I'm
finishing up my first year here, and hoping things will
improve when I come back next year. Things aren't completely
awful, but they've certainly been less than perfect. Currently I'm
in the “Freshman Foundation” year, which is something of a
mixed bag. I love the fact that I am living
in New York City. Life outside of school is excellent.
New York City has plenty to offer, including great restaurants
and an excellent transportation system. However, I don't feel like
I've really been learning much in school. While I do
enjoy my art classes (Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture) despite this,
I feel like the academic classes are mostly filled with
busy work - namely an excess of essays, research papers,
reading large passages from textbooks, and other things that people
never really use outside of the realm of academia. The
English teacher I have right now is clearly only doing
her job for the money and doesn't seem to care
much about her subject matter. The Art History department for
freshmen isn't too great either- I've already had to switch
Art History teachers twice (one of the teachers whose class
I left almost immediately was also simply only interested in
her paycheck). For the most part, the art teachers are
pretty good, though. I've found the social life at school
to be difficult, despite many opportunities to interact with people.
Maybe it's because I happen to be shy and socially
awkward anyway, but a large portion of the students I've
seen are either intimidating or downright rude.
The security guards
in my dorm are usually helpful and even friendly. My
dorm room, while it is supposedly a large single, is
rather small, but since I live alone, there is enough
space (albeit barely). My only real complaint about the dorms
is all the NOISE from the people in the rooms
around me! The walls are paper-thin here.
In person, the
faculty is fairly accessible and helpful, but when I e-mail
my teachers asking for help with something, they don't always
respond.
For the most part, you have to buy your
own art supplies. Sculpture is the only art class I
have where materials are already provided. Add that to tuition
costs and the price of living in NYC, and things
get very expensive.
I think that covers pretty much everything.
Again, this evaluation is mostly based only on the Freshman
Foundation program, so maybe things will be better next year,
when I officially begin working on my major.
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