The City University of New York New York City College of Technology

Date: Dec 09 2010
Major: Computer Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I am reviewing in the context of a non-degree student, as I came here to take one course required for official graduation. The basis of my perception of this school are based largely on the experience in that one course, the experience of actually signing up for the course and the surrounding environment of the school as a whole.

And thank goodness I am. I completely dislike this school.

What I found somewhat ironic right from the start was that a school whose marketing was highly dependent on its "high-tech" experience had no online registration (that I could find easily; perhaps because I was a non-degree) and misleading information on their website. I had to make three trips to the school to prove my residency, one of those times resulting from bringing forms specified on teh website only to find out that the information was outdated.

One can easily feel some of the more glaring problems of the school right from walking in. Getting past security was as easy as showing a schedule (or saying they are a student). It also didn't help that the ID office was available for three hours a day, but that's understandable. Dining at the cafeteria is fine if you don't mind being reminded of high school; even its tables and takeout line looked the same! Lots of vending machines, though! Almost all of the staff I interacted with were rude, snippy and generally unapproachable, which didn't make it any more favorable.

If the cafeteria isn't enough of a throwback, the student body and campus should complete the experience. Lots of time will be spent listening to other people's loud music waiting for crowded elevators in dire need of repair. (The accessible elevator hardly works and its accessible exit has been closed my entire time here!) The rooms on the floors are no different from those in high schools, though their computer labs are pretty well maintained. (The completely open networking equipment on the floor, on the other hand…) I dislike saying this in a review, but being around here felt like an extension of the ghetto. It doesn't help that many of the people here think this school is trash and treat it as such. This wasn't much of a concern for me since I didn't plan on being here too long, but is definitely something to think about if coming here full-time.

A bright side to this is that it's situated right at the heart of downtown Brooklyn, which makes getting to all of the great areas of NYC very, very easy. It's also right next to NYU Poly, which makes taking more advanced coursework much easier to do.

Regardless of these faults, they are largely superficial provided the education is good. I can't speak generally of the programs here, but I got the impression from the class I took that there is plenty of internal miscommunication departmentally, many of which seem underfunded. (Not entirely this school's fault; public schools in the city are struggling overall.) I got what I needed to get out of it (and really liked the professor I had), but it didn't seem comprehensive enough to take advanced coursework. There was plenty of cheating, but this is college we're talking about.

Overall, college is what one makes of it, but unless the absolute basics are required (or if a cheap education is the goal), City Tech suffices well provided one ignores the environment and general difficulty of dealing with administration here. Otherwise, it's not worth the time it took to fill out the application.