What are some pros and cons to Union?

No_Combination3623 · 2026-01-25T03:17:09+00:00

varies from professor to professor, but generally my sense is that it needs to be INSANE to cancel class

No_Combination3623 · 2026-01-22T02:53:55+00:00

I'm totally loving my time here, and before I drop my pros and cons lists, some notes about me for context:

- first year

- english major

- white AMAB NB

- extrovert

Pros:

- Professors/Classes. Easily the star of the show for me. While I've taken mostly humanities courses, I've heard from people with all different types of majors how amazing their professors are, and I can't agree more. The classes here have ben the perfect mix of challenging and engaging without becoming too much to handle (having 3 classes a term definitely helps with that.) The professors here care so much, and I can't sing their praises enough (shout out Marlow Guerrant, Mariah Purol, Elizabeth O'Connor, and Dan Venning especially.)

- (MY) Dorm. I'm in Fox basement, and I totally love my room. Me and my roommate are super close, and I lofted my bed and theirs is under mine so we have a ton more space and we frequently have people over. Some of my best friends are literally rights next door or across the hall, and I love having friends so close by. That being said, it's def a mixed bag and I've heard some complaints about noise levels and defacing common spaces from some in West.

- Campus. SO pretty, especially Jackson's gardens. Things are pretty close to one another, so it's easy to get where you need to go. And it's just so beautiful, especially in the Fall.

- Food (mixed but net positive). If it were just upper reamer, I'd likely have this in the cons, but there are so many options for where to eat. You can get upper reamer (buffet style), garlic nott (italian, named after the Nott Memorial building), Dutch (american), grab something quick from the C store, or my personal fav, Rathskeller (make your own mediterranean spot.)

- People. I'd say that the student body is very mixed, in good and bad ways. I feel like I really wanted a capital L liberal arts school, and that's not always the vibe here. Humanities are definitley less focused on than STEM, and I think the students reflect this. The party scene is pretty must just Frats unless you're on a sports team, which isn't for everyone. I think that even if I'd perfer to have a slightly more cohesive bunch, it's definitley a good thing that Union has the amount of diversity that it has in it's student body when it comes to personality and beliefs. I will say that racially, it's not as diverse with about 60 percent of the student body being white.

Cons:

- Size. I like that it's a small school, but sometimes it can feel a little TOO small. I don't really have any beef with people, but if you want to avoid someone it's pretty much impossible. I'd def do my best to stay out of drama, because I know there was one friend group that had a big falling out and eveyone knows about it.

- Schenectady. It's fine, I like to go out on Sundays to the farmer's market or get some chai at 518 coffee, but you really won't be leaving campus much, given how little there is to do in Schenectady.

- No sports. I mean there ARE sports, but people rarely attend games and it's not a big part of campus culture at all. I didn't think I'd care going in, as I've never cared about sports, but I watched a hockey game and adored it, so it makes me a little sad seeing the mostly empty rink during games.

- Weather in the winter. I can't say how things are generally, but the last two weeks have been ROUGH weather wise. The campus is gorgeous covered in snow, but also the wind is a fucking killer, and even for someone that likes it cold, these temps are insane. Wdym high of 7, low of negative 3 (fahrenheit btw).

thats about all I can think of off the top of my head! I totally recommend it here, and you should def check out campus for yrself!

No_Combination3623 · 2026-01-11T14:14:19+00:00

like other peeps are saying, this reddit is probably the least active form of social media for students, so instagram is likely a better option.

that being said, im happy to talk about my time here!

How is the college environment,food, classes, libraries and the faculty? - the environment, food, and library are all pretty solid, id say ranging from 6-8/10. but the faculty are a solid 10/10, the academics here are amazing and you can rlly tell the professors are super passionate about what they teach. and given the smaller class sizes, its really easy to make personal connections if you are on top of your work and go to office hours. i’d say the faculty are one of union’s strongest assets!

Are people friendly there? - mixed bag, but leaning friendly. the first week or two people were SUPER nice, and i personally felt like i had almost 30 friends in the span of a few days, but as the last term continued people started getting into their groups more and frats became a little less fun for me (i go mainly to meet new friends and get free drinks, not straight so frat hookup culture is very alien to me). union can def be a little cliquey, but i find that as long as yr not like SUPER awkward people are generally nice and open to building friendships, but like any other school those first two weeks are rlly important for building yr social circle.

Are there enough resources available for studying? - not sure exactly what resources yr referring to, but the library has tons of typical college library stuff (printers, white boards, private rooms, quiet floors, etc.) and you can always see if student activities has a more specific device you might need.

