SUNY Purchase Review

Most of the professors are very discouraging or just plain dull. The General education classes are way more pressure than they need to be. Registrars are useless. Highly biased student body ("think wide open" is a joke) who'll antagonize you if your opinion ever so slightly differs from the rest. The roads & speed bumps will wreck your car if you drive here. By some odd means, the campus got designed as the perfect wind tunnel, so if you have morning classes in the winter have fun walking to them. The improved residential buildings are the only half decent aspect of this place. Food & meal plan is absolutely sub par to most other colleges. Maybe once Purchase was a cool place to attend, but that time seems to be long gone.

Good school with an extraordinary visual and performing arts program.

lovely college, my daughter recently graduated and claims to loved her 4 year experience.

They are the worst people when it comes to calling and contacting their offices. I'm just getting enrolled for the spring. Looking for housing and advisement etc. and nothing but voicemails, to which they rarely respond to unless its during the office hours.

The arts gem of the State University of New York system! Fantastic facilities and faculty, and so many students go on to become acclaimed artists, musicians, dancers, actors, and more!

their financial aid sucks . They gave my best friend the worst financial aid.

I go to Purchase College to see the wonderful Productions they hold or have Concert Events
with not a bad seat in the house. Always an interesting Hall to the public and next will attend some of the excellent speakers who come to educate and share.

As a Math/Computer Science major at this college, my experience here has been decent at best. What I don't like about this college is their lack of advanced courses for math and computer science. As a future web developer, I wanted to take some advanced courses. While, I do like their current courses, (computer science 1, computer science 2, Data Structures, creating databases for web apps,creating web documents.), I feel as is they need more courses.

Although I was never a student here,I use to attend this school when they use to perform plays here.

I went there for performance audition. Their greeting was simple and lovely. The audition experience was quick, with no extra time to make you tired, just as it was scheduled. Very organized and enough time to warm up. I also liked the piano. It is a friendly environment. I didn't feel any stress in there

I am a senior at Purchase and I have loved every minute of my time here. I find myself integrated into the community and constantly challenged by my professors and coursework. It is really neat when the different majors collaborate to work on one big project. Earlier this semester I saw a show that was written by a Dramatic Writing major, performed by the Dance Conservatory students, and the music was played by the Music Conservatory students. The campus hosts awesome annual events like Fall Fest, Fall Ball, Culture Shock, and Zombie Prom. Even the food is good! I definitely recommend checking out Purchase if you are looking for a college that has a great community, challenging courses, and an active student body!

Purchase is a great school with esteemed programs and faculty. I enjoyed my time there :)

Despite the phrase "Think Wide Open" it feels a bit close minded amongst the students, I'm a transfer and it's always been a struggle to find find a group of friends, the people I managed to befriend would agree with me on this. It's just as cliquey as any school in westchester it seems. The teachers are a mixed bag, some are exceptional while others I question their credentials. If your coming for performing arts this is a great school, but majors outside like psychology and writing need some improvements. I don't hate this school, but I am slightly disappointed and maybe consider transferring one last time if I can't make this better.

5/12/16:

Great college for conferences. I recently attended one and found the facilities and campus to be very inviting and accommodating. I participated in an orienteering event as well and found the campus is filled with art and structures to see.

I am going to play soccer thier
:)

I love that school. It is so peaceful. The best place to study <3

Our daughter is getting superb teaching and hands-on experience in the Music Conservatory at Purchase. She loves the program and we love the price!

@ Reina Oya, that was EXACTLY what Purchase was like back when I visited in the early 90's and decided to apply to school there. I'm from NYC, so it was AWESOME to find a SUNY school that was artistic and full of creative freaks like me. Although I ended up going elsewhere (I really wanted a smaller liberal arts college experience), I REALLY did like Purchase, and could easily have gone to school there.

Thank you for reminding me what it was that I loved about Purchase. It was literally the only SUNY school I considered and applied to. Stony Brook & Binghampton were the only other SUNY campuses I looked at, and I didn't end up applying to either of them (too LARGE and impersonal).

