Hartwick College

Date: Mar 03 2005
Major: History/Histories (art history/etc.) (This Major's Salary over time)
My first impressions of Hartwick were extremely positive and when I spent an overnight there I felt even better about the campus. The year to follow taught me that first impressions aren't always correct.

First the good parts.

The campus was beautiful, but you can only see the beauty when it isn't covered with snow. The classes sizes are small and the proffessor's are very approachable. I enjoyed all my classes, except for International Relations and Intermediate Spanish II. International Relations was bad because it wasn't engaging and Spanish was difficult because of the insane amount of work, 3 hours for one assignment. Everyone that I talked to was friendly and approachable and people were interested in meeting new people. The dorm rooms were fine and provided enough space. The food was okay, but there wasn't much variety. The unlimited meal plan was great as well. Also you don't need a car to get around to a lot of the great parties. I made a lot of friends, but after a while my main core of friends went their seperate ways. There were the ones who liked to party and the ones who wanted something more. I wanted something more. Hartwick is near Oneonta State, but there seems to be a divde between the two schools. I never had to deal with it, but I never went to SUCO parties, so I don't really have an expert opinon. Speaking of parties, it's easy to go to them and the alcohol policy is pretty good, three strikes and your out, but this is highly dependent on your RA.

Now for the bad parts.

Oneonta is a boring, run down city with nothing to do. The mall sucks and the other stores are small and don't have a lot of what students need. There is a Wal-Mart, but that's the highlight. There also isn't a vibrant extracirricular community. Because of these two things there isn't a lot to do except drink and get high. This is what my host had said to me and I should have listened more intentlly. There is a racial divide, but only because of the minorities who make one. I am hispanic, but grew up in a white town. At Hartwick I had a white roomate and made lots of white friends. I had no problems. The minority organization I was in called SOSU/BU had many members who complained that the school was "too white" and that a lot of white people avoided them, but I feel that it was precisly those attudies by the minorities that made it so they didn't have white friends. It's all in your attitude. The weather is horrible. Drinking and partying can get really boring after a while, not to mention expensive. Also Hartwick is definately NOT worth the full tuition price, so if you don't get a good fin aid package, look elsewhere.

All in all, Hartwick is an okay place, but the town really kills it.