The State University of New York - Albany

First I would like to talk about my experience as a freshman at UA. Upon arriving, the most fun I had here had to have been during the first two weeks. Everyone seemed to be outgoing, helpful, and interested in meeting new people...However, I have learned that this was just an act (Probably portrayed at most schools too). The difference with albany is that everyone seemed to shift from loving the school for the first couple weeks to absolutely hating the school and everyone who attends it. This attitude is probably something all students, including myself, demonstrated throughout the year. Overall my experience wasn't horrible, but it was pretty bad.

STUDENT BODY - This was a main factor in my decision to transfer out of the university. A good majority of the students here really have no idea why there here. They have no incentive for high learning and usually do a lot of drugs. They are only there because their parents are making them go to school.

-The student body consists of mostly (50%-60%) long islanders. A lot of them demonstrating that classic long island stereotype (Bad attitude, stuck up, close minded, and just plain rude)...and when I say that I mean it. I have probably met only a few kids from long island that seemed to be generally kind people. (And I am a very outgoing person so I've met a lot of people here). These are also usually the kids you will see constantly smoking cigarettes in front of the library and quad towers.

-The other large percent of the student body are inner-city kids (Usually hispanic/african american), a lot of them seem to be in this program called the EOP (Education Opportunity Program). The EOP program admits kids that would normally be rejected by the university through regular admittance (students that don't have the best grades or sat scores...one of my suite mates in this program had a lower score on all 3 sat sections than I did in just 2 sections crit reading/math)...What was surprising to me was how albany just groups these EOP kids in with the entire student body (They will be in your classes...and they will be on worldstarhiphop during that...smh). I know most larger schools deal with kids who wouldn't normally be admitted by sending them to satellite schools (Ex. Pen State) and giving them the opportunity to transfer into the actual school after a year of proving they can handle college level work, however, albany deals with this differently. Albany gives the EOP kids "preparation courses" which don't count as credit but have an effect on their GPA. These courses are usually very easy high school level classes in which all students pretty much receive As...another thing which was surprising was the fact that the EOP students who ended up with high GPAs from these prep courses ended up on the dean's list...i mean come on albanys really putting people on the deans list that are taking high school level geometry and trig....(Another example with my friend in the EOP prog, He had all As in his EOP courses and a C- in his one actual college course yet he still made the deans list.). I'm really not sure why albany lets in so many kids in this EOP program (Probably for more money from the state?) but whatever the reason I feel like it really effects normal students learning and motivation. I have visited many other Sunys and private institutions, all of which had a significantly lower number of EOP students (5%-10%max)

CLASSES
The majority of classes taken here have been very pointless. I feel like I have not learned much since I have been here. I believe a huge part of this problem is the teaching staff. Many of the professors here at Albany are unhelpful and seem like they don't like what they're doing...I'm not saying all (Aaron Major-sociology was a great professor...one of the few classes where the professor got me interested in the subject). Another problem with the professors here is

there is a good majority that don't speak english or just don't teach well (very dry). I have had multiple classes in which I gained no knowledge from going to class and just taught myself from the text book. I never went to these classes but still received an A...which only shows how bad some teachers really are...I was getting better grades than kids who actually went to the class everyday.

-Another problem with the classes are the classes where you're in a 300-500 student lecture center. These are the worst. Probably about 50% of the kids will be on there laptops on Facebook or youtube, EOP kids on worldstarhiphop. A lot of the students talk loudly and don't care about the class. I have probably seen someone get kicked out of class at least once a day.

ADVICE
-If you're someone who really cares about higher education, meeting new people, and just making it somewhere in life DO NOT COME TO SUNY ALBANY. I can't stress this anymore...if you are a normal person DO NOT COME HERE LEAVE TURN AROUND GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

-If you're a long island hunk who has no idea what you want to do with your life and planning to live off your parents money then this is the perfect school for you. You can smoke cigarettes all day and you only need to maintain a 2.0 to stay in school! You'll also probably get along with a lot of other kids who share the same goals as you.

1st Year Male -- Class 2015

Extracurricular Activities: C+, Collaboration/Competitive: F