Purchase Experience
What’s it like to be a student at Purchase College?
Your path to earning a degree is hardly ever a straight line. But that’s what makes it interesting.
Your journey here begins with first steps shared by every student. With support systems in place , we encourage you to challenge yourself, find your purpose, and even rest when needed.
We believe in nurturing the whole student as integral to graduating a well-informed and socially engaged student body who enters the world with motivation and resiliency. And ready to encounter whatever comes next.
The First Year
You’ll cover a lot of ground in your first year, from orientation to first-year seminars to college writing to trips to New York City. It’s a foundation to support the work you’ll do in the next three years.
Coursework: Shared Curriculum
Before you delve deep into a major course of study, our required General Education curriculum will expose you to a variety of coursework. Whether you pursue a BA, BFA, BS, or MusB, your core is the same—a rigorous plan to open your mind and broaden your experience.
Unexpected outcomes often result. You might declare a second major. You might discover your senior project topic. Or, you might connect with a professor who inspires a new direction for study you hadn’t considered. Be open.
Change the Scenery
We offer many ways to engage further with peers and faculty to broaden your view.
Purchase in the City
Working together with faculty members, the Office of Student Engagement plans several trips per semester to explore the unique offerings of the cultural capital of the world just south of campus—New York City. Past trips include galleries, museums, Broadway shows, and corporate offices.
Study Abroad or Away
You can broaden your horizons by spending a semester or break studying somewhere other than Purchase.
Hands-On Learning
And learning here is never confined to the classroom—hands-on experiences abound to round out your education. Think internships, service learning, volunteerism, or any other way to enhance your academic foundation.
Support Along the Way
Students may face any number of struggles on their way to becoming resilient and ready college graduates. Whether it’s academic hurdles, social concerns, mental health issues, or career advice, resources are readily available for those who need them.
The Finish Line: Senior Project
All students regardless of major will complete a senior project prior to graduation. It may sound daunting now, but rest assured you’ll be prepared when the time comes and you’ll leave here with an original work that’s a stepping stone to whatever is next.
You’ll work one-on-one with a professor while refining the skills and tools you need to tackle whatever the 21st-century world throws at you.
At Purchase, we teach you to think, to connect the dots, to reason, and to problem solve. You learn how to learn. These are the hallmarks of a liberal arts education. You can take that toolbox anywhere and succeed.