Buffalo University (Amherst, Ridge, Cleveland: employment, neighborhoods, schools)

[redlineSI]

Hey guys i am applying to several Universities and i think Buffalo University is the choice to go. Does anyone here attend Buffalo University or know a lot about it. I want to know how employment is after graduation and how is the salary. Are the Industrial Engineering and Business programs at Buffalo University great?

Thank You
Eric

[CAugust]

I have heard the engineering program is wonderful!!!

good luck

[BuffaloTransplant]

SUNYAB (State University of NY at Buffalo) has an outstanding Engineering Dept. Have several family members who went there... however, they were Mechanical and Electrical, not industrial.

[homeward bound]

Got my B.A. there years ago (in English) and have kept in contact with professors there and many Buffalonians generally.

Very strong in the engineering and bio-medical/pre-med fields.

Strong in business fields.

Very high job-placement rates for all these fields.

If you were able to get a job in one of these fields in the Buffalo area--I say "if" because their economy is itself iffy--your salary would not be as high as it would be elsewhere in the country, partly because housing costs are commensurately moderate.

But your dollar would go far there, despite the area's relatively high property taxes, the notorious state income tax, and heating costs. You can live very well in the area on the area's average engineering, business, or science-field salary.

You'd also have a lot of options: you could live in the city (but review carefully where it's good and not-good neighborhoods are), or in many types of suburbs or surrounding towns of many varieties within a pretty brief (15 min. to 45 min.) commute, or on the shore of Lake Erie, or on the Niagara River, or in the country.

Very good all-around university. When I got to a famous, top-notch grad school in my field, I was better prepared than many fellow students from more well-known undergrad schools. And I wasn't saddled with huge indebtedness.

Very good deal for the money if you are or can become a state resident. Fairly pricey if you're an out-of-state resident, but still a pretty good deal.

You should know, though, that the newer, main campus (the Amherst Campus, or the North Campus, as opposed to the much more stately old Main St. Campus) is not exactly cozy or quaint. In fact, it's not even in the city, but out in a suburb about 15 minutes from the city proper. And it's pretty barren and bleak. Most of the academic buildings are arranged in a long, continuous strip along "the spine" exactly to avoid creating a central common area. (This was done, I've long heard, to minimize the risk of students having a gathering place to protest/riot since the old Main St. campus had a bad anti-war riot during the early 1970s.) There are little enclosed bridges that connect one academic building to another, so you can stay out of the cold during the winter. A shuttlebus system connects the campuses. But none of this makes for a real college-y experience. Plus, the newer campus' buildings are of the bare, merely functional sort. And the interiors of these newer buildings tend to be pretty barren and harsh, too. There's nothing impressive, warm, or charming about them. Yes, this is a very subjective judgment, but many people feel this way.

But even if you do find the main campus fairly ugly, you will have every opportunity for a good education there. The SUNY system is still one of the country's best, and best bargains. All of the friends I went to college with there--some now in law, others in medicine or business or other fields of the humanities--have said that they're very glad they went there.

I hope you'll post again about your decision and experiences!

[BuffaloTransplant]

Originally Posted by homeward bound

You should know, though, that the newer, main campus (the Amherst Campus, or the North Campus, as opposed to the much more stately old Main St. Campus) is not exactly cozy or quaint. In fact, it's not even in the city, but out in a suburb about 15 minutes from the city proper. And it's pretty barren and bleak. Most of the academic buildings are arranged in a long, continuous strip along "the spine" exactly to avoid creating a central common area. (This was done, I've long heard, to minimize the risk of students having a gathering place to protest/riot since the old Main St. campus had a bad anti-war riot during the early 1970s.)

Just for the record, SUNY bought all the land out in Amherst in order to trade it with the City of Buffalo for Grover Cleveland Golf Course across Bailey Ave...and the land was purchased before the 1970 political demonstrations ( I was going to school at the time). The City decided to keep the Golf Course ( who can trust City govt?) and the result was the high-rise campus to be built on it was never built -- and we wound up with the North Campus in Amherst. That started classes about 1974-5 -- and it was certainly better than the metal buildings on the South Campus ( behind the Arch. School) and out at Ridge Lea on N. Bailey........ the north campus grew in spurts as the state passed along money... it started as the area which is the main spine. Other buildings were added as funding came.

Demonstrations could just as easily be had at North Campus as South. I went to both.