State University of New York–Brockport (SUNY Brockport)

The College at Brockport is “a school that specializes in producing nurses, PE teachers, and other teachers,” but is still able to “accommodate students with a wide variety of interests.” The school “has a unique atmosphere (especially in the Delta College Program [an interdisciplinary learning community]) in which students are able to come out of their comfort zone and blend with new people.” “The professors are diverse,” says one student. “Some are excellent teachers, others are simply extremely intelligent individuals. Most or all of them seem concerned students take something valuable away from their classes.” Still, “everyone has the occasional bad professor.” Students like that “class sizes are small for the most part” and the school offers “a great study-abroad program.” “The administration that has recently come into place at Brockport is clearly trying to change the school for the better,” notes one student. “It has put academics first and has aggressively lobbied for, and raised, money to expand programs and encourage positive intellectual growth within the college.” Students also appreciate that the president is so visible and involved with the student body. “You will see him around campus a lot, at basketball and football games, and basically anywhere.” All in all, Brockport seems a “good education for a good price!”

While some think “the typical student here is your white, upstate, and western New York jock,” others see a bit more diversity. “The student body varies from super athletic to super academic,” notes one student. Still, most agree that the typical student here is “middle-class,” “Christian,” “and pretty moderate politically.” And there is no question there are “a lot of physical education majors as well as nursing majors.” One tool for categorizing these students might be the city/suburbs/rural divide. For example, “some people come from small towns and have that small-town something about them. Others come from Long Island, so they are opposite.” While there are few atypical students, those who are “can fit in with other people with whom they identify.” A student explains, “It can be difficult to find the right crowd for you at first, especially at a smaller school like Brockport, but once you find it, you’re golden.”

Hometown Brockport, N.Y., is “a relatively small town” with an “inviting” community. “For entertainment students hang out in the dorms like other colleges, but also peruse the shops, restaurants, and bars of Brockport’s quaint and thriving downtown. There is a regular bus schedule that makes rounds to the many malls, museums, cultural events, and landmarks of the Rochester, N.Y. area.” “In the village there is a movie theater” that offers “$1 current midnight movies on Fridays,” and also a bowling alley, where students enjoy “$1 bowling on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” “Sports and fitness are very important here,” and students are keen to both support and participate in them. “For the weekends drinking is pretty popular here,” says one student. As “the school has become more academically focused during the last decade,” “internships, studying abroad, and other academic experiences are becoming more popular.” One on-campus perk several students cite is “the food is rated number one in all of SUNY schools for the past few years.”