Campus Visits and Grad School

By Amanda Holmes

It’s been a while since my last blog post. I have had a busy few weeks traveling to two different universities for campus visits. I am trying to decide where I want to go to grad school and my decision has come down to a choice between two schools: SUNY Binghamton and the University of Miami - Ohio. I’m sad to be leaving SXU in a few short months but I am also excited to move on to a grad program in philosophy… I just have to decide which one.

The first school I went to was SUNY Binghamton in Binghamton, New York. I have to admit that one thing that attracts me to the university is the possibility of moving to New York.
When I went to visit the campus I was hoping to find out that New York City is just a train ride away but this is unfortunately not the case. It is a three hour drive from the city and there is only one bus a day that goes there.

Binghamton is a small town in Upstate New York that seemed to be pretty much dominated by the university. All of the activity in the town is generated by the university and its students. I went to a couple of pubs with some of the graduate students I met and everyone agreed that it was difficult to get into the city and that there really isn’t a whole lot going on around campus. But they also all agreed that this wasn’t that big of a deal because they are kept pretty busy in the grad program doing a lot of work.

The next school I went to was the University of Miami - Ohio in Oxford, Ohio. Oxford too is a small college town dominated by the university students. There is a big Greek life there so when I was there on a Friday night walking past the frat and sorority houses I was severely disoriented. Lots of beer pong. Lots of Lady Gaga. But there are some really nice things about the campus there too. Miami has a pretty campus with old stone buildings and lots of trees. And there are a number of woods and nature preserves within walking distance of the campus with hiking trails and nature walks.

Visiting these two campuses showed me the uniqueness of the small campus at SXU, which just an hour by public transit from downtown Chicago. SXU has the feel of a small town campus in some ways but is still close to the city and provides the opportunity to go to concerts, festivals, museums, etc. And, well, that’s pretty nice.

Amanda Holmes is a senior philosophy major from Atlanta, GA. She is vice president of the Philosophy Club. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.