Hartwick College

Date: Aug 28 2007
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I transferred after my second year at Hartwick. I didn't find the school to be very attentive to my needs as an undeclared student. My faculty advisor wasn't willing to work with me to discuss my major and when I went to the Advising Center on campus, they provided little to know help because it seemed like they were inundated with students on probation or experiencing academic difficulty. This didn't seem fair. I had a 3.7 and the school wasn't focusing its efforts on anyone but the bottom of the class? Anyway - the campus is in rough shape, for a school with a small endowment you would expect that, but for a school with a $40 price tag in a field dominated by tier one schools you would expect a nice campus to attract more students to pay full tuition. The administration seems to play favorites - I noticed this particularly within the Student Life office. Luckily one of the biggest offenders quit, but that was after I'd made up my mind to transfer. I was just baffled with all of the limitations at this school. It's a residential college - i.e. students are required to live on campus all four years unless they win a lottery to get off campus, yet there are inadequate dining facilities and not a whole lot to do on campus other than drink and get high (as one other reviewer pointed out). Academically I felt challeneged, but as an undeclared I felt like the faculty were more concerned with majors than myself. If I had to do it over again I would have gone to a higher ranked school or just sucked it up and gone to a State institution the first time around. Now I have over $50k in student loans and am dreading paying them back for the experience I had at Hartwick. I don't feel like I got my money's worth.