University Buffalo

Ub is not a bad university,but is not a very good college either. The number of students are too huge that most of the gen ed class you are one of 200s, and at times, the time for questions is not enough or not approachable. I was in psychology department and until 200 levels, there are like 200+ students per class. I transferred out after 2 yrs not because I hated UB, but i don't like winter and Buffalo has the longest winter in the East coast so be prepared if you are coming. And one fatal flaw is that Ub lacks majors for a huge school, such as agriculture, hospitality does not exist so the choices of majors are limited. And, last but not least, the dormitory sucks so do not go to the dormitory unless you are from all the way from the west, since dormitory is very noisy and always smell like alcohol(goodyear hall). If you do, I advise to reside in clement hall since there is tops and pho restaurant nearby.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2013

Useful Schoolwork: B-, Campus Aesthetics: D

I graduated from UB back in 2014 with a BS in Chemistry degree. I landed an internship, with an unaffiliated company in the greater Buffalo area, and have been rolling in the chemistry field ever since. UB had a few good points, namely the low tuition cost for in-state residents and the new faculty members seeming to care about their students. Another plus was the Campus was in a lovely, very safe city with a local community of very friendly people. But, there are many downsides though to UB.

Parking- the university needs more campus parking. It can take almost 30-60 mins to get a parking spot many days, I remember.

Campus facilties: lots of computer stations to check email and submit reports, which was somewhat helpful. The libraries need a lot of work, but Lockwood library is for beast mode studying.

Dorm Life- I stayed in the dorms one semester and I hated it. The students were unprofessional, undisciplined, and rather listless. Rent an apartment in Amherst and commute. Your study skills will soar and you'll learn independence and time budgeting, useful skills in life and careers.

Faculty- As I said, I was a chemistry major upon graduation, but my first two years I was a declared Physics major. The physics faculty were kind, helpful, approachable, and quite gregarious in helping me get through my 200 and 300 level courses. In chemistry, many of the faculty teaching were cold, condescending, unfriendly, and at times, obtuse. The TAs were understanding and helpful. But, the faculty in chemistry is like a whole new ball club, and I bet there's reasons beyond retirement or other official cover stories!

And with that last comment, I have to state that in my senior year, I learned much more teaching myself the skills used in both the lab and in industrial research, allowing me to gain that internship, and then land job after job in the chemical field. So, go against the currents of UB and teach yourself. With self-taught hard work and mental discipline, you can achieve more than others with major socio-economical advantages and their graduate degrees!

Another negative was the school seeming obsession with telling students in order to succeed, you must go to grad school. I would expect this school's faculty to at least have some idea how to help their future graduates achieve some sort of job after college, instead of just saying "Just go to grad school!" over and over.

My advice: UB is a good school for low cost of attendance and ability to transfer courses to other schools. Many of my classmates took maybe one or two years at most of 1st and 2nd year courses in their major then transferred to a better school with the credits from UB. I was stuck at UB because I did not want to keeping working low-paying full time careers to pay tuition another 3-4 years due to higher charges at better school.

There are positives. The walkways around the North campus are absolutely beautiful during the summer and Fall, with the leaves changing alongside Hamilton and Audubon roads. The North Campus lake is gorgeous year round, and the faculty I had outside chemistry and in the gen. ed classes were nice, intelligent, and very helpful. UB has alot of positives, and with the new chemistry faculty, I can recommend the school to a future chemical student.

4th Year Female -- Class 1923

Faculty Accessibility: B, Education Quality: D

If you live in Governors we don't have a lot of social events here, in ellicot there are lots of events mostly in the weekends not everyday. I hate the fire drills in governors because I once went out with flip flops when it was really cold when I was in the dining center. We had to walk near the campus and into the buildings for warmth, in ellicot the buildings are not that far from each other, so if you have a fire drill and your cold, you can just go to another building which is really not that far for shelter. The good thing about living in governors is that it's close to your classes and much quieter than ellicot. The housing how it's set up, sucks like hell. The furniture in the rooms are put weridly like the outlet is suppose to be behind the tables not under your bed and which sucks because UB doesnt allow long extention cords. They should have a curtain or a wall in the room because me and my room mate don't sleep at the same time, and the light from our laptops bothers us. The light from our laptops bounces off the room, so when shes doing work in the room, I can't sleep and etc. The housing system really sucks because I moved three times already within less than 2 months while I was here and it's so hard repacking all your stuff and unpacking it even with your friend's help. They should literally install a curtain right in the middle of the room. So, sometimes me or her have to go outside to do work when either of us needs to sleep, but in the hallways even if there's a desk and chair for work, it's still cold. Why don't they have heaters out at the halls when Buffalo is known for it's cold weather? I like how we can control the heat in our room though, but it would be nice if we have access to heat everywhere in the residence building. UB has a lot of diversity, but it doesn't work that way because people will just hang out most of the time with their own ethnic groups. Some people won't help you, sometimes the faculty member put in information wrong. The health center here is really good, you don't have to wait long and they always have free stuff on the counter. The education here, they give a lot of homework that you find yourself not having a lot of free time, or you have to make free time. Here, the only breaks you get is Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Winter Break and Spring Break. You don't get a day off on Veteran's day, Lincoln's birthday, you don't even get a day off if the pope came, however winter break is a month off though. If your struggling, there are tutoring opportunities everywhere, in every residence building there is a tutoring center. I like the events here like learning how to make pillows, the food is good too, but the work is tedious depending on what classes you have of course because some classes drop your lowest test score. There's shuttle buses free of charge if your a UB student. Overall, I'm going back to the city because of what I experience in this school. I don't recommend going to this university if you don't love the cold. You should live off campus to avoid fire drills, and maybe have your own room and sleep or study whenever you want. Honestly, don't come here unless your a heavy sleeper because I get bother by the noise and the light because some room mates forget to turn off their T.V's. The residence building charge you for changing rooms on the first month because they also have to figure out where to put the overcapacity students.

1st Year Female -- Class 2019

Scholastic Success: A+, Useful Schoolwork: D-