Major: Political Science 

Minor: Communication (Concentrating on journalism and media)

Email: Emilyematura@gmail.com

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Questions about Academics and COVID-19

 

What were your classes like in your first year or in your major/concentration, especially transitioning from Shen? 

Compared to a lot of my peers at Geneseo, classes freshman year was very manageable. I felt like the classes I took at Shen really prepared me well for first year classes. For my major in particular the American Studies Honors class and the Syracuse Public Affairs class were very helpful in learning basics of the major and getting used to an increased course load.

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What academic experiences have stood out to you at your college in either positive or negative ways?

Positive: I really loved Geneseo. I was involved in the Student Association and held multiple positions on the executive committee. The student government is well run and the people involved are very passionate about representing the students and addressing concerns. There is even a petitioning site for students to use that goes directly to the Student Association to bring any issues to the administration. I was also in a sorority on campus and through that I met a lot of really great friends. The only class that I was in that had more than 60 people in it was a 100 level science class that I had to take for our gen ed requirements. Other than that my classes were all relatively small and which allowed for more personal connections with my professors. I was also able to make my schedule so that I never took a class before 9:30 and I didn’t have Friday classes for about half of my college experience.

 

Negative: Currently the main library is closed for about 4 years. Geneseo has worked on moving the library services to other locations on campus but overall that does cut down on study locations across campus.

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How was your online learning experience at your college? What resources did your college provide you during this time?

When we were sent home, Geneseo’s academic affairs department was really great in letting us decide without penalties if we wanted to go pass/fail for our classes or not. Typically under normal circumstances you would only have 2 classes during your college career that you could go pass/fail with and you had to decide at the beginning of the semester, but with this system enforced during our time online we were able to decide after we saw our grades if we wanted any or all of our classes to appear as pass/fail on our transcript. Other than that it was pretty much all up to the individual professors what they wanted to do and every professor I had did something different. Some had flexible deadlines and some gave more assignments and were more strict with deadlines and some tried to continue the class online on the same course as if we were still in the classroom. I do expect though that there might be more uniformity going forward with any online classes.

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What did your college do well or poorly to support students and communities when COVID-19 first hit?

We struggled in the beginning to get the student voice heard with our administration with decisions being made. There were also some struggles with the transparency and communication in general to the student body. While communication in the past semester has not been the best, they are working with a part time Vice President of Communications now and hiring a new full time person to fill that position. I hope with the new hire things will improve. In terms of residential life they initially told us that we would be able to come back after spring break to live on campus if we wanted and then shifted gears once things began to get worse and there was word of potentially needing to use the residence halls as a pop up space for treating COVID. When they shifted gears students had to apply to remain on campus and make their case as to why they needed to stay and then ultimately the Geneseo Residence Life department was able to accept or reject those applications. All students who were not staying on campus were given dates to sign up to go back to campus to pick up their stuff or they were instructed to wait if they were from down state with a potential to be charged for storage if the rooms did need to be used for medical purposes (which they never did). All the students who remained on campus were moved into one residence hall.

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Questions about Student Life

 

If students are interested in your major/concentration, what extracurricular activities do you recommend they do at your college?

There are a lot of great clubs for any political science majors or even those not in the major including Political Affairs Club, College Democrats and College Republicans (which surprisingly have a great relationship with each other) in addition to special interest political groups. I was involved in the Student Association and Greek life and I would highly recommend both of those to anyone entering Geneseo. I was not involved in clubs relating to my communication minor but there are lots of options from photography club to a student newspaper to our student radio station and beyond.

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What are common things to do on weekends? Do students commute back home for the weekend or are there events on campus?

I don’t know of many students who commuted back home for the weekend. Every Friday and Saturday night there is an event put on by Geneseo Late Knight and there are often events going on by our Geneseo Campus Activities Board, our cultural organizations and other Student Association organizations including events being put on with in the Residence Halls by the Hall Councils and the Resident Assistants. Rochester is also about 40 minutes from campus and there is a mall in Henrietta and Victor that are great to go to. Many Geneseo students frequent the local cafes on Main Street and Starbucks in the Student Union on the weekends to study.

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Do you have a job during the school year, or is it common for students to have on-campus jobs? What is that experience like?

It is common for students to have jobs on campus and there are many places to work. I had a job as a Resident Assistant and I was also paid for my work on the Student Association through an award. For me, while it was busy, it was manageable. Something I really like about Geneseo is that there are many students who are able to balance being a successful student, being in a few clubs and having job at the same time.

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Extra Questions

 

What advice would you give to current Shen students when applying to your college?

The best advice I received while touring colleges was that most colleges will be able to give you similar academics so what it really comes down to is the program that you want to be in, the fit of the community, the location and the price. College tours were a really great way to test that fit of the community so I would recommend to anyone applying to colleges to reach out to current students or recent alumni to gauge that community feeling. I know I, myself, would be very willing to talk to anyone considering Geneseo and help you get in touch with other current students in areas you are interested in.

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What makes your college special to you?

The community at Geneseo is what I think makes it so special. I was planning on transferring out of Geneseo from the moment I committed to go there but the community and friends I found is what really made me stay all four years.

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What do you wish you knew about your college when you were a senior at Shen?

I wish I knew my college had the potential to be a place I loved. I definitely treated my college as a place I was planning on leaving at first and I wish I spent more time invested in getting to know more people and engaging with the community instead of laying in bed watching Netflix when I wasn’t in class. Almost every student is involved in something at Geneseo so if you just join clubs that interest you, you will find like-minded people who can become some of your best friends.

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Before COVID-19, what was the housing like at your college? What would you recommend to Shen seniors to find their roommates?

Housing on our campus is split into South Side (first year housing), North Side (upper class men housing) and Central Campus (mixed housing). You are required to live on campus for your first two years and there are options of corridor and suite style housing as well as living learning communities if you have a special interest and want to live with others who share that interest (such as writing, sports, science, etc.). To find a roommate I would highly recommend getting a Facebook if you don’t have one already and joining your classes Facebook group and looking for a roommate on that. Many people on our classes page would write an introduction of themselves, their style of living and if they were looking to live in corridor or suite style. I also know a lot of people who went random and I have heard success stories as well as failures from both.

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How is the financial aid situation at your college?

I did not get financial aid so I don’t know a lot about it, however there are many pros and cons to financial aid at SUNY schools in general that I do have some limited knowledge on because of my work with the Student Association if anyone would like to reach out and ask questions about that.

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