{"id":5322,"date":"2023-10-11T17:11:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T21:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/?p=5322"},"modified":"2023-11-21T23:06:47","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T04:06:47","slug":"everyone-hates-hunter-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/2023\/10\/everyone-hates-hunter-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Don’t Have to Hate the Hunter Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The political science wing on the 17th floor, North Building.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a big problem with CUNY\u2019s biggest school: it seems like no one wants to be here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There seems to be a general disdain for Hunter among the student body \u2014 for its campus<\/a>, faculty<\/a>, students<\/a>, food<\/a> and social life<\/a>, to name a few. Common complaints concern the leaky, peeling ceilings, lack of campus life, or limited available seating areas, often forcing students to eat their lunches on the floor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of these criticisms hold weight \u2014 but these issues are not unique to Hunter, while the utter disdain for the school is.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Niche.com, a ranking and review site for schools, colleges and neighborhoods, Hunter received an overall B grade but the <\/span>campus grade<\/span><\/a> for Hunter sits at a bleak D-. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the departments or professors aren\u2019t interested in individual students,\u201d says <\/span>one review<\/span><\/a>. \u201cThere is a lack of communication and guidance for freshman students,\u201d says another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many reasons as to why this may be the case \u2014 students at Hunter often are accepted to more \u201cprestigious\u201d schools like Columbia or NYU, but choose to attend Hunter for financial reasons. This may result in a lack of satisfaction among those who feel they are overqualified for Hunter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyla Gamaro, 21, is a junior at Hunter studying developmental psychology. She was accepted to NYU, but due to financial costs, chose to attend Hunter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel any way about it until we actually got to school,\u201d she said. \u201cI was a Covid freshman, and when I saw all my friends in dorms getting to know people whereas in the city we were super isolated, I was really jealous.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gamaro says that Hunter being a commuter school isn\u2019t the best for socialization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so lonely. That was the college experience I was told that I was going to have. And this was just so different.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many American high schoolers are often fed the idea of a college experience that includes on-campus living, dining, and friend-making. But when they get to Hunter, they\u2019re often disappointed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Commuting is another part of the problem. The vast majority of students at Hunter commute from all parts of New York, New Jersey, and even Connecticut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Helen Moran, 19, is studying psychology at Hunter. She commutes from Wallingford, Connecticut, starting with a 40-minute drive to the New Haven station. She then takes the Metro-North for a 3-hour train ride to Grand Central, then transfers to the 6 train to get to Hunter. The entire commute, which she does twice a week, takes her around four hours, Moran says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to commute from Connecticut to New York doesn\u2019t give you much room for a social life,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to schedule everything around the trains.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Moran says it affects her class schedule, too. \u201cI have to think about the times I\u2019m taking my classes in conjunction with peak train times,\u201d she said. \u201cOr my commute will cost even more.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Morans\u2019 case is an extreme one. But there are many students (and professors) at Hunter who regularly commute one, two or three hours to school. This takes away time from students who could be using it to socialize or get work done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But sometimes, enjoying being a student at Hunter falls on \u2014 well, the student.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Frances Alswang is a professor and an academic program advisor for the Film and Media department at Hunter. She says she gets many students who are unhappy at Hunter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are not getting the attention that they need. It\u2019s hard to make friends, it\u2019s hard to find a community. The biggest problem is students figuring out how to reach out. That is a hard thing for them,\u201d said Alswang.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alswang does her best to encourage students to seek connections at Hunter, even if it may be harder than it would be on a traditional college campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I tell students as an advisor is to seek out places they can connect. Look at the advertisements, check your email for events, look wherever you can to find a place where you can meet up with students. I don\u2019t think students do that enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There seem to be many factors at play when it comes to student dissatisfaction at Hunter. But students have the opportunity to change that outlook.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter has no shortage of events on campus to get students involved. The club fair is held every fall and spring semester and is a great way for students to get familiar with the more than 100 clubs at Hunter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No school is perfect and Hunter is no exception. With more than <\/span>24,000 students<\/span><\/a> enrolled, it is an impossible task to provide for every student\u2019s wants and needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By taking the initiative and actively seeking out opportunities to make connections, students can spend their college years making friends instead of wishing they had them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a big problem with CUNY\u2019s biggest school: it seems like no one wants to be here.\u00a0 There seems to be a general disdain for Hunter among the student body \u2014 for its campus, faculty, students, food and social life, to name a few. Common complaints concern the leaky, peeling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,324],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-student-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5322"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5377,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5322\/revisions\/5377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brie.hunter.cuny.edu\/hunterathenian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}