University of Rochester

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Biochemistry – started as biomedical engineering but changed to biochemistry
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Heterosexual Female

Summary

I’m very involved in the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, which is really cool because it’s a combination of students and community members.

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: I went to a public school in a very small town in Vermont with a graduating class of about 110 students. I would say about 60% of us were on the track to go to college. There was a lot of poverty at my school, so I think a lot of people couldn’t afford college or never saw it as an option for themselves.
First Generation College Student: No
Major: Biochemistry – started as biomedical engineering but changed to biochemistry
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I’m very involved in the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, which is really cool because it’s a combination of students and community members. We have undergrads, graduate students, faculty, some alumni, and some people that live in Rochester.
What kind of time commitment is the orchestra?
The orchestra meets every week, usually on Tuesdays, from 7:30-10.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework last year?
I had a lot of labs and problem sets, second semester especially. I took a lab-based chemistry class and calculus for the whole year, which is a lot of problem sets. I took Intro to Biomedical Engineering, which was also a lab course, and then second semester I took physics, which was a lab-based course that also had problem sets. Most of my courses had problem sets and were lab-based. There was only one class per semester that was humanities-based.
Is there anything you felt was done especially well or especially poorly in your classes freshman year?
The chemistry classes I really enjoyed because I felt the professor, even though he had a lot of students in his freshman chemistry class – it was a big auditorium with 200-300 people – I felt like he paid very close attention to everybody and made sure that he answered everybody’s questions. I could ask him questions at office hours. So, having that openness from a professor was encouraging to me and helped me learn a lot.
How accessible are your professors?
It depends on the professor. My chemistry professor was really, really good about that, but I had other professors that were not as good. My Math and Physics professors I have not had as easy of a time trying to get information out of them. They had office hours and I did go to them, but I didn’t feel the same kind of enthusiasm from them that I did for my professor in the chemistry department.
What was your favorite class last year?
Probably an ethics course because it was a nice break from all the math and science I was taking for my major. It allowed me to read passages and arguments and write about them, and use a part of my brain that I wasn’t using a lot. I liked having the opportunity to write and discuss philosophy.
What was your least favorite class last year?
Physics, it was the general mechanics class. I had already known that I had a weakness in physics because I never took it in high school, so this was my first introduction to it. The professor was not super enthusiastic about helping his students learn it. I had a lot of trouble not only with the material but with the structure of the class, so that gave me a lot of stress. That’s probably why I chose to change my major to something not in the engineering department.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s competitive or collaborative?
I’d say it’s definitely much more collaborative. I wouldn’t describe it as a cutthroat environment. I’d say everyone is competitive with themselves and everyone wants to do really well, but not at the expense of someone else. I’d say for pretty much all of my classes I do a lot of my problem sets with other people. So, I think it leans towards the more collaborative environment.
Why did you pick your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I chose to leave the engineering school because I felt I wasn’t getting enough biology out of biomedical engineering. This year allowed me to realize that, while I do enjoy math and physics to some extent, I’m much more interested in the biology and chemistry side of the field. So, I just followed my gut because the classes I would be taking as a biochemistry major looked way more interesting to me than the classes I would be taking as an engineering major.

