Union College-Schenectady Top Questions

There is somewhat of a work hard, play hard mentality, but people don't like to admit how much work they do.

Most students are from NY, NJ, CT, MA. The student body here is not concerned with differences in race, religion, sexuality or economic status. Most students would fit in well here. The majority of students seem to be jewish or white. Most students wear jeans to class, it is less common to see students in sweats or pajamas here at Union outside of the dorms. Students rarely talk about how much they'll earn one day, personally I have never experienced it.

There have been some racial issues brought up by ignorant members of the community, but I think the school (professors, administrators and students) came together to combat the situation. Financial backgrounds vary. You can never say that all of the students are politically aware or are even aware that a variety of races live on campus. There are some students that choose not to venture out of their comfort zone, and therefore befriend people like themselves. Also, there are students that are actively involved on campus and recognize and appreciate the diversity.

There are a lot of rich white kids here, but there are also many white kids who are on financial aid. There are also a good amount of ethinic and black students here and they might feel a little out of place because they are by no means the majority of the student body, but many of them that I do know absolutley love Union. People here do not really talk about what they will earn someday, money is something most people have been raised not to talk about with other people.

For the most part Union Students are respectful of each other. However there definitely are racial divides. For example, being a white female I usually interact with other white students while many of the minority groups seem to stick together. Union is a very friendly and welcoming campus. Union college also tends to be very left and at the moment seems to be making a huge effort to go green.

A lot of students are from the north-east area. I wouldn't say there is a clique problem and I have a bunch of different friends all from different groups. I would say that the majority of Union Students are Democratic and come from more wealthy backgrounds.

Union's student body is a little interesting. The typical Union student is from somewhere in the Northeast and is from a fairly wealthy family. For the most part, they understand that everyone is not as well off as they are, so the financial gradient doesn't really seem to be a problem. The bigger problem is cultural awareness. They do not realize that other parts of the country, such as the Pacific Northwest, my home, follow different social norms. This has caused problems for some. For the most part, this is not a big problem.

There are student groups for almost anything you could think of on campus, and if there's not one its incredibly easy to make one. There isnt to much diversity on campus, and different racial groups tend to stay to themselves. If there were four tables in the dinning hall two of them would be occupied by athletes, one would be prepy frat boys dressed in abercrombie, and the last would be some random kids.

Very diverse culturally, ethnically, not racially though. Socioeconomically not diverse because Union appeals to the New England upper-class. Diverse socially. Not a huge greek school. Very liberal.

On the whole, I would have to admit that Union has a somewhat immature student body. Many students come from wealth where private high school and never holding a part-time job were just the norm. There's a lot of students who don't understand the value of the 300 dollar jeans that their parents bought for them.