Academics

I didn't know how to rate this star-wise - it depends on what you're looking for.



If you're looking for a really reputable school that holds its students to very high standards, ESF is definitely the place for you.



The workload is massive though. It's manageable, and none of it is unnecessary (believe me, professors don't like dealing with all that, and they don't create it just to give the TAs stuff to do). However, you'll be wishing you had more free time, and partying is going to end up being a very distant concept to you.



I'll be frank here - If you're looking for an easy school that you can just coast through, don't bother applying. You'll either skip out on a lot and end up with a horrible GPA, or keep your head in your book and become resentful.

More challenging than most schools.

This school is very academically stimulating! The professors present the information in a way that helps you retain the information over a long period of time. Since it is an environmental school and most of us are very passionate about the environment, the material presented to us is interesting and relevant to our area of study. There is so much to learn here, don't be afraid to 'nerd-out'

ESF is a challenging school, all of the majors being science based, but it is totally worth it. The rigor of the courses prepares you well for life after college. Students here have to put in a lot of hard work and study a lot, but we definitely know the balance between school and having a ton of fun as well. Time management is the key.

Those who are not prepared for ESF are picked out rather quickly. Freshman year has a lot of work. As you get more into the groove of things and take classes that you're really interested in it won't be as bad. Be prepared to be doing a lot of hands on work.

The classes are intended to be challenging so that SUNY ESF graduates excel in real world situations. The school has pushed me to work hard more than I ever received in any other institution.

ESF is hard. There's a lot of work involved and the professors expect you to be prepared for class and to participate.

This all depends on how involved you are. No matter the major, you can get yourself into hard courses and really improve your knowledge. However, if you so choose, you can have an easy (which isn't really easy because ESF is a top notch SUNY school) schedule and lay back and not take advantage of everything ESF has to offer.