"...in the case of Geneseo you really get what you pay for...a degree from a unknown state school that prospective employers will not even be able to pronounce."-A past review on Students Review about Geneseo
Me: "For safeties, I'm looking at Geneh-so, as well"
Guidance counselor: "Oh, you mean Geneseo (pronounced Gen-uh-see-oh)"
-2010
"What's up, Geneh-so-ah!!!"
-Kid Cudi, Spring 2012
It seems that there are two major types of students here: those who did not see themselves attending Geneseo (but had to, due to financial reasons or because they did not get in somewhere else) and those who really wanted to go here. The school really does toot its own horn about its fabricated prestige. I remember rolling my eyes at orientation when some dean talked about how lucky we were to enroll in a public Ivy.
If you are swayed by the propaganda that this school spews, or you are from the surrounding area in Western NY, then you might actually believe that this school garners an ounce of recognition outside of a 70 mile radius. The fact is that, although this school is trying to improve its academic standing, very few people are aware of this school.
I bought into the standard logic that everyone talks about here. "Oh, it's okay, I will just go to a prestigious grad school. Nobody cares about the name of your undergrad if you go to grad school." NEWS FLASH - good luck getting into prestigious grad schools from Geneseo. Although you occasionally hear the story of that one person getting an interview at Harvard Med (it actually is just one person - professors have brought it up as a source of pride before) most people here matriculate (at least for med school) to SUNY schools such as SUNY buffalo, sony upstate, sony downstate, and maybe if they are lucky U of Rochester. My friend with competitive stats mentioned that at his interview he had to explain where Geneseo is and had to answer whether it has a strong science program or not. Although Geneseo affords a good education to certain majors (I believe science is its strong suit) you're on your own when it comes to proving it to others.
Socially, if you are straight edge you will go to the LateKnight events where they bring some interesting stuff such as Minigolf or tiger exhibition every now and then. If you are more into a drinking / substance scene then you can predict your weekend to go one of the following ways:
*If you're not in a organization, you will most likely get stoned with your friends and watch a movie while you "chill" and try to forget about what other schools you could have gone to OR hit your friends in organizations up with increasing desperation as the evening turns to night hoping for an open or an invite party.
*If you are in an organization, or you do end up going out, expect to go to crumbling pre-fabricated houses such as the Meadows or just standard crumbling houses such as the ones on Court St. and Orchard where you will probably meet some interesting people. Expect to play the same drinking games weekend after weekend after weekend until 12AM rolls around, which is when everyone takes a bus up to Main St.
*Once you get to Main St. you have a plethora of choices. You can either give up early and call it a night by going to one of the 2 pizza places or a place called Uhots which serves fast food and then you can watch as all the guys / girls who didn't pull at the IB (more on that later) walk in a little later and cause trouble.
*If you do decide to press your luck, you will end up waiting in line outside of a barn (often in the freezing cold, because, let's face it, you're wearing layers from late September until early April here) to be let in to whats called the In-Between Tavern (IB). Its just a dancing club where people either a) grind with each other and where sorority girls watch other people grind with each other and then talk shit about them for days on end. If you're white or sexually attractive (in most cases, you have to be both) you might do well here. Or if you're black then perhaps a girl who is looking to check "Get with a black guy" off her senior list might pull you aside too. This brings me to my other point:
when you bring a bunch of black kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to Geneseo over the summer to make friends and "integrate" them to college (they end up making friends only with other blacks due to this) and then bring in small town suburban middle class white kids from Long Island and the surrounding areas of Rochester and Buffalo, you get a scene straight out of Django Unchained. Segregation is rampant here. You can't blame people for their upbringing and close-mindedness because it is partially a product of the environment they grew up in but I knew after hearing through the grapevine about the flack a girl got for seeing me (I'm not white) and how many girls say that they would never hook up with anyone who isn't White its easy to begin racial self-hatred.
Of course, there are people who thrive here. The other reviews that talk about students being snooty didn't really resonate with me. I think most students here can be down to earth and they realize that this is primarily a school for middle-class people who are looking to get an education without breaking the bank. Of course, with this comes the suburban high school mentality that you thought you were leaving when you graduated HS. If you go Greek get prepared to caught up in petty affairs such as "So-and-so sorority doesn't like our fraternity" and "Ughhhh that guy is in that fraternity he must be a jerk" Be prepared to be judged by everyone and hear about it the next day because this school is so small that its impossible for word to not get around about anything.
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesday often consist of hearing the same things: "I got so blackout last weekend" "Dude, I was so drunk last weekend" "I made out with some one at the IB last weekend"
although i made some great friends here and i was shaped into a better person during my two years here, i have seen enough of what Geneseo has to offer. I cannot imagine another 2 years here of the same mundane routine of going through the motions during the week just to binge drink on the weekend. i do not believe that this school would help me in my professional life at all because it offers nothing unique academically, unless you are one of the students who gives professors reach arounds while you do research for them and memorize old tests that your buddy gave you to get an A. in that case you will probably do okay here.
i am transferring to Cornell University after this semester and I can't believe the feeling of pride that comes with typing that out. gone are the days of answering people's questions of where i go to school with "sony geneseo. its a state school near rochester."GOOD BYE GENESEO!!!!!!!
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