SUNY Geneseo

eric1787 · February 2007

Hello everyone,

I was hoping to get some opinions on SUNY Geneseo from current students, alumni, or anyone who has information on the college. I currently attend American University and got accepted to Geneseo as a transfer student. AU is a fortune and the tuition continues to go up; I'm a NYS resident and money is definitely a consideration.

So, do you think the academics are comparable at American University and SUNY Geneseo? I'm a political science major, so I'm aware of the obvious disadvantage of leaving Washington, D.C.

Thank you.

-Eric

eric1787 · February 2007

. . . I forgot to mention:

I've heard Geneseo is the best school in the SUNY system. Is this true?

Also, I intend to go to law school or graduate school. Will Geneseo's lack of national name recognition (if this is so) be a detriment for my top 10 law school or graduate school prospects?

Thanks.

collegehelp · February 2007

I think Stony Brook is the best SUNY for Poli Sci. Good private schools in NY for Poli Sci are U Rochester, Cornell, NYU. If you want the DC area, try U Maryland College Park which has a great Poli Sci dept and I think it is reasonably priced for out-of-staters. After UMD, there is Georgetown and George Washington U, both in DC.

eric1787 · February 2007

collegehelp,

Thanks for the reply. I live on Long Island so Stony Brook is not an option (I want to go away, not commute). Private school would be great at the three you mentioned in NY, but they'd be a fortune. AU is roughly 40k a year with tuition, fees, room and board, and they give me 15k a year but it's still a lot of money. GWU is 50K with everything, and Georgetown is also rather expensive. Unfortunately I'm limited to SUNY for the rest of my undergraduate career, or a public school out of state that would give me some sort of transfer scholarship.

collegehelp · February 2007

Check out U Maryland College Park.

LakeWashington · February 2007

Investigate SUNY Plattsburgh, which has very good programs. As for law school admissions, the most important statement on your undergraduate transcript is the GPA and LSAT. Law school admissions are quite different from the college admissions process; lack of name recognition is not particularly a handicap. For example, every year, more than a handful of CUNY alumni are admitted to Harvard Law School. Look it up.

gellino · February 2007

I think, in general, I would view SUNY Geneseo as a stronger school than American. However, I have no idea how strong Geneseo is considered in poly sci, or how important that really is, depending on what you're looking to do with it.

unbelievablem · February 2007

have you visited geneseo? it is very rural -- pretty, but remote. big change from american and dc. i'm not saying that's a problem -- just make sure you know what it is like and are prepared for it.

did you look at binghamton? geneseo and binghamton are generally regarded as the most competitive in terms of admissions with geneseo being the lac and binghamton being the university center. binghamton's campus is in the suburbs of binghamton -- which is a city, though nothing like dc -- but it is the county seat -- i don't know if that means that internships are available.

in general, i think that the sunys are a terrific bargain for nys residents.

Clendenenator · February 2007

Here is the Geneseo forum. Repost your questions there if you want an actually Geneseo undergrad to give you their thoughts. I've seen several students post on it, but it may take a day or two to get a response.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=493

gomestar · February 2007

I'm really not sure how "prestigious" Geneseo is outside of NY State as I'm from the middle of the state so i've obviously heard of it.

I do have many friends at the school, and all of them really seem to love the place. It's one heck of a bargain as well.

"lack of name recognition is not particularly a handicap. For example, every year, more than a handful of CUNY alumni are admitted to Harvard Law School."

Many people say this, yet around 60-70% of the class at Harvard Law is made up of places like the 8 ivy's, stanford, mit, duke, cal, caltech, etc. Most schools are lucky to have even 2-3 students represented there. What you say may certainly be true and I don't want to make any assumptions, but these numbers just raise an eyebrow a little too much to be ignored. Regardless, I don't think going from American to SUNY Geneseo will hurt your chances.

Moonmaid · February 2007

Geneseo participates in the Washington Semester program which is administered by SUNY Brockport. http://www.brockport.edu/washington/
It looks like a very good program.

My son is also a potential PolySci major and has applied to Geneseo. Their academic reputation is excellent, and the State has poured a lot of money into the school to make it competitive with the top schools. I was impressed when we went to visit and my son liked it too.

My son would love to attend GWU, but given the high tuition, it will not be a possibility unless he receives a merit scholarship.

Yes, Geneseo is a little town, but it is very pleasant. The school seems to go out of its way to have plenty of student activities, and all the facilities such as the gym, cafeteria and student union building were really good. We visited Binghamton as well, but the area surrounding the school was really drab and kind of depressing. My son did not want to apply to Binghamton after visiting there.

I looked on ****.com for student comments on Geneseo, and an overwhelming number of students had positive things to say. It was sort of the opposite for Binghamton.

You should visit, because that is really the best way of telling whether you can live somewhere for 4 years. But I think a student could do a lot worse than SUNY Geneseo. It seems like a great bargain to me. I just don't want my own son to graduate with huge debt before law school.

eric1787 · February 2007

Hey thanks for the responses everyone! To clarify, going to school in a very rural area is not a problem for me. I have no intention of going into politics, so an internship would only be something for real world experience or to enhance my resume. It simply interests me, I need a BA in something, and the plan right now is law school.

LakeWashington · March 2007

Gomestar, take your own advice and don't assume anything. Take my advice about Harvard Law School admissions and look it up!

gellino · March 2007

I can't tell how many are accepted, but for the three current classes of Harvard Law School currently enrolled, there are a grand total of 2 from CUNY, while Ivy League + Stanford, Duke make up 46% of the school.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/admissions/jd/colleges.php

LakeWashington · March 2007

Gellino, so you're saying that 54% of the freshman class at Harvard Law School do not posess undergraduate degrees from the Ivy League, Stanford or Duke?

marny1 · March 2007

Eric- I'm a Long Island mom- familiar with Suny's (d is at Cortland) and Law school admissions as d # 1 will be applying next year.
If cost is consideration and you like the DC area, did you check out George Mason?? D # 2 was accepted but liked sports management program at cortland, but I was pretty impressed with George Mason. They had very good internship possibilities and of course a metro ride away from DC.
If you are still thinking SUNY- don't rule out Albany- also good internship possibilities with State Gov't and they do have a good Public Policy school.

The bottom line is- unless you come from maybe one of the top 30 (?) schools in the country, only a handful of kids get into the top law schools from the rest of the individual schools throughout the USA. Probably less than 5 kids will get into HYS Law from schools like American, GMU, Geneseo etc. So best advise- go to the school where you feel comfortable--Get the best grades 3.7 (+) and aim for at least a 170 on the LSAT's. The bottom line for law school- GPA and LSAT's count ALOT.
Good luck

gellino · March 2007

LakeWashington, yes, that's what I'm saying.

SUNY Geneseo

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