Reputation of CUNY's and SUNY's in other states...

[deci:belle]

Hi guys, 

 

I was wondering what people outside of New York and New Jersey thought about CUNY & SUNY schools, and what reputations these schools have. Or do people even know they exist?!

I know it varies by program and school, so I guess you can use your program as reference when answering this question.

 

I'm asking because two of my three choices are CUNY/SUNY schools and I will attend for financial reasons versus other more known schools, and my worry is that the name isn't known to get me far if I decide to leave NYC.  

[deci:belle]

bumping this up

[kittythrones]

Uh quite honestly, CUNY & SUNY does not have a great reputation out of state. So I think contrary to what people think and the sales pitch the professors give you how undergrad doesn't matter, I think undergrad status & graduate status matters.

 

I had a friend who graduated out of Macaulay CUNY (4.0 in her major & regular GPA), high GRE scores, ultra-strong LoR, connections to people on adcomm, etc and she applied to Harvard PhD program for Shakespeare. She got rejected. According to her POI, they rejected her because she went to CUNY and they thought her GPA was a joke. Before this, the people on the adcomm & her POI were telling her that she was a "shoo-in". I don't know if she is lying though. 

 

I dated two guys who went to Ivy League Schools in Europe & in the US and they both spit on CUNY's name. Then again, it could be that they are obnoxious wankers. 

[ERR_Alpha]

Hi guys,

I was wondering what people outside of New York and New Jersey thought about CUNY & SUNY schools, and what reputations these schools have. Or do people even know they exist?!

I know it varies by program and school, so I guess you can use your program as reference when answering this question.

I'm asking because two of my three choices are CUNY/SUNY schools and I will attend for financial reasons versus other more known schools, and my worry is that the name isn't known to get me far if I decide to leave NYC.

I got my undergrad from SUNY middle of nowhere and a prof at Dartmouth said, and I quote, "What's a SUNY?" *eyeroll*

But I also came to SUNY for financial reasons and I don't regret any of it. I'd rather graduate debt free then have the "prestige". I think any decent person wouldn't hold it against you. If they do, then they're not worth it anyway.

[Lifesaver]

I grew up in New York, but I've since lived in Massachusetts, Louisiana, South Carolina, and did a brief stint in Virginia. Nobody I've spoken to has ever heard of SUNY/CUNY. Granted, these aren't professors or those directly involved in academia, given that I work in healthcare. However, I do not discount their opinion, because I work with highly educated individuals.

[hj2012]

I agree that SUNY or CUNY won't have much of a brand name recognition, but you might be fine for your field. My cousin did her AuD at a NY instate school and she had no problem transitioning to the Seattle market after she got married (she received job offers even before she moved).

In the end, considering the general lack of funding for AuDs I would follow the money.

[deci:belle]

Yikes! I figured it wasn't well known, but wow sounds worse than I thought lol

I feel bad for your friend @kittythrones. Macaulay honors is actually a really hard school to get into and is rigorous, so thats shocking that they thought it was a joke.

 

And @ERR_Alpha and @hj2012 thanks for the reassurance.  was having second thoughts -- but I think I'm gonna stick with the money! Hopefully even if the name doesnt sway people, maybe my clinical placements and my residency in different places in Manhattan it would make them think more highly of me.

[rising_star]

Given that it's a professional degree, I'd follow the money. You're going to get your jobs based on your internship and practicum experiences (and the references you can get from those) more than anything else...

[hj2012]

Rising_star is absolutely right -- you're going to have access to some awesome internships and practicums in NY, and from what I understand, that's what's most important.

 

Congratulations on all your admittances, and best of luck making a decision!

[HKsai]

it's funny because i feel like reputation/ranking are important but i also went to Rochester. I'm from Seattle/Hong Kong so no one really knows what U of Rochester is. They either think it is NYU (Hong Kong people) or SUNY (Seattleites). But i know what SUNY is! :D

[roguesenna]

I grew up in Michigan and hadn't heard of either until I moved here.

[kimmibeans]

I think it depends on what you study. I was volunteering in a genetics lab in high school and when I told my department curator (who was a Yale grad) that I was going to Binghamton for undergrad he was impressed. SUNYs don't get particular name recognition except for the flagships (Albany, Binghamton, Stony Brook, and Geneseo) which very rarely call themselves a SUNY. I think the exception to this is FIT, but that may be because nobody realizes that is a SUNY school.