Syracuse University

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Integrated Learning Major between Chemistry and Forensic Science
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: Multiracial (75% Caucasian and 25% African American) Bisexual Female

Summary

I’m in a chemistry fraternity

Background

Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Multiracial: I’m 75% Caucasian and 25% African American
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

High School Experience: I went to a public school in Lisle, IL with a graduating class of 100 students
First Generation College Student: No
Major: Integrated Learning Major between Chemistry and Forensic Science
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I’m in a chemistry fraternity

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
I haven’t taken a lot of Forensics courses yet, most of my classes have been Chemistry. For Chemistry, I had two courses with labs first semester, one second semester, and then I’ll take two this upcoming semester. A lot of the homework was online math problems and stuff. For my Honors Chemistry course, I had to do a lot of lab write-ups.
Is there anything you feel the Chemistry department does especially well or poorly?
I think the Chemistry department’s labs were really good and really helpful. The Honors Chemistry lab was definitely difficult but it taught me a lot and then second semester that Honors lab was basically working in a research lab. One thing that I felt they didn’t do particularly well was prepare us for the exams. We got a lot of busy work and we got a lot of lectures on stuff that was unrelated. So, I felt the labs were good but the actual in-class stuff was just [the professor] reading off of the slides, it wasn’t very helpful.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I think it was pretty collaborative. Because it was an honors course there were maybe 15 people in it, so we all worked together pretty well to get our homework done and stuff.
How accessible have your professors been?
Pretty accessible. I usually just email professors for help, I don’t go into office hours that often. I can usually get a response that’s pretty helpful by the next day.
What made you choose that combination of majors? Are you happy with your choice?
My main goal when I was looking for a school was somewhere that had Forensic Science as a major, so that was my main goal. Then in high school I became interested in Chemistry, so I thought it was something I was interested and good at and it would go well with Forensic Science. I also thought it would go well with the kind of job I want in the future.

Reasons to Attend

1) There’s lots of school spirit.
2) There is a lot of opportunity [for my major]. They have a lot of classes in Forensics.
3) There are a lot of options if you’re looking for people like you. There are a lot of communities that you can go and be a part of.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) The weather. It’s cold.
2) There are a lot of hills, so the campus is a little bit hard to navigate sometimes in the winter.
3) If you’re not into partying or you’re not very social, I think it might be hard to make friends there because everyone is so into it.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Sadler Hall with one roommate
Sophomore: On south campus with two roommates
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
The campus is really pretty safe as long as you stay within the area. At night, I would feel a little bit more in danger because we get some emails last year about people being robbed and stuff, but within campus, I think it’s fine. The only thing that worried me as walking around late at night. I thought that there would be a little bit more accessibility with [campus police], like when you call them to drive you if it’s late and you don’t’ feel safe, but I felt like they were not really nice.
What is your favorite off campus restaurant?
Acropolis Pizza
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
Destiny Mall
How was transitioning from Illinois to Syracuse?
I definitely notice a lot more hills and a lot of one-way streets. I live in the suburbs so everything is spread out. Syracuse is a city kind of, so there are a lot of one-way streets. The temperature is pretty much the same, but there is more snow in New York than Illinois for sure.

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife do you like to participate in?
I only really go out on the weekends. In terms of nightlife, I mostly just have people over and hang out in small groups of friends. I also go to the free basketball games and other free events.
What were some of your favorite things you did last year?
Probably Juice Jam, everybody loves Juice Jam. Then just joining chemistry fraternity and all the events we do. We did some volunteering events and we did some other social events.
How happy are you with the nightlife options available to you at Syracuse? Is there anything that you would change if you could?
I was happy about the options. I felt like there were a lot of things I could have done at Syracuse. The only thing that I would change is having more free tickets or more events that we have free access to because then I would be able to go to that stuff.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
Through the chemistry fraternity.
How would you describe the social scene?
If you’re into that kind of [partying lifestyle] that everyone goes for, then I think it will work out great for you.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I don’t think that they mix very much at all. I think there are a lot of different communities on campus but I don’t think that they mix very well. For example, there is the LGBT community and there are different dance groups and cultural groups and they stick together and stay separate from everyone else.
Has being a person that identifies as LGBT influenced your social life at all?
I think so, I mean you find people who are okay with who you are.
How would you describe the student body?
I would say there are a lot of White people and a lot of rich people. I feel like there is one big social group of all the wealthy White people that like to go out to bars and frat parties and stuff and then there are the people who are the creative types [and they hang out together]. There is also a pretty big community of international students from Asia and they kind of stick together. There are also the dance troupes and I feel like they’re all pretty closely related and hang out together. [Socioeconomically, 26% of students come from the top 5%.]

Careers

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how accommodating were they to your needs?
I have used it, it’s a little bit difficult because of all the information they ask for. I think it’s difficult for some people to get all that information, I definitely had a lot of trouble getting everything together for that. Once you do get it, I think the financial aid is good. But to get it is really a hassle and I feel like they’re trying to discourage you from using it.