Boxes filled hallways and volunteers waved hello as new students began moving into the residence halls at SUNY Oneonta for the academic year Wednesday, Aug. 19.
More than 1,000 new first-year students from 13 states and three countries are joining the student body this year.
SUNY Oneonta Associate Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Karen Brown said that 97% of the students are coming from across New York, typical for most years.
“About 46% of the first-year class is first generation students, so we’re excited about that,” she said. Asked about diversity of the class, Brown said about 37.9% of the class is non-white.
In accepting students, Brown said, “generally, we’re looking for students who are motivated, who bring good academic preparation in the context of their high school versus the students in that high school.”
She said the school wants “to make sure that we’re measuring students based on their opportunities they have in high school,” and that it searches for students who have shown interest in engagement outside of the classroom, “either through volunteer work, working outside the high school, involvement in clubs, activities, bringing some leadership aspects to the school.”
“So important,” Brown added.
Many of those students came from downstate. According to information provided by SUNY Oneonta spokesperson Jill Shea-Feury, the top counties which new students hail from are Suffolk, Nassau and Westchester.
One such student, Dylan Keiser, from West Islip in Suffolk County, said he plans to try out for the baseball team while taking a break from setting up his Golding Hall double room. An early childhood education major, he said he chose the school because he “thought it was a good college for my major” and “it looked like a really nice campus,” making it an overall good choice.
“I’m just looking to meet new people, you know, just enjoy the new experience going to college,” he said. “Baseball, hopefully.”
Early childhood education is one of the most popular majors of incoming students this year, Shea-Feury said, alongside undeclared majors, psychology and business administration.
Two other early childhood education majors moving into Golding Hall, Kaci Carpenter and Marissa Anastasio, said they met at a university open orientation event on Long Island and quickly decided to become roommates. Their room, a triple, was filled with less-than-half-unpacked boxes and bags Wednesday.
Anastasio said that during her junior year of high school, she visited colleges upstate. She chose the SUNY Oneonta campus because “it felt like home to me.”
“I was between a couple of schools,” Carpenter said. She said she went to a fall open house and “I was like, ‘I think this is gonna be the school.’”
Carpenter said she had a chance to have dinner in downtown Oneonta with her parents when she visited for the open house, but it was nighttime.
“I want to go in during the day and see everything,” she said of the city.
About 90% of the entire student body will be moved in by Saturday, said residential life director Christine Edwards. Some students will arrive Sunday before classes begin Monday, Aug. 24, she said.