University of Rochester | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Nathan

Class: Senior
Major: Neuroscience
Gender: M

High School: Thomas Jefferson
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The city of Rochester is relatively boring with a few decent bars, a few mediocre clubs, mediocre weather, and a lot of old industry like Kodak that's slowly dying. At the same time there are a lot of college students in the area and there some areas like Corn hill and park ave that have a college lively feel to them. Overall the area is fairly liberal politically but varies by school somewhat. U of R is very open minded though decidedly left in political persuasion. There are a lot of cool events on campus but they get old because there's not as much variety as there should be so by junior and senior year you usually start looking off campus to local bars, clubs, etc for entertainment. The music scene in rochester isn't that great although you do have national bands come through but tickets are expensive. School pride isn't that big, although there is a certain rich private school feel on campus-but only from a minority of students who are stuck up and uber-rich. Basketball is probably the biggest sport and the only one where there is a large attendance at games. Basically Rochester is only a school to go to if you're really serious academically and willing to work hard pursuing your field of study. The freedom is nice but you also have enough rope to hang yourself if you don't work hard and stay on top of things. The career center sucks so hopefully you're ambition and good about applying for internships and jobs on your own. It's a good school but only for the smart, hard working student who is ok with only having one or two nights free all week for a little relaxing.

Academic Life

Rochester is top notch academically and depending on the department there is some grade deflation actually. Poli Sci is known to be the major for probably a third of greeks because it's easy, but there are also greeks who are biomedical engineering majors too so it varies. 70% of students are very serious about school and work really hard during the week and maybe relax one day on the weekend. I've had countless intellectual discussions out of class but for the most part you're too busy studying. Most students are genuinely interested in learning things although some classes people just try to get by in. Education at Rochester is geared toward learning not getting a job and the career center isn't very helpful there so be prepared to do a lot of work to land a good job or internship.

Student Body

Rochester is very open minded and liberal with a disproportionately large group of LGBTs on campus and a group of left wing and communist radicals called students for social justice- a group that has been very controversial and frequently marches around protesting something that nobody cares about. Most smart, hard working students would feel at home at Rochester, and at the same time Rochester also has a moderately sized greek life so you can also find students who like to party. However, don't be deceived because most of the students who party also work really really hard studying in their down time. Students are from all over the US and a few internationals. Most students come from middle to middle-upper class backgrounds and there is some social pressure to act and dress accordingly. Dining sucks, you'll want the smallest meal plan possible. Residential life isn't that great and a lot of students have been moving off campus by junior and senior year because on campus is too expensive and the meal plans suck. Rochester's a great school as long as you're willing to work really hard and not have much time for anything else.