University of Rochester - thoughts or opinions?

[Anonymous]

Alumni here - I came from DC to attend and the weather was back breaking. This was years ago but it was grey for months on end and there was lake effect snow constantly.

I would never recommend it. If you seriously are considering it, fly on up in Jan/Feb and spend a few days!

Ithaca is 100x as nice in the area around Cornell, there is nothing around Rochester in walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I confess to having not known much about U of Rochester, but it sure sounds like quite a reputable school.

FWIW, its mutual peers are CWRU, WashU, BU, Vanderbilt, USC, NYU, and Northwestern. Schools that named it as a peer include ND, Brown, and UMich. Pretty impressive.

I don't think most of those schools are peers to Rochester.

Rochester is a tier below those schools

Rochester is peer with CWRU, BU, and NYU (maybe USC). But those 3 are most definitely in the same category, in fact Rochester is the highest of the group.



But WashU Vanderbilt and Northwestern are a tier above.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is your basis for this claim?

[Anonymous]

It gets so cold they have tunnels so students and staff can walk without going outside.

The campus is small with a public road running through it. On one side is a river and on another a big road with a hospital across the street.

The dorms looked average and dumpy as most dorms are.

The location near the river seemed nice and good for kayaking.

Residents consider one side of the river “good” and the other “bad.” Something about that bothered me. Note this school is right by a bridge between “good” and “bad.”

Very expensive and doesn’t give merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest visiting the school first.

Snow aside, the location (Rochester) is less than desireable to put it kindly. It is a dirty, depressed, former industrial town that had its heyday in the post WW2 era and has been declining ever since. The crime is not good. The city was once pretty but is empty and a shell of itself.

My kid was accepted there and was offered a ton of merit, almost full pay. But they couldn't get past the dinginess of the town and the crime. For example, we saw a homeless guy threatening to kill someone they blocked into a bus shelter, at around noon on the perimeter of campus. It is unfortunate that the town of Rochester is such a disappointment, because if it had been any other location with that program and the amount of merit given, my kid would have loved to attend the school.

You might not mind the town, but for us it was a deal breaker.

I really recommend visiting this school before putting it on your list, especially coming from a well run state like Florida.

When did your kid apply? According tot heir common data set, they’ve not offered much merit as of late. Around $13,000 in rare cases for a school that costs $80,000 or so.

Did you get financial aid as opposed to merit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I really recommend visiting this school before putting it on your list, especially coming from a well run state like Florida.

Uh oh. We have a MAGA DeSantis fan who hates NY due to “crime.”

Good thing Florida does not have serial killers or anything. 😂

[Anonymous]

In the real world, Rochester is far from being a peer to schools like USC, NYU, or BU which are highly competitive.

Parents and students don't consider Rochester as their peer, hence it ends up with 36% acceptance rate and 21% yield.
Almost 4 out of 10 people can walk in, and out those only 2 out of 10 are willing to attend.

Peerness is determined by the actual parents and students and we can easily see the result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rochester is R1 (this is a huge deal!), medium sized, great for music and STEM kids both, and offers great merit aid. Kids are smart and motivated. It has a LOT going for it.

R1 is a huge deal? Cool. List includes:

ASU
GMU
UMBC
Rutgers
Syracuse
Binghamton
U Buffalo




Other schools to consider then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I confess to having not known much about U of Rochester, but it sure sounds like quite a reputable school.

FWIW, its mutual peers are CWRU, WashU, BU, Vanderbilt, USC, NYU, and Northwestern. Schools that named it as a peer include ND, Brown, and UMich. Pretty impressive.

I don't think most of those schools are peers to Rochester.

Rochester is a tier below those schools

Rochester is peer with CWRU, BU, and NYU (maybe USC). But those 3 are most definitely in the same category, in fact Rochester is the highest of the group.



But WashU Vanderbilt and Northwestern are a tier above.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is your basis for this claim?

Northwestern is a top 10 school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest visiting the school first.

Snow aside, the location (Rochester) is less than desireable to put it kindly. It is a dirty, depressed, former industrial town that had its heyday in the post WW2 era and has been declining ever since. The crime is not good. The city was once pretty but is empty and a shell of itself.

My kid was accepted there and was offered a ton of merit, almost full pay. But they couldn't get past the dinginess of the town and the crime. For example, we saw a homeless guy threatening to kill someone they blocked into a bus shelter, at around noon on the perimeter of campus. It is unfortunate that the town of Rochester is such a disappointment, because if it had been any other location with that program and the amount of merit given, my kid would have loved to attend the school.