SUNY Purchase was different, and I LOVED that about it. DEFINITELY the SUNY for creative and liberal students. It has exceptional programs, and is in a pretty location. The campus itself is completely hideous architecturally though. The other large state university I applied to was UVM in Burlington, Vermont which also had a much lovelier campus than Purchase did, but it couldn't TOUCH Purchase when it came to the arts programs. I also re-applied to Purchase again as a graduate student for my MFA, but ended up back in NYC instead. Purchase was the only SUNY I applied to both as an undergrad and a graduate student.

Nice athletic fields, the surprise is that it's the training grounds for NYCFC, big hello to Andre Pirlo.....

Purchase College is a good school, but just because you're an arts school (or an artist for that matter), doesn't mean you have to be totally dysfunctional. I'm just trying to register for winter classes here so I can complete my degree faster at my home university, and in my limited experience, I'm not impressed.

It's not easy for me to get dates on when to register for classes, what the requirements (paperwork and otherwise) for enrollment are, what classes I'm allowed to take, what information I need to give them (from me and from my home college), what the timetable is, etc. Their website and forms are not optimized for ease of use and when I spoke to someone on the phone, she didn't give me a straight answer.

Yes, think wide open, but bucking norms of effective communication and customer service doesn't make you radical. It just pisses people off. If the college really wants to be radical, there should be more options than just male/female on its application form and exclude the question "are you a felon?" altogether. As such well-informed and highly educated radicals, I'm sure the Purchase College administration would be aware that assumption of a gender binary is totally passe, and asking about criminal history precludes access to higher ed from the most marginalized in society, namely black and hispanic men and poor whites.

I understand that as a state school, they may have to ask that question, but still. I attend Binghamton, another SUNY school, and they don't ask that question. Also, for online winter classes run through the continuing ed department, the question appears even less relevant.

Part of a university's job is to serve its students, and from my limited experience as a community member and random person trying to register for winter classes (and from some friends and coworkers who have attended the school), Purchase seems more interested in "being quirky" than in effectively serving its students. I'm a very liberal person. I support extremely liberal politicians and am generally supportive of artsiness, weirdness, and the liberal arts way. My parents both went to liberal arts colleges and have been raised learning about the benefits of being different. But even I recognize that it is more radical in the present higher-ed climate to truly support student needs, growth, and development rather than merely inform them of (and from what I'm told insist that they agree with) the left-wing liberal perspective. From my experience and what I've been told, however, this seems like a problem present throughout higher ed that's exacerbated at Purchase College.

That being said, it is supposed to have very good performing arts programs at a good cost. Their conservatory programs in theater and film are supposed to be especially good. If you're cost sensitive (as everyone is these days), and comparing the program at Purchase with schools like NYU and Carnegie Mellon, Purchase is understandably attractive in terms of quality for the money. I'm told it has excellent facilities and great professors. As a resident of Westchester County, I can attest that its proximity to New York City makes it possible for students to engage in the riches of the city without paying for location.
Purchase is known to have many noteworthy alums and many of its "regular" graduates also work in the arts industry, so it help you achieve your dreams, but you have to work hard to not let the university's idiosyncracies get in the way of achieving your goals.

For me, I'm going to continue my process of attempting to register for winter classes as it's a decent school, may offer classes that I'm looking for, is in my neighborhood, and is affordable, but I'm also going to consider other area schools with potentially better administration.

TL;DR: Good school, but takes quirkiness to the extreme. Can help serve your needs and accomplish goals, but dealing with higher ed nonsense seems especially frustrating here compared to other schools.

I absolutely loved the performance Blood Wedding when I was on a trip with my class. Fantastic job to everyone that was apart of that production. Thank you purchase for letting us see it

Purchase College, State University of New York HAS SOME REALLY GOOD PROFESSORS, ALSO GREAT CLASSES AND GOOD EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Spent a lovely afternoon here. Such a pretty campus. Please wear face coverings.