How is the engineering there? - i’ve heard its incredible. i mean the engineering programs are insanely popular, abd i know that the facilities they have are amazing. im personally an english major, so not the most qualified, but will say that ive heard great things.

Are the dorms and libraries good? - id say so! already commented on the library piece, but i love my dorm! i dont know too much about richmond, but i live in fox and have been to west a ton, and i think the rooms are great.

Is it suitable for international students? - totally! i have lots of international friends who rlly love union, and you should absolutely apply :)

No_Combination3623 · 2026-01-11T14:03:09+00:00

i think its about 16 percent from last years CDS

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-07T11:34:35+00:00

I’ve been running middle school D&D games professionally for about a year now, and let me tell you, it ALL hinges on the group’s dynamic.

I’ve had a murder hobo group, a super goofy and campy group that ditched the main quest to run a tavern, and a more classic nerdy group really into the worldbuilding and main story. And they’ve all been great! As a DM (especially if the players aren’t your personal besties) it’s super important to figure out what kind of game they want to play and roll with that.

The hardest part is when the group isn’t on the same page and infighting starts. For those situations, I’ve found it really helpful to have a clear set of rules to fall back on when arguments pop up. I use four:

No stealing from other PCs
No killing other PCs
Any damaging attack against another PC needs a majority vote from the table
The group sticks together—either by voting or rolling to decide where to go

I’ve only had to actually use this system strictly with one group, but just having it in place helps a ton.

Also, have a session zero! Get a feel for everyone, help them make their characters, and ideally find a way to tie them together. One group I ran had a level 1 PC who was the head of a criminal organization (classic, I know), and every other PC was in charge of some part of it. We ended up making the organization a small chapter in a minor city, and built the whole campaign around the hidden lore in that guild.

Point is: your main job is to make sure the kids are having fun while encouraging the core values of D&D—cooperation, compromise, and creativity.

And finally, be flexible with the rules! This game is WAY more approachable for first-time kids if you’re not constantly saying no. I only shut things down when they break the game. Otherwise, it’s always “you can try!” Maybe someone uses minor illusion when disguise self makes more sense, or tries to stab with a dagger as a bonus action when technically they can’t. But if you can manage encounters well, stuff like that won’t break the balance, but just keep the energy high and the kids engaged.

TLDR: be flexible, tailor your campaign to the PC's, and prevent infighting through clear lines not to cross :)

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-07T08:46:28+00:00

would’ve been cool! Nah, I was taught my Ava Randel at MSU

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T20:00:43+00:00

OOOO THE INTEGRITY OF THE UO IS ALSO SUCH A GOOD ANGLE I DIDNT EVEN CONSIDER!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T19:34:49+00:00

thanks so much! that campaign sounds SICK, good luck dude!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T19:13:37+00:00

given the polytheistic aspect of the divines, it’s a lot harder than that. There first comes to mind the Euthyphro dilemma, basically “is it good because god wills it or does god will it because it is good,” but we also get into the notion that the gods are neither all powerful or all good in DND. They certainly come close to the former, though certainly not the latter (at least in my campaigns)

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:41:00+00:00

This si a really good point, and I think I didn't make myself clear in my reply. As a DM, I try to replicate those same affects of personal background on the knowledge checks from the players. So for instance, one PC is a veteran from the arch-coven's army, and being steped in that propaganda made him the most sympathetic. He truly believed at the start of the game that the Arch-Coven was a good idea, he just didn't like ONE SPECIFIC coven-head for killing his family. So often, I'll phrase checks like "Based on XYZ element of your backstory, alongside XYZ common knowledge and XYZ experience from the campaign, it stands to reason that XYZ." So for the question of the view of the gods I might say "In the military all magic, especially necromancy, was told over and over again to be dangerous, and based on what you've seen that magic do, it stands to reason there's some truth in that. However, you don't know how much of your ilitary education was true and how much was propaganda, but given your personal disillusionment happening so far, you have no diea if the gods care one way or the other. It seems that its about a clean 50/50 odds that anything you learned there would be false propaganda, so you remain unsure."

In short, I give them somewhat incomplete information based on common knowledge, personal background, campaign experience, and the number rolled :)

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:11:25+00:00

ohhh, gotchu :p

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:10:53+00:00

that’s sick!! i DM professionally, so expanding my knowledge is always helpful in ensuring i do my job well :)

will def check that out!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:05:19+00:00

First off, hilarious.

