<p>I am a parent of a freshman Albany student. My son had his choice of many SUNY schools and decided as did several of his classmates to go to Albany. He’s been up there since August 24 and we have talked quite a bit about his experiance so far. My son is majoring in Chemistry and is in the Project Rennaissance program. </p>
<p>Overall he is very happy at Albany. Because of the Project Ren program he is located on the Indian Quad in a suite setting. The room he has is a bit small…the other suites are very large…guess its the luck of the draw. His suite mates all seem to get along well together and actually got together to participate in the intermural soccer league (my son never played soccer before)…so this is a good thing. </p>
<p>Being on the 10th floor he is tired of the walk up and down and will probably go for a corridor style room next year.</p>
<p>The food is ok…not great…and my son eats a lot! Because of his class schedule he has at times had to make do with some lousy food. But he has a bunch of munch money and is doing ok. But we knew the food situation prior to him going up.</p>
<p>Ok…now to the classes. He has only 1 lecture class with approx 100 students…the rest of his classes are less than 20. We were both a bit apprehensive about the class sizes from what you read about some of the larger schools…but it not the case here. His professors are quite approachable and have helped him when needed. He is taking a heavy class load and is very busy…with several hours of work each day…but he is getting into the groove…hey…its college. The curriculum for his major is very tough so he has his work cut out for him.</p>
<p>Socially he has met a ton of new friends and when not studying or in class is having a good time, going to the local mall, soccer, other student activities. He doesn’t b.s. me…we have good open communication. They are very strict on any alcohol, drugs, etc…the police presence on campus is very strong. I guess if you want to make it a party school…you can find parties. He did tell me that the clubs he wanted to join are pretty weak…but now with his work load he is too busy anyway to do too much more than what he is involved with now.</p>
<p>I am trying to make this as un-biased as possible…I am not there. From what he tell me he genuinely enjoys Albany and really wants to get into the honors college.
Hope this helps</p>