I don't have many good things to say about New Paltz. I just finished my first year here at New Paltz and there's been ups and downs.. People: I feel like most of the people in the school are friendly but there are DEFINITELY cliques here. I would say that people coming in as freshmen have the best chance of making friends. However, they will probably talk to these same friends for their entire four years. Try to be one of those people that knows everyone...if not, the same friends will cling to you, and they will be the only ones you're with at all times. Girls, if you're looking for some seriously good looking eye candy, you won't find it here.
Food: The food at the dining hall is horrendous. The only saving grace is that there are always fruits or vegetables available; you cant get those from our other individual food establishments ex: sushi, pizza. The food is not quality here, and the students can't stand it.
Nightlife: Everyone will agree: New Paltz nightlife is also horrendous. I was told this place was a party school...that's not true in any way. If anything(an open event)is happening, it's either a failing fraternity/sorority party or the bars. The "club" in town is a failure as well, so weekends are often lacking: the students left bitter. Basically, as an average student all you can do is go to the bar to have a good time, and obviously most of the students can't do that. Join a fraternity or sorority and you always have a steady party to fall back on. Other than that, good luck on weekends.
Classes: I feel that our faculty should be much better than it is. The method for class signups is ridiculous. New Paltz needs to either offer more classes or stop accepting so many people because there are clearly not enough spots for everyone to get into the classes THEY NEED. Some people had to learn this the hard way because they are basically being forced to take a semester off since they can't get into the specific classes they need to work on their majors!
Environment: New Paltz is a beautiful place and the trees and flowers are really nice. However, they are doing too much construction. The place was fine as it was before, so all of these new "improvements" are just annoying, time consuming, and money wasting. In short, New Paltz needs to stop spending so much money on turning parking lots into pedestrian areas and start focusing on improving its food and academics!
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