge to a decent commercial area with a really nice coffee shop and I think there were other restaurants there too.
So both are urban, and neither one has a great or quaint commercial area next door.
We all thought U.Rochester was a better overall school (for engineering), but Syracuse was pretty good too.