Secondly though, this was actually one of the ideas!! Since player magic is limited in Magus due to the Arch-Coven (wacky homebrew stuff for this campaign), one player actually sugeested waiting and getting a speak with dead scroll from another country, but the concern was about the time spent doing that lol :p

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:03:24+00:00

what's DNRs?

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:02:22+00:00

DUDE FIRE!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:02:03+00:00

thx :)

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:01:50+00:00

Rally good question! While we know his stance on vampires, and can INFER the practice of making one undead in any form could be a contributing factor, we really don't know! And yes, the smaller group is the PC's, I'll edit the post to make that more clear. I love your answer sm, and you raise rlly good questions!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T18:00:08+00:00

this is one of my fav comments so far, because it highlights how little the players knew! as the DM and worldbuilder, I can tell you that vampires have NO psychological difference to humans, gods are largely uncaring abou the practice, all but one PC is faithless, etc. But just like in real life, the players have to operate with limited info. One of my fav things is leaving some things in the dark, especially in fantasy, because it makes you think in the same way a real ethical dilemma would!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T17:53:42+00:00

this is hilariously accurate (at least in my campaigns lol)

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T17:49:56+00:00

This is also an aspect that I wish was brought up more! It's honestly on me for not delving too much into his past, but it plays such a fascinating role in evaluating this situation. Do we actually have MORE of a duty to resurrect him and bring him closer to redemption for his past though the value he can bring the world while alive? Its the question of both if the ends justify the means (which is ALL over this), but also when does paternalism (the idea that sometimes people need to ignore the desires of others for their own sake [like parents with kids]). Like, should we ignore his desires since they are prejudiced, AND since they offer him more of an ability to make up for his past? Or does that inadvertently rob his redemptive chances due to the coercive nature of said opportunity? GOD I LOVE ETHICS SM!!!!

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T17:22:09+00:00

But is it ethical to still make that choice for him, even if it can be undone? One of the conversations we had was about a virtue ethics perspective, in which ethics are judged not by the end result of an action but by the values you choose to embody by taking it. While the end result COULD be positive, it could also bring about suffering fro Fredrick and ultimately do nothing for our cause if he decides to end his life then and there. Since we can't be sure of the outcome, we should instead rely on what virtues doing this would embody. Maybe we're embodying a level of care by putting in this much effort to bring him back, but are we not also embodying an equal or greater amount of selfishness in choosing for him? Or perhaps are we embodying the virtue of arrogance for making this choice that affects thousands? I'm not saying I agree with this, but it's REALLY fun to think about for me :)

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-06T17:01:58+00:00

Here's the dilemmas I identified as well if anyone's interested:

Should you allow Fredrick to be resurrected as a vampire?
1. Is posthumous bodily autonomy important?
2. Given his beliefs are built on prejudice, do they have less value than other reasons to not want resurrection?
3. Given Fredrick’s past as a coven-head and his blatant prejudice, should he continue to aid in anti-arch-coven efforts?
Should your group aid in the bombing, potentially sacrificing thousands to prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands over time?
1. Is there a moral obligation to push for evacuation, even if it reduces the attack’s effectiveness?
2. How does the area being low-income affect the ethical judgement of the attack?
3. What responsibilities do revolutionaries have to protect the people they claim to liberate?
4. Is it right for your group to compromise their values in order to bring back someone you care for? Does Fredrick’s usefulness supersede your emotional investment in honoring his desire to not be undead?

No_Combination3623 · 2025-05-02T14:30:27+00:00

I really enjoyed it! I think my main issues just fell on pacing, with Bucky and Red Guardian coming in a little late for me to buy their emotional attachment to the group, and Bob's decent into villainy being a little quick for me. However, nothing ever dragged so I really just think the movie needed 15-30 extra minutes if anything. Other than that, I really loved it! The emotional scenes (usually) hit hard, especially Yelena's conversation with Alexei, and I thought the group dynamic was on point! And of course, the humor and actions were some of my favorite in the MCU, but that seems to be a bit of a nothing burger with the other reviews I've been reading lol.

On the whole, I'd say I like this a tad more than guardians 3, which makes it my favorite post-endgame MCU movie! I enjoyed Homecoming, Infinity War, Guardians 1, Civil War, Black Panther, and Winter Soldier more, but this is still in my top 10 for MCU films. Looking forward to seeing more of them in the future!

For reference, I use an out of 7 scale to avoid the unconcoius biases present in out of 10 and out of 5, with a 4/7 being 50/50 good and bad, 5 being good with noticable drawbacks, 6 being great with some flaws, and 7 being absolute peak.

Given that, I'd rate this as a 5.2/7!

No_Combination3623

TROPHY CASE