Hartwick College

Positives:
Student to faculty ratio — I went here from 2004 – 2008 and had a great 4 year student experience. When I was there, the student to faculty ratio was 12:1. The most amount of students in any one class I took was 40. The smallest was 5. The professors were easily accessible and approachable and many of them are still there. The student body was only about 1,400 at the time, but it has increased slightly. This is definitely a tight-​knit college community where students have a real opportunity to get to know their peers and professors.
J-​Term — Hartwick has trimesters. «J-​Term» is a course students can take in January to knock out some credits before the spring semester starts up in February. There are several opportunities to travel abroad during this time, none of which are included in the cost of tuition. The College does, however, have scholarship opportunities to help fund the experience.
Night life — Plenty of bars and Greek life off campus. Some say Oneonta is a «drinking town with a college problem.»
Three year program — Just before I graduated, Hartwick introduced a three year program to students who wanted to save some money and graduate early. A great idea to help make college more affordable, but the requirements seemed pretty stringent, so be prepared to work your butt off if you choose this path.
Negatives:
Tuition — Each of my four years there, tuition increased about 3% per year. When I enrolled as a freshman, it was around $ 36,000/year. By the time I left as a senior, it was around $ 42,000. Then again, tuition hikes seems to be consistent for private liberal arts colleges across the board.
Semesters abroad — While I was a student, Hartwick didn’t have its own semester abroad program (not to be confused with overseas travel opportunities offered during J-​Term). The College outsourced semesters abroad, so to speak, to Central College in Pella, Iowa. So my two semesters abroad meant transferring tuition from Hartwick to Central, which I recall getting muddled up at the Bursar’s Office on a few occasions. I’m not sure whether this has changed.
Other:
The student population is very diverse, which may or may not be for you. On the one hand, you have the music/​artsy type students and on the other, you have a pretty solid D3 football team. You have students from all over the world participating in D1 women’s water polo and D1 men’s soccer. Overall, this is a liberal arts college so just look at the list of majors and sports offered and those lists will speak to this diversity. I highly, highly, highly recommend Hartwick.