Syracuse University

This is all second hand. My older son just graduated with a Master’s degree. Disarray may best describe it. Online courses that were terrible. Physics classes taught by chemistry post docs. Two-​course subjects where they only taught the first course. He’s still battling to get his degree correctly issued. Ugh.
His fellow grad students from other schools were also appalled by the lack of continuity and overall lack of focus. It seems to start with the administration. The communications program is supposed to be top flight, but I worry about the sciences. They have a good basketball program, but they had to cheat to have it. It probably says all you need to know about the school.
Look elsewhere even though some of the faculty is outstanding. There are many better options.
The weather — terrible, though the budding El Nino should help in the ²⁰¹⁵⁄₁₆ school year as Northeast may be dryer than the last two years.

The best campus in the nation. Love orange, go orange.
You definitely have the chance to experience the four seasons here. The beauty is beyond words. Come to feel it.

One of the most beautiful and updated campuses I’ve ever been to. I sat in on a class once with a friend and definitely thought the teaching was top notch. I would consider it if I was thinking of picking a place for a Masters.

25,000 stars!!! just because I went there

Eine der altehrwürdigen Universitäten, wie man sie klischeehaft in vielen amerikanischen Filmen stereotyp immer wieder gezeigt bekommt. Es ist schon beeindruckend, wie die Amerikaner es fertig bringen, u.a. mit massivem Sponsoring der Wirtschaft, hier Bildungseliten zu schaffen, die das Land weiter nach vorne bringen!
Da kann sich Deutschland einiges abschneiden, wo Elitenbildung aus Gründen der «political correctness» schlicht verpönt ist. 68er und linke Ideologie-​Brainwash sei Dank!

Best 4 years of my life… won’t knock off a star because it’s cold… just prepare for it and you’ll be fine. Great education, definitely a work hard, play hard school. Tuition is up there, but i believe it was worth it. Great social life whether you go Greek or not. Great restaurants on and off campus. Everything is about a 15 minute drive from campus. If you live up at Day or Flint, prepare for walking up and down 127 stairs just to get to the dorms at least twice every day. The campus is absolutely beautiful as well.

Went during Mayfest…
Lets just say that it was memorable.
Bottoms up to SU!

I went here last semester. It is an absolutely gorgeous campus when the weather is good. It gets really harsh winters that last most of the semester. It is also incredibly expensive, the reason I am not there this semester. It is going to go over $ 50,000 a year for next semester. It really is in the middle of nowhere. If you want a metropolitan city then this isn’t it. If you don’t enjoy frat parties then you are going to be out of luck. The basketball team is amazing as well as the lacrosse. Unfortunately they don’t have an NCAA baseball team. It is all about what you make of it. Newhouse is a fantastic communications school but its nearly impossible to get in. It is filled with rich Long Beach kids who drive around in their Mercedes and wear True Religion. All in all I would return but only if they offered me more financial aid, seeing as it is way to expensive for anyone to afford in this economy.

If you’re reading this as a high school senior trying to decide where to go to school, I would like you to note how weather-​dependent the reviews are and to keep in mind that when people say, «you must like snow» they mean it. It’s literally the worst weather ever. One guy, a film major, told me they shot the ‘snow planet’ scene from Star Wars in Syracuse. (If you wikipedia «Hoth» it contradicts this but the point is, everyone he told that to didn’t question him !). Another thing you need to understand is that when people say «Winter» in Syracuse that covers from October to May. It always snows before Halloween and one of the biggest snow storms I experienced was on Mother’s Day. The «4 Beautiful Seasons» everyone talks about are a bit of an exaggeration as the 8 months of winter I just described takes up most of the year. Summers (if you have the ‘pleasure’ to experience) are hot and humid; think Hawaii but substitute tropical misty rain, beautiful beaches and fruity drinks with mammoth mosquitoes, one of the most polluted lake in a America (wikipedia confirms that) and an Indian casino only 3 exits (or 45minutes) down the through-​way (ie Toll Road). The two weeks of fall and two weeks of spring usually occur the weeks you’re getting to school (which make moving in fun) and the weeks you are FINALLY getting ready to go home.
While the weather understands the positive affects of pleasantries and how a nice fall «hello» and spring «goodbye» can do a lot to make you forget about the months you had to spend going from building to building in tunnels so your face doesn’t freeze off, the general population of Syracuse didn’t seem to believe in such things. I always said Syracuse was a pretty cold place, literally and figuratively. The winters force people inside where great bonds between friends can form while you are in your basement trying not to freeze to death. The problem is that you can only fit so many people into a room and those «bonds» usually form amongst small groups of people and the day to day interactions of the student body is lacking. If, by some miracle, there is a nice day (above 50 degrees) before June you will see what I’m talking about. All of a sudden, thousands of students descend upon the quad in a hacky-​sack/​ultimate Frisbee bi-​athalon. Its quite amazing and for a day or maybe two, you’re on a normal college campus where people look up, smile and may even say «Hi» to each other. That lasts until the next snow storm and out come the north face jackets and hoods and its back to looking at the ground so you don’t slip on ice or step in slush.
I also am a heavy believer that school is what you make it. The facilities at Syracuse are one where you can get a great education. However, almost EVERYTHING requires a great deal of red tape and its extremely easy to slip through the cracks if that’s what you want to do. I don’t remember my adviser’s name but do recall being super irritated when I couldn’t register because I didn’t have a form filled out that she had to sign. On the other hand my roommate still has a very close relationship with his advisor from SU. I will say this: there is almost ZERO interaction between the different colleges at SU. The engineers and architecture students are banished underground all year to their super projects. The Visual and Performing artists perfect their skills on their own. There is some interaction between the S.O.M. and the College of Arts and Sciences. And last I heard, the Newhouse School of Communication was receding from Syracuse and has petitioned to join the Ivy League as its own institution. (I kid… but seriously, the NH kids take their program’s pride a little too far — you pretty much need backstage passes to get into any of their buildings or work areas).
The ESFers (not technically part of Syracuse but part of the SUNY school) were my personal favorite. They make up a good percentage of the Ultimate Frisbee crowd and will be seen hugging trees more then they will be seen in class.
The sports programs were a big draw for me. I was a recruited athlete (rowing) and using the same facilities that Donavan McNabb, Marvin Harrison and Derrik Coleman used was very appealing. While the surrounding town does revolve around SU sports, the football program has been going down hill since McNabb left (I got the pleasure of seeing Troy Nunes run backwards for 3 years). The Carrier Dome (home to both football and basketball) is not the best place to watch a basketball game.
Like I said before, if you put your face in to the books, you can leave Syracuse a scholar. As far as quality of life, I would say almost every aspect of it can be improved by going elsewhere. The deciding factor for me to transfer was an upstate NY earthquake in April of 2002 (
) If they have earthquakes, why not just go back to California?!

