Union College
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Political Science
Minor: Classics
Student Self Identifies as: White Straight Male
Summary
I’m involved in Greek life, Club Soccer, and the Pre-Law Society.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White
Sexual Orientation: Straight
Sexual Orientation: Straight
High School Experience: Private high school in Baltimore, Maryland with a graduating class of about 12 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Political Science
Minor: Classics
Extracurricular Activities: I’m involved in Greek life, Club Soccer, and the Pre-Law Society.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
I’d say Greek life has had the largest impact on my social experience. Without playing a sport here, it’s the alternative social outlet for students.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your Political Science major?
There will be a reading to do before each class, and you’ll sometimes have a quiz or a small essay that corresponds with that reading. There can be a lot of writing as well. There’s a lot of papers that range in length, but it really comes down to a bunch of reading and writing assignments. The only time there are big assignments and papers are for midterms or final exams.
Is there anything that you feel the Political Science department does especially well or especially poorly?
They do a really good job of reaching out to students and making sure they know the times they’re available for help. When you go to seek that help, they do a good job getting you the resources to succeed. In terms of the negatives, sometimes they take a really long time to return graded work. It can make it difficult to understand what mistakes you made because sometimes it just takes a really long time. That varies by teacher, but I’ve had that experience with a couple different Political Science teachers.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
I think it’s more collaborative than competitive, especially for Political Science classes. You do a lot of group discussions, so it doesn’t seem like it’s very competitive. The teachers aren’t trying to only reward good grades to a certain amount of people in the class.
Do you feel that people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom?
Absolutely. I think the teachers do a good job offering a learning environment that allows for anyone’s opinions and beliefs. I’ve never had the experience where there’s been a teacher that’s closed-minded about different perspectives. The student body itself is more conservative-leaning, especially compared to other Northeastern schools in general. I think teachers themselves don’t transcend that. They keep it pretty moderate.
What is the impact of the Trimester system on your academic and social experience?
The academic aspect appealed to me during the application process and is why I like being here a lot. Only having three classes at once allows you to focus more in-depth on each individual class, whereas other schools have five or six classes going one at once. With three, you can really devote your time to making sure each class has the necessary amount of care.
The social aspect of the trimester system is that your schedule doesn’t line up with a lot of your friends from home. Being on a trimester can sometimes mean that when you’re home your friends are at school, and vice versa.
How accessible have the professors in your department been?
Very accessible for the most part. They have office hours on the syllabus. I’ve always found them available at the times they said they were.
Why did you choose your major? And are you happy with your choice?
I was really interested in research and analysis, and I’m more writing focused. I plan on going to law school after college, so Political Science seemed like the best major to prepare me for a career in law.
Reasons to Attend
1) The trimester system. I really love it and find it easier than how I took classes in high school. You’re more focused on specific classes, rather than having your coursework be spread out among so many classes. Having three at a time makes it easier to handle the workload.
2) The small community. I love getting to know most of the people in my grade and in other grades. It’s nice having that built-in support system and seeing people you know everywhere on campus.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) The way the administration deals with the social scene. I think they’re very overcritical of Greek organizations and try to find fault with them in every way they can.
2) The Winter trimester can be brutal and extremely cold for long periods of time. It makes it hard to get on with your daily life and get through classes.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Davidson House with one roommate and two suitemates.
Sophomore: Fox Hall with one roommate and two suitemates.
How was transitioning from Baltimore to Schenectady, NY in terms of location?
It wasn’t too crazy of a transition because where I’m located in Baltimore, it’s sort of a similar suburban feel to the environment of Schenectady. It didn’t seem too different for me, just because the neighborhoods in some areas around Schenectady are nice, and some aren’t as safe. That’s similar to what I’ve experienced in Baltimore.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I’ve always felt safe on campus. Sometimes it might be smarter to walk around with your friends at night. There have been a couple of incidents where people were mugged on campus. They were beaten, and electronic devices were taken from them.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
I usually am involved in Greek organization social events. Normally we have parties on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Sometimes they will be a mixer, and sometimes they are open invitation mixers where you invite anyone and it’s not geared toward a specific sorority. There are on-campus parties as well.
What is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
It pretty much dominates it. Most students who participate in nightlife go to some sort of Greek party on or off-campus on the weekends. I rushed my sophomore year, and being a freshman guy who was not an athlete was pretty difficult. You really lack any sort of involvement with an organization that provides you a social outlet. It makes it hard to make friends when I got here as a freshman because you don’t have any group to create relationships with people through. I think they should allow people to rush Greek organizations either the second or third term of their freshman year. It’s smart to get an understanding of what each organization is like and where you feel most comfortable. Allowing students to do it right when they get here could be problematic. The Club Soccer practices weren’t held very often, and it wasn’t very active.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
Something a lot of my friends do in the Winter term is go skiing or snowboarding. There are good mountains nearby, and there’s a Ski Club at Union that offers discounted prices on lift tickets. They offer trips at night and during the day, so a lot of students do that on the weekends.
How happy are you with the weekend activities or nightlife at Union? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I’m happy about them for the most part. The administration makes it somewhat difficult to hold registered parties on campus. They’re becoming more restrictive and implementing so many policies that they are almost trying to catch organizations and get them in trouble, rather than trying to help them navigate a safe option for social events. A lot of social events are moving to off-campus houses because of that.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
I met a lot of them freshman year through Club Soccer, and a lot of us ended up rushing the same Greek organization. This allowed us to continue our friendships.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Union?
Right now, there’s a mixture of on and off-campus parties held by Greek organizations. It’s really moving in a direction towards all parties being off-campus because of the regulations I talked about earlier. It seems like the administration is out to get Greek organizations, and is trying to find faults in everything we’re doing. It’s making it hard for any sort of on-campus party to continue to exist. The parties are very freshman dominated. As students get older, they tend to not care so much about parties, and the novelty is experienced mostly by freshman because they’re excited by it when they first arrive on campus. By junior and senior year, people are less concerned with going to parties and more interested in hanging out with their friends. They’ll still go to parties for small periods of time, but it won’t dominate their night in the way it did when they were younger students.
To what extent do you feel people of different races and sexual orientation mix socially?
There’s a lot of racial integration in the social scene. I’d say in terms of sexual orientation, it seems like they have a different group of friends that isn’t necessarily connected to the larger social scene. They’re connected to themselves and don’t really interact a lot with the other parts of the community. [About 72% of students are White.]
To what extent do people in Greek life and not in Greek life mix socially?
I think there’s a great mixture. A lot of the Greek organizations are centered around sports teams. A lot of students from sports teams rush the same Greek organization, so people who are involved in those organizations that aren’t on a sports team will end up meeting a lot of the athletes. Overall, a lot of organizations tend to be pretty cliquey and keep to themselves and don’t necessarily branch out as much as they should.
How do you like the size of Union? How has the size of Union influenced your social experience? [There are about 2,200 students.]
I love the small, tight-knit community. I think it offers an environment where you get to know and gain close connections with everyone around you. I like that a lot more in comparison to a big school where you don’t get to see familiar faces around campus all the time. You feel like you have a built-in support system when you walk around campus and recognize 80% of the people you see.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
They haven’t directly helped me get an internship yet, but I know they possess the ability to. I’ve created an account in a program called UCAN that allows students to network with Union alumni in the field that relates to their major. You can send them messages asking them about their experiences and fields of work that you’re interested in, and that can potentially lead to internship opportunities if you keep that connection going.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
They’ve been extremely helpful. I’ve brought in resumes and cover letters, and they’ve done a great job helping me correct them and making sure they’re in the best shape possible.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
I learned the baseline knowledge of Excel in an environmental science lab.