Rockland Community College

Take the honors curriculum here if you dont want to have a class filled with «gweedos & gweedets.» From the onset of the first semester I took courses that were not in the honors program and noticed most of the classes were filled with complete idiots who were obviously getting too much of a «free ride» from financial aid to even care what grades they were getting, so as a person who takes class instruction seriously, I hated the fact that I was in class with clueless jersey shore wannabes on a daily basis, and with teachers that seemed to hate coming to class (I dont blame them), and therefore decided not to care about what they taught. Seriously, my english teacher’s final paper requirement was only 1 page, and people in my class still failed to pass that… lmao… what a joke.
However, as soon as I enrolled in the very small MTS honors program, things went rather smoothly, and the ethnic make-​up of the classes changed from mostly Italian, black, mexican, TO mostly white jews, indians, asians, and pakistanis, which was interesting to say the least. I loved how most, if not all the kids were serious about getting good grades and focusing on coursework. The teachers, especially in biology (Butler, Baker), chemistry, and calculus (Arvenites, Liberant, Etc.) were pretty top notch and comparable to an actual university level course. Because of the overwhelming lack of seriousness of the students in this school the internship department was pretty good about finding a job for you (probably because it was empty most of the time), and receptive to your needs.
As far as books are concerned, GO TO AMAZON or somewhere similar, this schools book supply, like every school, is OVERPRICED. You will save $$$$$ going elsewhere. You can even go on Google books and read books for FREE online!
One caveat though, I wasnt too thrilled with the social dynamic; too many indians/​pakistanis and jews in your honors classes that think they are total elitists. Not that I am anti-​semetic, or racist by any means. I now attend a university, and even though there is alot of elitism here, its ironic how a lowly state school such as RCC would have more douchbags per square feet, even nerdy jews think they are cooler than you just because a large percentage of the honors population are predominantly jewish. I guess it is because of RCC’s upstate, suburban geography…
Yes, the RCC MTS honors program is a feeder to some of the Ivies like Cornell, and quite a few people get into Upenn, Yale etc. (probably because most of the general, non-​honors population flunking out RCC has a graduation rate of about 30%, so an honors student coming out of RCC with a 3.9++ and good EC’s causes this illusion of a «triumph over adversity type of thing»… but what made my experience sour was the amount of segregation between ethnicities at this school. Which means, the indians/​pakistanis, Asians (international asians only) and jews have their social circles, and it is extremely hard to break in unless you are a kiss-​ass who can potentially be useful to them, a.k.a someone from the Student Government Association.
So, as you may have expected, the social experience after two years resulted in very few friends that I can only count in one hand, pretty sad but hey, I did the best I can (started a few clubs, an internship, started a non-​profit, volunteered in Manhattan, and participated in a research program at Purchase…) to be open to people. Compared to my new university, I was only here for one week, and I have over 20 friends I can hang out with and drink on a daily basis… Oh yea, most of them are from california, go figure. Anyway, if you are part of these aforementioned racial groups, you will probably make a few friends, who are also part of these social circles per se, but you will never be part of their group unless you meet the ethnic qualifications. And yes they do pass on mid-​term and finals, and homeworks from the prior semester to each other so that they can cheat and get perfect grades to transfer to places they dont deserve like Cornell…
Other than that, you will have an OK academic experience here if you take the honors courses. And if you do well, as in 3.6 ++ GPA, 3.8++ with ECs preferred, you will have the opportunity to TRANSFER ANYWHERE you please, this includes the IVIES, and top institutions. For example, I was accepted to Cornell, UPENN, Baruch, and Columbia, I chose Columbia: D. As far as social life, it depends on the type of person you are; if you like to study, you will be ostracized by the Jersey Shore wannabes, if you are an Indian/​pakistani, or Jew, or asian international student in the honors program, you will make plenty of friends and have a good time. I am a California kid that was kind of in-​between it all, making acquaintances along the way. I really did not like the social dynamic of this school what-​so-​ever, if you are from california, you will find the people here somewhat weir

SUNY Rockland has an extensive online course offering and I took advantage of this during the 2009 – 2010 school year to take some classes to keep my ‘brain fresh’ before I started my doctorate this past fall semester at the CUNY Graduate Center.
The courses are very affordable and very interactive, and I have had great experience with the courses I took (a bioethics course and 3 sociology courses). Be wary of teachers who seem not to be computer friendly and are teaching these courses. You’ll probably be pretty stressed out and have to put up with a lot of stupidity from these guys but it will pay off in the end. Make sure you read the syllabi, log on often and you’ll be golden.
I’ve been on campus a couple times — nothing magnificent or special but it does remind me a bit of the SUNY Stony Brook Campus. Not so bad — a great bang for your buck!

I took summer school here, French 101 & 102. Since I was already home for the summer, it was cheap, and I didn’t want to do a full load during regular semester.
I have long forgotten the French Teacher’s names, but the class was fun.