if it werent for the aweful weather the place would be perfect. but then again the weather brings people together to form those college bonds

best university to be a big fish in a small pond

Syracuse University is an undergraduate’s wet dream. Just make sure to have that dream either before November or after April because it might just be a frozen one.
As an alumnus I can say I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. A few guidelines though to help you survive:
1. You must like snow!
2. You probably should get used to drinking on a regular basis (I had one psych professor acknowledge that b/​c there is nothing to do up there in the cold most people turned to the sauce).
3. Don’t wear anything they give you at freshman orientation, especially that lanyard thing. Otherwise you will be harassed by upperclassmen and it won’t be because you arrived to class on time in the new outfits your mommy just bought for you.
4. Invest in sweatpants. And sweatshirts. And a Northface (if you want to fit in get a black one). Girls, you must get some Uggs and black juicy pants and a jean skirt. And wear them in such a horrendous combination. I digress.
5. Go downtown once in awhile. There are some great bars in Armory Square.
6. M-​Street is the place to be. Watch out for Operation Prevent if you are underage. While I was there 3 bars closed for continuous underage drinking. Don’t let this happen to you!
7. Even though the Football team currently sucks, attend A game. Just ONE, at least once while you are there. Same goes for Basketball and Lacrosse.
8. You can find the bar scene inside of Bird Library on the first floor talking smack about that hoe they saw passed out by the dumpster last night during midterms and finals. If you actually WANT to study, hit the 4^th or 5^th floor.
9. Dining Hall food is no good. I hope you still aren’t required to eat there for 2 years anymore. A nice alternative is to use your campus bucks at south campus (if you can get a ride). They actually serve the good stuff to the athletes.
10. There actually are some things to do outside of campus: Finger Lake Wine Tours, Greek Peak and others for skiing/​boarding, Turning Stone Casino, and the Fairgrounds to name a few.
11. Best pizza place is Dorians, in my opinion. And Sabastino’s delivers. What do they deliver you ask? Anything. pizza, beer, kegs, cigarettes, etc…
12. Stay away from Thorndon Park, unless of course it is daylight and you are in a group. If you haven’t noticed already ‘cuse is in surrounded by the G-​H-​E-​T-​T-​O.
13. The Daily Orange (D.O.) has a crossword and sudoku, perfect to distract you from that annoying professor your parents are second mortgaging their house to pay for. Make sure you learn to fold it into a perfect rectangle and hide it behind your notebook so the prof or TA can’t spy it.
And…
14. Go play in the snow! But when it melts and the girls come out to tan in bikinis and jump on trampolines you will know you made the right choice.
And you ask: If I could do it all again would I? Hell yes.

Okay, this is the actual review for the University. I attended this beautiful school for a year and had a blast. There was this «microburst» that we all thought was a tornado that hit the campus pretty hard. We all ran to the basement, hoping and praying the building would not collapse. The cafeteria windows rattled and broke from the strong winds. Scary first semester.
Having fire drills in the middle of a snowy night was not fun – especially right in the middle of a night shower.
The Quad is very frisbee friendly, the buildings are gorgeous (except for our College of Engineering and Comp Sci building – Link Hall).
Did you guys know that the original Syracuse school colors were pink and watermelon green? They changed it to orange, with the blue as a complement color. Also, Vanessa Williams, Don McNabb, Carmelo Anthony – these famous people attended this school!
Overall I was happy with my edumacation at this school. It’s private though, so it got a bit pricey. They have one of the best Broadasting program in the country, very good law school, the computer science/​engineering program is very kickass (they get a lot of recruitment from IBM, Lockhead Martin, Welch Allyn, etc.).