thanks for the input! northeastmom - great information, i think you have swayed my opinion in favor of RU once again. I can't seem to focus my desicion on either schools' qualities - RUs variety of courses, diversity of students and surrounding area, and abundance of resources and academics - compared to that of NPs beautiful environment, student body, and strong liberal tendencies
I've been to both and love both, but seem to be caught in between which qualities i favor in a school and which school i would more likely thrive in.
I have also been discouraged reading that RU has/is cutting courses and teachers in order to fund their new stadium. Football over Academics? I am dissapointed to see what schools are laying their money in, and obviously where academics fall on their list of values.
northeatmom - yes, it's my son who broke his foot. It has been challeging for him but the school has been great! The Disabilities Resource Center has been helping him out a lot. Someone from the center even took him out and showed him the best routes for getting to his classes and changed his schedule for him to make things easier. I tell you, he did not get this kind of support at his other private school. I am impressed with New Paltz so far and so is my son. He has met some really nice kids who are happy to help him get to campus and drive him around town.
I could try and answer any questions you might have about the school.
lilymoon, thank you for your kind offer. When I think of questions, I will ask you. Please continue to read these boards! I am so glad to hear that your son got off to a wonderul start, despite his foot! It is great to know that NP helped him!
creative, I don't want to be responsible for swaying......LOL! I do think that one really needs to be able to negotiate a large school, and not get intimidated easily to get what they want out of a school like Rutgers. If you can do that, it might be a good choice. If you think that you have a better shot at thriving in a smaller place, you should think about that very seriously. I worked for someone who flunked out of Rutgers. He ended up getting his degree from a very low ranked school. It was probably life altering for him. I know someone else who is going to graduate from Rutgers this year. He got a fantastic internship (and so did all of his friends) through Rutgers. He is the kind of person who would bloom wherever he was planted. Bottom line, you need to know yourself and what would be best for you. There isn't any one right answer. Best of luck to you, wherever you decide to matriculate!
creative3 - If you want to get a feeling for what students think of both Rutgers and NP, check out students review dot com. There are interesting points about both schools both positive and negative.
For pre med students, academically, I would choose Binghamton, but like others have said, after you visit, you'll know which one is for you. It's a very personal decision, but if you do decide to come to binghamton, or you'd like to know more about the pre med situation, feel free to PM me .
My son has been at NP a couple of weeks now and his experience has been that kids stick around on the weekends. The bars in town are popular and there are parties on the weekends too. Kids also hang out at each others apartments, go to hear music, the movies or just catch up on sleep. The adventurous ones go hiking, skiing and mountain climbing.
I agree with LilyMoon. My D attends NP and we llive roughly an hour away; initially she came home a couple of weekends a month but now returns with a frequency similar to that of students whose colleges are much further away.
I agree about NP,as far as I can tell the majority of the kids stick around, either to do work or to party. Usually something doin' every weekend. You really need to visit the schools. NP is much smaller, I think about half the size, Bing more of a university setting. Personally, I know Bing does have a higher acad. rep than NP, but I think that if you are happy where you end up you could do well at either place. Good luck!
I have two questions about SUNY New Paltz and hopefully someone has the answers.
Was SUNY NP ever a women's college? With a student population that 70% women, that's the only thing I can come up with.
Building on that question, my son is gay. How would he fit in at SUNY NP? So many aspects of SUNY NP seem like a good match for him except for the female/male ratio.
pugmadkate-probably one of the most gay-friendly colleges - extremely liberal. It's actually 59/41 F/M though. We had a very good tour guide who was gay. It used to be a teaching college I think in the days when only girls became teachers.
Most of the SUNY University Colleges (NP, Geneseo, Oswego, Oneonta, Cortland etc.) were "normal schools" which is where girls would go to become teachers....a lot of them still have a 60/40 f/m ratio.
New Palyz traces its history back to 1828 when New Paltz Academy was founded. It was essentially a preparatory school that featured a classical education. In the 1880s it became a normal school and during World Way II it became New Paltz State Teachers college. It was never a single sex school to the best of my knowledge.
New Paltz is, in the opinion of many people in this neck of Upstate NY, the most gay-friendly of the SUNYs.
How interesting. THank you for sharing that information.
And thank you for setting my mind at ease. It's one thing to check lists of "gay friendly" schools but nothing replaces the insights of those who have been there.
I'm going to go ahead and send the SUNY NP link to my son to see what he thinks. It really does sound like a possible match for him. He's a really bright, quirky, and social kid.
I noticed they offered an Honors Program. How is that different from an Honors College? To be perfectly frank, I had not heard of public colleges having an "honors college" until my neice was accepted into the one at her state flagship U two years ago. I'd heard of graduating with honors. So I'm trying to figure out if "honors program" is just another name for the same thing.
What major is your son planning on? I have an acquaintance who goes to NP that I just spoke with and asked him a little bit about the whole gay situation. He said that when speaking in numbers, there are not more gays compared to any other college campus. However, since most kids that go to NP are liberal and the town of NP is extremely liberal they tend to be more accepting of the gay population than most schools. He also said that most gays are involved in the theater department. Anyways, I think your son should definitely give NP a look. Its a neat little campus/town/school.
Replies to: New Paltz vs Binghamton
I've been to both and love both, but seem to be caught in between which qualities i favor in a school and which school i would more likely thrive in.
I have also been discouraged reading that RU has/is cutting courses and teachers in order to fund their new stadium. Football over Academics? I am dissapointed to see what schools are laying their money in, and obviously where academics fall on their list of values.
I could try and answer any questions you might have about the school.
creative, I don't want to be responsible for swaying......LOL! I do think that one really needs to be able to negotiate a large school, and not get intimidated easily to get what they want out of a school like Rutgers. If you can do that, it might be a good choice. If you think that you have a better shot at thriving in a smaller place, you should think about that very seriously. I worked for someone who flunked out of Rutgers. He ended up getting his degree from a very low ranked school. It was probably life altering for him. I know someone else who is going to graduate from Rutgers this year. He got a fantastic internship (and so did all of his friends) through Rutgers. He is the kind of person who would bloom wherever he was planted. Bottom line, you need to know yourself and what would be best for you. There isn't any one right answer. Best of luck to you, wherever you decide to matriculate!
Was SUNY NP ever a women's college? With a student population that 70% women, that's the only thing I can come up with.
Building on that question, my son is gay. How would he fit in at SUNY NP? So many aspects of SUNY NP seem like a good match for him except for the female/male ratio.
Thank you!
New Paltz is, in the opinion of many people in this neck of Upstate NY, the most gay-friendly of the SUNYs.
And thank you for setting my mind at ease. It's one thing to check lists of "gay friendly" schools but nothing replaces the insights of those who have been there.
I'm going to go ahead and send the SUNY NP link to my son to see what he thinks. It really does sound like a possible match for him. He's a really bright, quirky, and social kid.
I noticed they offered an Honors Program. How is that different from an Honors College? To be perfectly frank, I had not heard of public colleges having an "honors college" until my neice was accepted into the one at her state flagship U two years ago. I'd heard of graduating with honors. So I'm trying to figure out if "honors program" is just another name for the same thing.