Elmira College — Local services in City of Elmira

I STRONGLY considered applying to Elmira, I thought the campus was one of the most beautiful and idyllic that I'd seen, the academics seemed solid, and the Finger Lakes region is beautiful. I'm from NYC originally, so my parents would take us camping up there in the summers sometimes.

The only reason I didn't choose to apply to Elmira is that it wasn't "alternative" enough for me. It's a pretty "preppy" kind of college (or at least it was back when I was considering applying in the early 90's) and the student body seemed pretty: "penny loafer & button down" -- I had an intuition that I'd have had a tough time making friends and connections there.

Plus, I wanted more control over my education and I wanted to design my own course of study. Elmira would only have let me do that to a certain extent (I needed a college with more academic freedom) and I needed FULL control over my academics in an interdisciplinary college environment.

I was also dead-set on going to college in New England (but some upstate NY colleges got my consideration) so that's where I went in the end; to Amherst, Massachusetts. Elmira is nice though, but it just wasn't the...

As an EC alumna, my experience here was amazing! The professors were friendly, intelligent, encouraged conversations & office hours visits. The grounds & architecture were top tier, the food was okay, but the best cuisine was at the dine-in restaurant that served Pizza-burgers. Mackenzie's was nice also & the exquisite 1855 Room. The campus has a grocery store for the times Walmart was too far. The dorms were immaculate, and the buildings & grounds team made sure the surroundings were pristine. Pool halls, billiards, rec rooms, movie nights, karaoke, etc. all helped with on-campus entertainment. The surrounding neighborhoods were beautifully manicured, the mountains were gorgeous during the Fall & Winter periods, the Arnot Mall was the spot to hang out off campus. Lots of restaurants nearby campus: Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Pudgie's, McDonald's, Domino's & of course Wegman's & Weiss stores. It's a great place to live & go to college; very family-oriented. Wish I could go back to these times. Definitely visit Elmira & the Finger Lakes region when you're in...

Wonderful campus! Founded as a college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men. Elmira College became coeducational in all of its programs in 1969. Nice place to wander around, visit the Mark Twain Study, bookshop, fountain. Well-kept grounds. If it had been warmer, I would have grabbed a book and read on a bench by the little pond there for an hour or so. I got to see the room they are working on inside the campus - so many rare books!...