You might not mind the town, but for us it was a deal breaker.

I really recommend visiting this school before putting it on your list, especially coming from a well run state like Florida.

When did your kid apply? According tot heir common data set, they’ve not offered much merit as of late. Around $13,000 in rare cases for a school that costs $80,000 or so.

Did you get financial aid as opposed to merit?

The music school offers substantial merit that does not consider need when awarding it, only talent. The named scholarships for music can be increased to nearly full ride if Eastman is recruiting the performer. The music students are allowed to double major.

[Anonymous]

One of our kids attended Eastman on one of those amazing merit scholarships mentioned by a PP.

Had several classmates who double majored and others who did the Take 5 program.

I don't know about UR itself but class sizes at Eastman were tiny and the teaching was amazing.

The weather is terrible if you mind cold. The neighborhood around Eastman is fairly seedy but kid had no issues in the 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of our kids attended Eastman on one of those amazing merit scholarships mentioned by a PP.

Had several classmates who double majored and others who did the Take 5 program.

I don't know about UR itself but class sizes at Eastman were tiny and the teaching was amazing.

The weather is terrible if you mind cold. The neighborhood around Eastman is fairly seedy but kid had no issues in the 4 years.

My kid could not get past the location, unfortunately, because the merit was very generous and the program amazing, including the opportunity to dual major in a hard science.

Not to mention that beautiful concert hall. What a positive audition experience inside the building. Although outside the building was a different matter.

The music dorms are very nice too. Unfortunately. They are right next to Eastman and isolated from the rest of the university campus and its amenities by a bus shuttle.

[Anonymous]

My kid likes cold weather and loved the campus, size and vibe. It’s definitely not everyone but for some kids the combination of medium size, pretty campus, and flexible curriculum are just right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the real world, Rochester is far from being a peer to schools like USC, NYU, or BU which are highly competitive.

Parents and students don't consider Rochester as their peer, hence it ends up with 36% acceptance rate and 21% yield.
Almost 4 out of 10 people can walk in, and out those only 2 out of 10 are willing to attend.

Peerness is determined by the actual parents and students and we can easily see the result.

Actually peerless is best determined by the schools themselves and who they compare themselves too. All of the schools that you mentioned are good schools and academic peers. Differences in admissions rates can be entirely explained by location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the real world, Rochester is far from being a peer to schools like USC, NYU, or BU which are highly competitive.

Parents and students don't consider Rochester as their peer, hence it ends up with 36% acceptance rate and 21% yield.
Almost 4 out of 10 people can walk in, and out those only 2 out of 10 are willing to attend.

Peerness is determined by the actual parents and students and we can easily see the result.

Actually peerless is best determined by the schools themselves and who they compare themselves too. All of the schools that you mentioned are good schools and academic peers. Differences in admissions rates can be entirely explained by location.

NOPE. It's not the magazines or schools determine peerness.
It's the paying customers(parents and students) for the products and services who determine that.
If Rochester was a peer, it would be as competitive as the other schools, but not at all.

There are hundreds of schools in the Boston, NYC, and LA area. Location helps, but only handful of them are competitive like USC, NYU, BU.

You can make excuse so much. URocheser just couldn't overcome whatever disadvantage it has and it failed to become a peer school to those competitive schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the real world, Rochester is far from being a peer to schools like USC, NYU, or BU which are highly competitive.

Parents and students don't consider Rochester as their peer, hence it ends up with 36% acceptance rate and 21% yield.
Almost 4 out of 10 people can walk in, and out those only 2 out of 10 are willing to attend.

Peerness is determined by the actual parents and students and we can easily see the result.

Actually peerless is best determined by the schools themselves and who they compare themselves too. All of the schools that you mentioned are good schools and academic peers. Differences in admissions rates can be entirely explained by location.

NOPE. It's not the magazines or schools determine peerness.
It's the paying customers(parents and students) for the products and services who determine that.
If Rochester was a peer, it would be as competitive as the other schools, but not at all.

There are hundreds of schools in the Boston, NYC, and LA area. Location helps, but only handful of them are competitive like USC, NYU, BU.

You can make excuse so much. URocheser just couldn't overcome whatever disadvantage it has and it failed to become a peer school to those competitive schools.

This is gibberish. You’re typing a lot of words but saying nothing at all.