I have been here for a year now as far as the students go everyone is very nice. It was pretty easy find people that you can connect with which I thought would be challenging as an older student. As far as the administrative staff goes some departments are better than others. If you are doing work study good luck with getting your check they are not helpful. Advising can also be a nightmare if you get a professor consider yourself to be very lucky. If you get an advising counselor you are in for a frustrating time. My first semester class wise was horrible, my advisor put me in classes that doesn't match what I need. So as an incoming student be very adamant with what you want and don't take no for an answer. Also try to connect with your professors in your major so if you can't switch advisors you can always ask them for guidance when it comes to your degree.
As far as this school goes it's really not that bad but with anything you have to work for it, you can't expect people to give you everything the school doesn't really hold your hand much so you have to be consistent with sending emails and communicating people on campus. Also if you are a commuter student keep in mind the clubs on campus ARE NOT COMMUTER FRIENDLY. Purchase sells the idea of clubs to students and doesn't point this out which I think is awful since it's misleading. Commuters tend to hang out in the commuter lounge this will be the social scene for commuters.

have loved most of my professors and courses. have made awesome friends. unfortunately, the Office of Disability Resources, ResLife (the Office of Community Engagement), the Counseling Center, and people like Qui Qui Balascio have made my time at this school a living nightmare. I have faced plenty of ableism during my almost five years here and I feel like I have to sleep with one eye open. If you REALLY love your disabled/mentally ill/etc. child: DO NOT SEND THEM HERE. It's not a safe environment for anyone who is "different." I EXTREMELY REGRET not transferring to a different college when I had the chance.

I visited the school when I was a junior and I really like the school. like its a college you there to learn its not like you going to stay at the palace of Versailles. its beautiful kind of quite but its nice.

To be honest, the school wasn't SO bad. I'm was a commuter so I can't anything of how their dorm was like. Often, the atmosphere at the college felt really quiet. Too quiet almost. The hallways always felt empty, and the campus was huge but I hardly saw any people. It felt like no activity was going on. It was honestly kind of depressing.

I felt like everything on campus was oddly spaced apart. If you were often in the Social Sciences building, you could easily go to the cafeteria/the Hub, sure. If you were in the Visual Arts building, you'd have a 10 minute walk across campus to get food. If you're lucky, you're not carrying a lot of stuff and it's not a particularly cold/windy day.

Some of the studio classes felt like they could go on forever. While I did more work in my freshman year IN CLASS, in Sophomore year, it became more and more talk and critique and less work actually in class. I felt like they weren't even teaching at this point or helping, and everything relied on critique. Critique is important, but we had 3 hours of mostly talk and not all the critique seemed helpful or even relevant. I think it would've been better to work in class and actually get some help from the teacher rather than get critique on the due date. Most of the critiques also felt like you had to be friends with your classmates for them to even say anything. Classes were boring. I honestly only learned ever from like one teacher.

The studios aren't so clean. The floor, I noticed, was often dusty, and old paint was encrusted on a lot of the tables and easels. Most notably, the studio was cold 90% of the time, and it was worse in the winter.

Some of the teachers were okay, but some were discouraging. I had a teacher tell me that if I wanted to pursue a career in art, that I'm "better off going to law school and being a lawyer." I don't expect praise and worship from an art school, but I don't think that's any of a teacher's business. A career in art (and not just painting, drawing, etc. Any art) can be made, and it shouldn't be looked down upon. Someone did interior design on your home, someone wrote that book you love, and someone drew that logo of your favorite brand. Some of the teachers also really tried to push their beliefs on you as if only fact.

One teacher kept you from saying "like" or "cool" in sentences, when you need to process your thoughts. People do not talk the way we write.

And honestly I agree with a bunch of other reviews. They do take quirkiness to an extreme to the point where I wanted to go "Calm down." It felt like there was a need to prove just how weird and different you were. Just - no.

As for registration - their website kind of sucked. Figuring out registration sucked as well. I don't know WHY you have to meet with your advisor in person to approve your schedule and then give you an access code to go forth with the registration. Not everyone is on campus to stay for a meeting at 5 pm, because some people are commuters.
Why not just do this through email?
Most of the time, it's just your advisor going "Yup! There's these classes too but yup!"

It felt like such a waste of time.

This school all together made me feel depressed, art repressed, and uninspired.

"Think Wide Open," felt more like "Think Like Us."

If your art wasn't abstract, they did not like it. This isn't even if you draw cartoons and manga for example.

One student painted BEAUTIFUL artwork. He clearly had a good sense of form, light, value, and color. But because his art was representative, he was shot down in a critique. They did not even consider that he had a good grasp of fundamentals.

That is not thinking wide open. That sounds like conforming to me.

