Union College

Date: Jan 12 2010
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I am writing this review because I used this website when I was applying to schools, and felt I was a bit mislead by the comments made about Union. It is true, most of the student body is quite happy with Union, but so was most of the country with the bush administration. Take everything with a grain of salt. Each students experience will be different, but I will try to explain what I was hoping for from school, and why I felt Union was not able to meet that expectation.

A Quick First Note: a fact about union that i often tell friends to try to explain the atmosphere: wilco was brought to the campus for the winter concert about 5 years ago. tickets were 5$ and the show took place on campus, and 2 minute walk from any dormitory. it was before greek life was open and not in conflict with any parties, games or events. only 45 students bought tickets, and less then 30 were at the show.

ABOUT ME:

I am a sophomore at union college, currently undecided. I came to union with the expectation of studying medicine, but realized my motivations for becoming a doctor were a bit misguided, and found I enjoyed the humanities significantly more. I have become very involved in extracurriculars at union, currently running the schools concert club (for selection of school concerts and production), am music director of the radio station, member of unions improv club and improv performance group, member of unions debate team, and sit on the council of my minerva house (breazzano). Im very enthusiastic about music (folk, jazz, noise, classical, kroutrock etc), play several instruments, am fairly liberal, and dislike hipsters just as much as im sure you do.

applying to school, i was looking for a very Romantic (capital r) idea of a college experience. students gathered around library tables discussing philosophy, personal exploration, roaring fireplaces, all that harry potter stuff. I assumed that the east coasts old and historic colleges and universities would be neck deep in all that stuff. Union was not my first choice, but I was happy to go. It is a strong first tire liberal arts college, with a long history of prominent alumni and its own unique aspects that separate it form the rest of all the very similar seeming EC lib arts colleges. when i arrived at union, i found that not only was there a lack of an academic climate, but an almost anti-intellectual sentiment held by much of the student body.

ABOUT UNION:

first, it is important to mention that i have no problem whatsoever with the union faculty or staff. union has excellent professors (i have had only one who i did not get along with in two years, but he was still a very knowledge and interesting teacher) that are not only leaders in their fields, but willing to devote all of their time to helping you succeed. the professors are here because of their interest in teaching, not research (im sure the case with most lib arts colleges) and will go out of their way to help you understand any of the course material. I had a math professor once (who lived nearly an hour away) schedule a second review session for a midterm on a sunday because two of the students had a sports conflict with the original session.

that being said, I have been very unhappy with my experience with the union student body. apathy is the motto at union. students want to spend 4 years drinking, smoking, and in many cases snorting themselves into oblivion and then graduate with a high paying job (theres a lot of cocaine on campus for those of you playing at home). while i assume this is true of many institutions, i thought a school with a reputation like unions would attract a different sort of student. instead, union seems to have struck a vein with over privileged, upper middle class, close minded, white america. now your author (me) (hello, nice to meet you) comes from a white, upper middle class family, but the majority of union student body appears on the outside (i havent personally met all of them, but the majority that i have did not change my opinion) like the same exact country club, north face, bmw driving, lets all stay in my cape cod summer house over break carbon copy stereotype. now im dropping a lot of generalities here, but i just want to drive home the point that union is not a school for those wanting to be surrounded by passionate students, to be challenged by an academic atmosphere of new ideas and different perspectives. noone here is reading in their free time or cracking open a new york times at lunch. noone leave campus to go to shows in the surrounding area (i can confidently say this as i also have done some work as a music reporter and have been at nearly all local concerts for the past year, and i have not seen one other union student in that time) (a side note, the area is surprising good for local music, just this year we have been visited by: dan deacon, faust, deerhunter, boredoms, the fiery furnaces, andrew bird/st.vincent, steve martin, odd nosdom, emerson string quartet, and the joshua redman double trio)

GREEK LIFE AND PARTYING:

i think this is an area that should be addressed separately, as it has much to do with the attraction and in my opinion the faults of union. i have been recently quoted the statistic that 70% of all eligible students are involved in greeklife at union (im sure the union website has the exact number, but be aware that only sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible to be greek). so many students are involved that non greeks are called 'independents'. the school has a long history with greeklife (the first 3 national fraternities were founded at union) and it is a tradition that the school feels is in its interest to preserve. i had a very open mind about greeklife coming into union (both my parents were greek) but was appalled when i first arrived on campus. at union, on friday and saturday night, greek life opens up the the union student body at 11pm (two different frats each night). many of the fraternities lease space from the union dormitories, so the parties take place in what were recently freshman common rooms and study rooms. the floors and walls are inexplicably always coated in cheap beer, and most fraternities are divided into a space for dancing and a space for games. both of these are very loose terms, as games are expectedly a single beirut table, and the dancing is the same back a fourth dry hump you got to know so well in middle school. the greek parties are best described as middle school dances with cheap beer and the heightened possibility of being sexually assaulted. no glamor, just sad and desperate coaked up brothers trying to get with sad and desperate drunk freshman girls. more blanket statements, but i have had to go to several of these, at all houses except two, and the formula has not been different. one of the houses got kicked off this term because a brother was so drunk he was convulsing and vomiting on the floor, so they brought him outside alone, put a sheet over him and called the police, and went back inside. other houses (union has 9 frats) have such cute nicknames as the rape frat (due to several transgressions hushed up by the college) and the coke/drug frat (due to its higher then average pill popping and coke use). greek life at union is like, in "Animal House" terms, the omegas (bad guys) controlled the deltas house (the good guys)(except the house is also a freshman dorm). they have all of the classiest and elitist aspects, but dont seem to realize that the organizations they belong to are in no way exclusive, of any academic merit, or garner absolutely no respect.

there are places to hang out at union if you are less enthusiastic about greek life. greek life is very polarizing, and the aprox 5ish% of the student body that chooses to avoid it and still wants to party has outlets as well, and tends to stick close together. the two saving graces of union are the theme houses and the minerva houses. both these places bring people together and provide alternatives to greek live. minerva houses host events which are usually poor, but have included folk music festivals, movie discussions, jazz & wine/beer nights with professors and sponsored trips to speakers like the dalai lama. theme houses throw parties like those i had expected at college. diverse kids (relatively), good music, and an accepting and open nature. these parties are rare however, and you often have to make your own fun if greek life does not appeal to you.