SUNY Empire State College Administrative Offices

Sep 15th, 2022

My mental health drained at this school. The mentor does nothing to help you, the online Brightspace portal is challenging to navigate. They only care about the money. The courses are the same , repetitive old thing. Do not waste your money here. If you try calling you will just be forwarded to someone who is unavailable
Sep 10th, 2022

Not good. Very poor support. Don't sign anything.
Jul 10th, 2022

Straight As but with horrible problems. The issues started before I even transferred to the CDL program. When I was a general student my adviser (at that time) told me that Independent studies were only available on site; not true. When I asked her why I couldn't take all my classes online, as advertised, she said that there was no fully online option; not true. I transferred to CDL because the woman at the FRONT DESK apparently knew more than my adviser. But once in CDL, I realized I was essentially on my own, and under the thumb of a lot of incompetent people. CDL is extremely unorganized and separate from the rest of the school. You have to be under an adviser to do anything, and if they're incompetent it can totally derail getting a degree plan approved. The process ruined my ambition for school for a whole year and a half afterward. School is my escape, and I lost that. When I read the guidelines/requirements for the degree plan, I knew exactly what needed to be done. When I asked for clarification my adviser mislead me on every aspect of the process. I wrote (1) 70 page plan, (1) 50 page plan, then (1) 32 page plan-- NONE of which were even read. The ONLY PERSON responsible for putting committees together for approving plans was the rudest person I have ever spoken to via email. He also could not effectively explain why my degree titles were not appropriate until the final plan. This process made me insane because I knew what was necessary in the first place-- a basic, straight forward, 5-7 page plan....something cohesive and to the point. I literally had to educate them on what "Interdisciplinary" even meant. Everyone kept forcing "Multidisciplinary" studies on me-- which is something different. I'm still surprised at how many problems I had to deal with. They wanted to impose on me what they knew how to do.... They're not used to students actually wanting to be scholars. My original plan was degraded by my adviser (and changed without consent!! What she changed were vital points, and she even submitted it with errors). She told me incorrect information, which made me feel defeated, and she suggested irrelevant things. By the end I felt extremely manipulated. After almost 2 years she finally admitted that she didn't know what she was doing and reached out to other advisers experienced in "Interdisciplinary Studies." But by that point I had already talked to 7 people for help, which went no where. I had already spent 2 years trying to get out from under her ignorance-- My morale was already ruined. But the advisers she reached out to were supportive of my plans. They were excited about them-- too bad my adviser refused to share their names!!! Extremely frustrating system, very bad organizational issues. Financial aid also "forgot" to submit my application for scholarships when I was nominated-- Financial aid also told me that someone denominated me. They said that they were looking at a letter stating that they did not recommend me-- then upon closer inspection, financial aid said that there was never a letter, they had no idea who said it, and that it's not even possible. Furthermore, teachers cannot nominate you! Only your adviser can nominate. This to me is ridiculous, as my professors actually see/read my work. While, I've received honors scholarships since then, it's still frustrating that no one knows what they're even doing. By the time I got to the SINGLE PERSON who could help me the damage had already been done, and I had already dealt with it all by myself, and never got the degree title I even wanted-- which would have been acceptable per FAFSA/Federal regulations. The teachers however are fantastic and the literature from the courses I've taken have taken root in my heart. I absolutely adore the pieces of literature relevant to course material in my field (Cultural Studies: Philosophy, History, Literature), and independent studies are awesome. That's the only reason I can still recommend this school. I have also met 2 other students who have had asinine issues like my own, some worse.
Mar 19th, 2022

Feb 2nd, 2022