Empire State College, State University of New York

I decided to return to school as an adult and for the money and because of prior learning credits I could receive, I chose SUNY ESC. I brought in an Associates in Accounting and was able to write 32 credits for prior learning assessments with 32 credits from ESC. It is not for everyone and you have to be organized and disciplined or you will not succeed. In one year I completed all of my work and will graduate at the end of August with my degree. I worked full time and cared for 2 sick parents as well as my own family. No one held my hand and walked me through anything, you have to be willing to put in the work. Some instructors were more rigid than others and although the instructions at time were unclear as to what to do, all you have to do is ask, don't wait until the semester is over to ask for help. I've read others who complained about this, it is your responsibility to get your work done. There were also all levels of learners in my classes so at times i needed patience as you could tell they were struggling. It is what you make of it and if you really want it ,SUNY ESC is a great affordable way to do it.

I am surprised to see the complaints on this board! However, it seems that the individuals most likely to comment are those who are upset and need a place to complain and vent their frustrations. With that being said, I honestly found my experience with SUNY Empire to be great! Occasionally I dealt with instructors who weren't as deeply involved with the courses as they could have been, but for the most part they were helpful and highly interactive. Anyone who has attended a traditional college knows that this situation is the same just about everywhere - you will have some instructors that are really involved and that go the extra mile to help their students and others that have no passion for teaching and who do not seem to care about their students at all. For those complaining that their primary mentors were not helpful, I would suggest trying to set up a meeting to talk to your mentor in person or at least over the phone (versus through email) when you have very important issues/problems/concerns that need to be addressed. If all else fails and your mentor is completely unhelpful - then request another one! At first I didn't care for my mentor but after actually speaking to her over the phone and discussing the concerns I had, I found that she was very helpful and she had just misunderstood a few of the questions I had sent her through email. We kept in frequent contact throughout my time at ESC and she was pretty knowledgeable about the school's policies, program requirements, etc. If there was something that she was unsure of, she would get in contact with someone at the school who could clarify the matter and she would relay the information back to me. My mentor was also kind enough to provide a reference for me for graduate school (at a different college) as well as an academic reference for a job I had applied for. As far as the ANGEL system goes (through which students access their lectures, assignments, etc), I only had a problem once with uploading one of my assignments for a course due to an internal glitch - the instructor of my course was notified about the problem and he gave all of the students in our course three extra days to submit our assignment. Glitches in the ANGEL system are very rare, and scheduled down times for the system are usually announced well ahead of time so that students are able to avoid any problems that might occur from the system being down. I found the work to be demanding and in many courses there were a significant amount of written assignments as well as group discussions that must be participated in (nearly all instructors require you to be active in the discussions at least three days a week and you are expected to prepare thoughtful, knowledgeable, and well-written responses). I personally participated much more in the written group discussion boards for my courses at ESC than I ever did at a traditional college! Overall, ESC is not a perfect school and you are expected to be quite independent and self-disciplined. Do not expect someone to hold your hand as your pursue your degree there - you need to take charge of your education and do your best to help yourself. Become well-versed in the school's academic policies and requirements BEFORE enrolling - get an understanding of the way the college operates and see if it is a good fit for you. Expect to take a degree-planning course - yes it is boring and may seem useless, but it will make you truly understand what is required of you in order to obtain your degree, and it should help you figure out if the major you have initially chosen is what you want to stick with. However, hopefully you already have a good idea of what you want to study BEFORE enrolling at this school; changing your major down the line can lead to added confusion, frustration and expenses that can be easily avoided if you just pick your major before enrollment and stay with it! Finally, be prepared to devote adequate time to your coursework - in most cases you are expected to do TONS of reading and plenty of written assignments and you will only get frustrated and overwhelmed if you do not give yourself the proper amount of time to do all that is required of you. At the beginning of the semester you are advised to print out the course schedule for all courses you are taking - this will keep you organized and will allow you to plan ahead for any particularly lengthy assignments. If you have questions, do not wait until the last minute to ask! Do not assume that your instructor is sitting around at all hours of the day waiting for questions to be asked; many of them have other jobs or are teaching other courses and many only log on a few days a week for each course - you can also ask general questions on the discussion boards within your courses so that your classmates can help you, too. If all of this sounds like too much trouble, please look at going to a different school - preferably a traditional college. When pursuing a degree online you are going to face challenges that may not be present if you were attending face-to-face courses; if these challenges are too overwhelming then perhaps online schooling is not for you. With that being said, ESC is a fully-accredited, reputable SUNY college and if you decide to attend graduate school elsewhere after earning your undergraduate degree there, you should have no problems doing so.

