University Buffalo
StudentsReview ::
University Buffalo - Graduate (MS/PhD) Ratings | |||||||||||||||||||
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Total Grad Surveys | 13 |
Females | 7 |
Males | 6 |
Avg years at University | 2.5 |
Research Quality | B+ (7.3) |
Research Availability | B+ (7.7) |
Research Funding | B (7.3) |
Graduate Politics | A- (8.2) |
Not Errand Runners | B+ (7.9) |
Degree Completion | A- (8.4) |
Alternative pay [ta/gsi] | B+ (8.1) |
Sufficient Pay | B+ (7.9) |
Competitiveness | B (6.7) |
Education Quality | B+ (7.5) |
Faculty Accessibility | B- (6.2) |
Useful Research | B+ (7.6) |
"Individual" treatment | B (6.8) |
Friendliness | B (6.8) |
Safety | B+ (8.1) |
Campus Beauty | C+ (5.6) |
Campus Maintenance | B+ (7.5) |
University Spending | B+ (7.8) |
Extracurriculars | A- (8.1) |
Scholastic Success | B- (6.5) |
Surrounding City | B+ (7.8) |
Social Life/ Environment | A- (8.1) |
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Students mostly from other areas of upstate New York are snooty and playing a game of "oh forget about it." Not really learning anything and "following along." Missing and reappearing students each semester makes one wonder what the hell they are doing. When looking at course descriptions no credit hours are noted before you enter the program or after. This is so they can make up the credit hours they want to charge you at a whim. The online learning community is not inclusive of the overall student body and it should be. It is currently treated as an "extension" of the school. The "new" online program is supposed to be exactly like the campus based one but it is NOT. 4 days to learn new material and then on to the next. The degree itself is an admirable one, but the actual field encroaches on other fields of study for which individuals have worked hard to get their degrees in. That is morally wrong to me. The licensing body for this career is questionable as well. Will be writing them too.Fees that did not apply to me were charged, but returned. The course. I'M SO HAPPY I'M LEAVING. The school made me ill. HONESTLY it caused me so much stress that I spent more time asking questions than studying.
I feel very sad for the undergraduate students who come in with talent, and leave completely unprepared to work as artists. They are not taught craft, formal skills, critical thinking skills, or how to prepare professional practice materials for approaching galleries or grad schools. Luckily, I attended a fantastic school for my undergraduate degree, so I know that not all artists are as unhelpful, arrogant and backwards as the faculty here.The offer of a teaching assistantship is what seduced me into coming here. Beware - being a TA in the Visual Studies department does not actually mean that you are assisting anyone - you will be running your own course on your own. This is both good and bad. I was able to develop my own teaching philosophy, put it into practice, and had a lot of fun with my students - the experience has been very valuable. However, it comes at the cost of losing much time for your own work. One other thing - be prepared to be very poor.
Lastly, and what concerns me most is the lack of professionalism displayed by professors in the planning department. They have very little time to deal with students. Their office hours are non-existant, they spend all their time conducting useless research, of which no student is privy too. Ask any planning student what the research topics are that their professors are working on? No one knows! This university puts too much pressure to publish on professors and it is killing the academic standards of a once decent school. What is the point of having professors that are so-called scholars when they are basically unavailable to students.
Put it this way, do you want to go to a university that prides itself on a multi-year study on the trajectory and spin of a football when throw by right and left handed people? Believe it. They had it on their website's home page. My question is "How does that help students?" And better yet, "Who cares." The school obviously spend thousands of dollars on this useless research and for some reason finds it scholarly. And this all happening at a time when school budgets are slashed and libraries are suffering. Whatever you do, find a better school than this. They are out there and you may not know it, but you'll be happy you did.
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The university as a whole, both undergraduate and graduate, is what you'd expect of a public school (the decent and the bad). Administrators are incompetent and rude, bus drivers do whatever they want, and both campuses could use a total facelift (or seven). Campus is always dirty and overcrowded, especially North. Dorms don't get cleaned all that often, especially on weekends. Used condoms can be found in random spots. Water fountain filter lights are constantly yellow or red, which is gross. Food isn't good unless you go to the chains on campus i.e. Moe's, Au Bon Pain, and Starbucks, but those get old really quickly.
The university prides itself on accepting tons of students, but they neglect to add new resources, space, or faculty to accommodate the growing number of people. Since I started as a freshman, everything gets dirtier and more cramped year by year. Parking spaces are impossible to find, meanwhile there are random stretches of ugly land that could easily be converted to parking lots or garages. UB police love to collect ticket money for illegally parking when you're 20 minutes late to class after circling the lots 50 times though.
Also, if you make the poor decision to go here, stay on top of your tuition bill. I've been incorrectly charged for things, like health insurance, multiple times. But contacting the school to get your own money back is an absolute nightmare. On top of that, you will get calls from the alumni association before you even graduate asking you for donation money. I DON'T THINK SO.
Campus nightlife is a bore as well. Local bars got shut down for serving minors, and the crime rate is high. Greek life is a joke. Area around North Campus is safe but there is nothing to do other than stuff your face at chain restaurants. Area around South Campus is the hood and you may well be the victim of violent crime within your first semester here. Buffalo itself is an abysmally miserable city with miserable weather and miserable people. Even the "nice" parts of the city further from UB are crawling with criminals and homeless people. UB's OT program only has affiliations with hospitals and rehabs in Western NY for the most part, so if you don't want to stay and work around here you're better off at a school somewhere nicer/with higher wages. I would've transferred years ago but for the comfort of staying in the same school for grad and the fact that the program doesn't make you take the GREs. Can't wait to graduate though. Spend your money somewhere else.