On a more positive note, the college seemed relax. No one bothered you, and most of the other students seemed friendly enough. As a freshman, you had an upperclassman get to help you sort things out.

I eventually transferred from this school.

When i went it was a haven for artists and subcultures of all sorts and most all excepted eachother. I'm sorry the disabled girl below had a bad experience. Back in our day she would have been fine. This a good school for music, art, dance, the theator and liberal arts. There used to be chill chicks with fake fruit in their hair rode round on ols skool bikes and lived in mushroom house (they called it). We were all freaks and loved it. A few times they gave us bad roommates who were very bad muy malo girls and we got them removed from suite. One time a girl with blue hair drove her car full of peoples up to the far side on the pedestrian walkway music blaring. Parties were massive like 500 heads. Nowadays it's a different generation and i wish everyone was accepting as we were back then .

If you have an opinion that isn't Huber liberal and if you are not into mind altering drugs look some place else .There motto is think wide open which means there is know room for someone with conservative thought.The teacherss lead the way

Visited the campus today. The most ugly and depressing school I have ever seen. Dirty, unorganized and felt like a prision

I really regret attending this college. I was apart of the film program for two years, be prepared to live in a depressing windowless basement. Being a freshman in 2012-2013 I lived in first floor far-side dorm, there was literally so much mold I would wake up with bloody noses daily, and literally MUSHROOMS growing out of the shower stall walls (see photo below). I reported it multiple times, nothing was done. I paid $15,000 for two semesters (Just housing) to live in mold and shower with mushrooms. Oh but after I graduated they fixed the far side dorm bc it was deemed a health hazard. D-hall is a health hazard too. The Liberal studies/ liberal arts degree is useless in the real world folks. It puts you into thousands of dollars of debt with little no career options or path. I visited the very empty career center multiple times, all they will tell you is set up LinkedIN and learn how to freelance yourself after school. Thanks for NOTHING but debt purchase college.

If you have any disability or have depression. Do NOT go to this school. It will make everything 1,000 times worse. I was forced to go on and take psychotropic medication if I wanted to continue to participate with the swim team. The medicine made me feel like a zombie. The head Swim Coach from 2015 disclosed to the entire swim without my permission that I was ill. This changed how other classmates acted towards me. And in general if you have any anxiety/ depression or try to talk about it majority of other students will ghost you. Teachers don t care either

If I could give any 18 year old advice it would be do NOT go to SUNY POORCHOICE. It will only give you DEBT and most likely depression.

I studied art history, why? I must be an idiot. As an older transfer student, I could say the experience of living down there and seeing the city was far better than the education itself. One of my art history professors stated that there wasn't any money in a master's of art history, so I didn't bother. I also had the single most immature roommate named Cass, who at one time insisted that I teach him how to use the apartment equipped washer, dryer. Long story short they were about to evict him. At the last minute they let him stay. My last semester I lived in new Rochelle in an apartment, which I should have done all along.
Cafeteria food was mediocre at best, even though they will insist that they've won awards for it.
No conservative viewpoints tolerated here. And older students? Well some just view with suspicion.( as in what took you so long?) ( do you teach here!?)
This campus has 400 acres yet no bike trails, (as of 2008 ) so you will just have to ride on the roads as I did.
Your suburban raised, brainwashed liberal embracing highminded late teen-early twenties child/student should fit right in here. Wait till their student loans are due and they start making their way in the world, then they will find out how useless their education/major is.

The architect Kahn designed this place, yet was prone to flooding. A teacher/professor onced said to me, " that's what happens when you hire one of the great architects of the day and don't take his advice". Other fixtures such as a big stupid green clock tower thing was added, along with other ill- fitting additions just didn't make sense in my eyes. At the time Anderson hill rd resembled the hoch chi min trail. Typo there.
I still have yet to make a dent in my student loans. Looking back it was a mistake, it did get me out of syracuse for a couple of years, and the MET. is just wonderful.

I'm sorry if you are an au pair don't choose this collage , you won't learn a lot. 180$ for class and is definitely not good choice

It's a place for creative and talented people with no clue what to do with their lives to collaborate with other creative and talented people with no clue what to do with their lives.

This is the dullest and darkest college I've ever been to.