I'm currently in my second term at ESC. Before ESC I attended BMCC (Borough of Manhattan Community College). In all honesty my experience at ESC has been way better than my prior experiences. This school is for people who are self starters. You have to understand the college system. I also research my professors before I sign up for any course. I've had wonderful professor always willing to help. Also other students are always very helpful as well. My mentor is easily accessible at all times. Anytime I email her I get a response the same day. The financial aid office can be a little difficult but I HAD TEN TIMES WORSE EXPERIENCE AT BMCC with the financial aid office. The lines went on for hours. All you have to do is email the financial aid office and they get back to you in 24 hours or less. This school gives you the freedom to do your work at your own convenience. I dont have a scheduled time block to attend classes and that for me is the best thing ever. If you dont take the effort to try and figure out things on your own do not sign up. The school offers alot of tutorials for things like the degree planner. My mentor had a seminar on how to use the degree planner and it is true that the best way to understand it is to play with it a bit. Also the mentors are extremely helpful they called me and we had a 30 minute conversation about what classes to start with and how the programs works and what to expect. The conversation was extremely thorough. I read everything and know how to go about my degree here based on all the materials the school has provided. I like ESC, this program is perfect for my needs. This program is really intended for people with college experience and a strong academic background. Its not easy.

This may be one of the worst schools in existence. For a state run public institution it acts if they are a for profit school. They take your money and turn your back. They falsely advertise about the experience and about this being a legitimate degree. 70%+ of all teachers do not respond to e-mailed questions, and do a poor job explaining material. If you do not get the material, or if you would like an explanation on a grade, good luck. Suny should be embarrassed about this school, and I hope that one day someone sues this school for fraud. The faculty does not care, because there is no recourse poor work ethic. Most of the professors are actually employed full time in a field, and do not actually attempt to respond to the students needs. Grades are random, and usually do not provide for any explanation. You would do better going to the library. I wish I could have given them a zero.

I am graduating in December and very pleased with my experience at Empire. If it was not for ESC, I would not be where I am today. Yes, it is very difficult at times trying to rectify problems - This is COLLEGE, not Kindergarten. I never expected anyone to hold my hand and glad I took matters into my own hands when necessary. During my orientation/first semester, my mentor was "MIA". I would not tolerate this and pushed the college to assign a new mentor. This is NOT common practice as reassignments RARELY happen (as in close to NEVER). I would not settle and within a few days had a new mentor whom I absolutely ADORE. I struggled during my first semester. ESC is MUCH more difficult than a traditional college. Everyone always comments "can't you CHEAT online? isn't it easier because you just Google and have open book tests?" - THIS IS NOT THE CASE. If you think taking online courses will make life easier assignment and reading wise - think again. Yes, you can go to school in your pajamas and not have to drive anywhere. But, you make up for that "saved time" with a tremendous workload. Now that I am almost done with my studies, I am actually thankful for the much more difficult workload. I would slack off in college and basically memorize vocabulary and concepts. At Empire you are forced to actually grasp the entire CONCEPT, understanding the topic from head to toe - inside and out. Since 90% of assignments are papers, there is only research work which must be done and a LOT of reading since you are basically teaching yourself 80% of the time. If you want an easy degree, perhaps try your local community college which feature multiple choice quizzes. If you are looking for a solid education which will help in your career field, Empire is the way to go I don't want to sound like a spokesperson because I did have some difficulties at Empire. It started day one with my mentor. But like I said - do not expect someone to hold your hand. Take matters into your own hands, follow-up with the appropriate departments. Some professors will be absent and non-existent throughout the semester. COMPLAIN. And when I say complain --- I MEAN ON A DAILY BASIS. It is YOUR FUTURE AND MONEY. I had a professor who was A NIGHTMARE. I complained and so did my ENTIRE CLASS. Apparently she is some big shot at the school and must have a free pass to not work all semester, tell students to "figure it out", take 5-6 weeks to grade assignments, and basically not attend - and get away with it! This was a COMPLETE disappointment and 'till this day I cannot believe proper attention was not paid. She treated her students like animals and put us down on a daily basis. Watch out for her. If you are able to work independently, comfortable writing, schedule tasks and can keep up with deadlines, and can take responsibility for yourself - ESC is for you. If you like working in groups and having your hand held while driving to school - try another university.

Unfortunately for ESC, I can relate to all the negative comments made so far in this forum. The program is, in fact, very "flexible," and it is ultimately up to you (of course) as the student to get something out of it. I was handed a "learning contract" for only one of the two courses I am taking, and it simply consisted of periodically submitting answers to questions from the text and a final research paper. After that, I received virtually no feedback on the work I submitted, and my mentor rarely replied to my e-mails (in fact, he/she has not replied to my last e-mail from over a month ago). Academic guidance, in my opinion, is essentially non-existent at ESC. If I learned anything here, it was definitely on my own. Some students are okay with that level of ambiguity. Some like me, however, need some structure and feedback, even with an "online" program such as this one. So I've decided this style of "instruction" is not for me. It's really not what I expected from a SUNY college. ESC will definitely help you obtain a degree. Whether you can actually get an education at ESC is certainly debatable. So you decide what is best for you and your future.

The mentors are pathetic and when they can't evaluate you they send in the CLOWNS... Then when you file a grievance, they run for cover and send in the CHIEF CLOWNS... DON"T WASTE YOUR MONEY