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Alright. So I'm one of those midwestern twenty-somethings who wants to transfer to a college in the city area before beginning my career there. I've already read up on a lot of forums, including this one, but this one seems to have the most knowledgeable and respectful users so I figured I'd ask, too.
Right now I'm finishing my sophomore year at Ball State University in Indiana (no worries if you haven't heard of it. It's a decent state school, but has a low profile) with a major in secondary education focusing on social studies. I have friends who live in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island who I've visited several times so I feel I have a comfortable, albeit elementary, grasp of the city and strongly feel that if I can hit the ground running I can live somewhere in the city and get a job at one the numerous high schools after I graduate.
The reason I want to transfer before I graduate is that I want to have a working knowledge of the city and life within it so that it will be much easier to relate to my students rather than simply moving out there after teaching in Indiana for a year or two. I understand there will be financial hardships and I'm perfectly willing to work while in school. My parents would pay my tuition and most of my rent and food costs, though the cost of living is considerably higher in the city so I certainly intend on getting at least a part time job to cover what they don't pay for.
I've narrowed my search down to the CUNY schools for financial reasons. Depending on the number of credit hours, my out-of-state tuition at a CUNY school will be very similar to the in-state tuition here at Ball State.
My question is which of the following four schools has a better secondary education program?
City, Hunter, Queens, or Brooklyn?
I've heard good things about Brooklyn's ed program, but I have a friend who goes to Hunter and she recommends it. Queens and City also appear to be respectable schools that have secondary education majors. I've looked around on the internet and requested information from each school, but my info packets haven't arrived yet. I still can't figure out which is best.
The CUNY Schools are very different. I went to a Private school but I took 2 classes one at City and one at Queens College. My commute to Queens was 2 hours and change and it was worth it!
Queen's campus was nicer, the professor was more approachable and the atmosphere in the school was better, the students were nicer, overall it made me feel more confortable.
I have a friend who went to CCNY (City) for 2 years and didn't like it, but I have cousins who are at CCNY now and like it. So I think CCNY is great for some people, but is not for others (like most schools I guess). I would recommened you look all of them up on the USNEWS.com website and other ranking sites. I don't know anything about Brooklyn, I had a friend who went to Hunter, (for communications) and he really liked it. By the way, the class I took in both schools was actually the same class, I ended up dropping at CCNY because my class was too large (like 80 students) and I was used to smaller classes. At Queens it wasn't small either but the professor was excellent and I learned the material. (It was a Physics class).
According to USNEWS ranks for the school OVERALL (not just the education program) they rank:
Best to worst:
Hunter
Queens
City
Brooklyn
HOWEVER, Looking at the 5 most popular majors for all schools the only one that has education in on that list is Brooklyn.
Research the programs, also consider their locations, for Queens and Brooklyn, they are both very deep into the Boroughs so you would probably want to live in Queens or Brooklyn if you choose one of them.
Living in NY in it of itself is an experience, so you may also want to consider where you would like to reside within the city/outer boroughs.
If you go with Hunter you can probably live anywhere in the city since it's in Manhattan and the same goes for CCNY. Also, visit the schools, see were you feel more confortable. :-)
Best of luck to you and let us know where you decide to go. =)
I had actually already looked at those pages you linked to. They don't really give a lot of information, though. Hm. CCNY's Social Studies Education website looks fairly respectable, especially considering the outdated look and feel of the other schools' similar pages. Hunter doesn't even have one.
I know you can't judge a program or school simply based on the website, but it does help.
I'm a senior at Hunter. Hunter and City are the best regarded schools if you really ask around. City is best known for its science programs. I'm a media studies major, and english and studio art minor. I've had no problems with the school and have enjoyed my public school education so far. I chose Hunter because it had a media major, but mostly because of its UES location, which is where I moved to before attending. For me, I really wanted a short commute, so City, and any other school, was really out of the question. However students at Hunter commute from all over, often having over an hour commute each way. The professors are worse, I know three of them who spend over 2 hours each way. Speaking of professors, they are very mixed and you have to do you research on who is best and who is going to fit your needs. The student body is so diverse here that people don't tend to agree on anything about what's good and what's not! I'd read the course catalogs and handbooks if I were you, to determine what the requirements are for the various majors and to find out about the school's policies.
Don't know what much else to say, but if you have any specific questions feel free to ask!
I never got a letter back from CUNY Hunter College (pass/fail) and Ive called admissions, and it only says lehman accepted me (as does the cuny portal) although city tech, york, csi and lehman all sent acceptance letters weeks back (i got into those, but not LaGuardia? they sent nothing as well) and hasnt been updated. I tried speaking to a rep but they keep transferring me to the welcome center, which just says lehman. Lehman was only the first, but not the only one. Does anyone know of a number that is not regular cuny or hunter admissions but an actual person from there who can let me know whats really going on without being transferred by operators to a phone operated welcoming center? If it helps, my sat is 1530 and my transcript avg is 91% (top 15% of class). I dont understand? Even LIU accepted me, and NYU + Penn State kept sending me letters to apply. What's with Hunter?
I never got a letter back from CUNY Hunter College (pass/fail) and Ive called admissions, and it only says lehman accepted me (as does the cuny portal) although city tech, york, csi and lehman all sent acceptance letters weeks back (i got into those, but not LaGuardia? they sent nothing as well) and hasnt been updated. I tried speaking to a rep but they keep transferring me to the welcome center, which just says lehman. Lehman was only the first, but not the only one. Does anyone know of a number that is not regular cuny or hunter admissions but an actual person from there who can let me know whats really going on without being transferred by operators to a phone operated welcoming center? If it helps, my sat is 1530 and my transcript avg is 91% (top 15% of class). I dont understand? Even LIU accepted me, and NYU + Penn State kept sending me letters to apply. What's with Hunter?
You said Lehman was your first choice from the four schools on the application, right ? If so, the order in which you applied is how they went about the application process. The first school you are accepted to is what the CUNY hotline will say you got into. Find a way to see if you were accepted in Hunter. If you are go for it, Hunter's reputation far exceeds Lehman. I'm about to call right now just to see the status of my app
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