Reasons to Attend

1) The flexible curriculum
2) Their music program and connection to Eastman School of Music. The music department is pretty strong and most of my friend are musical. There are also lots of musical events going on. If you are musical, I strongly recommend checking out Rochester.
3) I love that Rochester is diverse. It’s cool to be exposed to all these other races and cultures.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) In my experience, professors can be kind of hit and miss. I had a chemistry professor that was really great and a physics professor that was not so great. It can make it challenging to learn if you don’t have a good relationship with your professor. I’ve heard from my friends too that some professors are great and helpful, and some are more invested in their research than their students.
2) The dorms. My freshman dorm felt like part of it was falling apart and the bathrooms were not the cleanest all the time.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Gilbert Hall, which is part of the freshman quad. I really loved living in Gilbert. It was one of the older freshman dorms, so it hasn’t been renovated in a while. I met all of my closest friends in my hall, so all the people I’m living with this upcoming year I met because they lived in the hall in Gilbert. I met my roommate through the Class of 2021 Facebook Page and we found out that we have similar interests, like we were the same major and we both played the violin, so we were connected through that and it worked out super well because now she’s probably my best friend.
Sophomore: Wilder Tower in a suite with my friends.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
On campus, everything is pretty safe. I have never had an experience on campus where I didn’t feel safe or comfortable, even at night. Off campus can be a little bit sketchy. Every once in a while, we’ll get an email from Public Safety saying watch out because this person was mugged last night. As long as you stay on campus at night and you don’t go wandering the streets of Rochester, there’s no problem there.
How was transitioning from your hometown in Vermont to Rochester, NY?
My hometown is pretty small, and in a small town everybody kind of knows everybody. Going from that setting to Rochester was different because suddenly there is this big city pretty close to campus and where I’m from there are pretty much no cities. So, going from my hometown to what I thought was a big city was pretty cool for me. I was looking to get out of a small town vibe and throw myself into an urban setting, but not as urban as New York City.
What is your favorite off-campus restaurant?
There’s a little coffee shop called Spot Coffee, and I really like to go there with my friends. Their coffee is really good and their waffles are really good. Another place that’s very popular is Jay’s Diner, which is your classic diner vibe.
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
Probably the mall. If I want to go out with my friends we would usually go to the mall to do some shopping. Other than that, I’m not really sure I have an off-campus place.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
The second semester a lot of my nightlife was studying because I was taking harder courses [laughs]. When I wasn’t doing that a lot of times my friends and I would go out to parties, sometimes we’d go into Collegetown and get dinner, sometimes we’d go to the movies with Uber or take a shuttle. I have some friends in some musical and theater groups, so when they would have a show we’d all get together and see their show. That was fun too.
How happy were you with the nightlife options at Rochester? Is there anything you would like to see changed or added to it?
I don’t think so. I always really liked the options that Rochester had to offer. I like that the university campus is not directly in the city of Rochester, but it’s very accessible, so you can easily call an Uber or take a shuttle if you want to get into the city on the weekends. Or, you can stay on campus and have a more relaxing night with your friends and that was really fun too.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
My freshman hall in Gilbert.
How would you describe the social scene?
I think the social scene is pretty open, and what I mean by that is I never felt like it was cliquey. I think there are certain groups that tend to stick together, like sororities or fraternities and the acapella groups, but I’ve never felt excluded from anything. I always felt like I had a very broad range of friends.
Another thing I like about Rochester is there are [6,300] undergraduates, which is a pretty good size for me because it’s bigger than my high school, but it also lets me see people as I’m walking around campus and I’ll wave to them. It feels very open and friendly.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I think there’s a pretty good mix. I think that there are certain groups that tend to stick to each other, like international students tend to stick together. The on campus clubs and groups do a really good job of bringing diverse people together. For instance, my one of my friends is in a theater group and they’re a lot of people of every race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and everybody is coming together to put on this one big show and I think that’s really cool.
How would you describe the student body?
I think the student body is very diverse, which I think is awesome. Coming from a small town in Vermont filled with mainly white people, I thought it was super cool to go from that to somewhere where I can meet all these cool different cultures and identities.
I also think the student body is very passionate and dedicated. There was an incident earlier last year with our university president about a sexual assault case and the student body was very proactive in demanding justice in that case. [In the 2018-2019 academic year, 37% of first-year students are from foreign countries.]

Careers

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how accommodating has the office been to your needs?
I definitely have used financial aid, and the financial aid office has been very accommodating to me. Any time I had a question about my bill I would just call them and talk to my counselor and they would help me out. There were a couple of times last year where I couldn’t pay my bill on time because I didn’t have a loan approved soon enough, so I just went to the bursar’s office and explained my situation and they said, “OK, we’ll push it back, just pay it when you can.” I thought that was really awesome of them.