Student Surveys on their experiences at Farmingdale State College

There are many things to do on the average weekday at the Farmingdale State College campus. With over 30 buildings and north of 9,000 students who attend the university, you can get lots of stories and perspectives from different students and faculty on what goes on on any given day. I decided to interview 26 current Farmingdale students to hear their views and experiences about the college, by asking the same exact set of questions to every individual. Here’s what I found out.

The Campus Center offers a variety of food and drink options for students and staff to purchase in the marketplace section and at POPS dining, which is buffet-styled. I asked each person I interviewed what their favorite food item they’ve ever had from either side, and the most popular answer I heard was the sushi on the marketplace side. A few other popular answers I heard were the chicken quesadillas made by Chef Lason at POPS dining at the grill, as well as the chicken bacon ranch and chicken chipotle melt wraps from the marketplace.

Each building on FSC’s campus has a different aura and atmosphere attached to it. When I asked students what building on campus gives off the best vibes, there was one very common answer that I got from over 30% of the interviewees. That answer was the School of Business building. “It’s so fresh, nice, and cool in there. The windows, the architecture, everything is great. I think that’s the best vibe,” said junior Konrad Stepczyk when asked the question.

When students were asked their favorite building for classes, the top answer was once again the School of Business building, totaling over 60% of the responses. Students often have multiple hour-long gaps between classes, sports, meetings, etc. and some will choose to spend that time hanging out with friends around campus. When I asked students their favorite hangout spot on campus, the most popular responses I received were the campus center, the residence halls (Orchard and Alumni Hall), Quintyne Hall, and the garden.

With all the different buildings across campus, there needs to be many parking lots for students to be able to park close to the building they need to get to. Of the 26 students interviewed, the favorite parking lot on campus was the larger parking lot next to Orchard Hall (results may be skewed due to many of the responses coming from resident students). Other replies to the question included the lot behind Quintyne, the lot behind the Campus Center, and the Orchard Hall small lot. “To me, I’ll walk anywhere. To me, there are no parking lots if you don’t have a car,” said senior Emmanuel Mondesire when asked the question.

Farmingdale offers over 40 major programs and hundreds of courses to take in any given semester, so I was curious to find out some students’ favorite classes they’ve taken at the university. Every answer I received for this question was unique except for one class that was mentioned twice: Management Theories and Practices. Some courses that were mentioned included Calculus, Grammar, Introduction to Fiction, Intro to Drawing, Macroeconomics, and Introduction to Psychology. With favorite classes also comes favorite professors, so just to shout out a few that were name-dropped, congratulations to Prof. Mitchell, Prof. Liselli, Prof. Fraina, Prof. Rogers, Prof. Rubia, Prof. Lindenfield, and Prof. Paplowski.

I asked students their favorite on-campus memory from their time at FSC and some repeat answers I received were RamChella and Greek Week. Speaking of RamChella, I also asked each interviewee who their dream RamChella performer would be, and the artists that were mentioned more than once were Bruno Mars, Tyler the Creator, Marshmallow, Post Malone, Drake, and 21 Savage. Some other artists mentioned were Yeat, Playboy Carti, Doja Cat, SZA, Ice Spice, Eminem, Chris Brown, Lil Baby, and J. Cole. “Anybody who was on the 2016, 2017 rise like Lil Yachty, Lil Uzi, 21 Savage,” said freshman Jaden Cuello when asked who he’d want on the stage at the Dale.

With all the great things that Farmingdale has to offer at the moment for its students, there is always room for improvement. I asked my interviewees what they’d like to see improved about the school and here are some of the responses I received. “Better living conditions for the residents,” said senior Nickholas Delavalliere. “The overall aesthetic of the campus and dorm life, I would rather there be more eye-pleasing structures, less construction, and more student life activity,” said freshman Raymond Howard. Other notable things I was told could be improved were the dining hall, the WiFii, and Thompson Hall. Students also mention that the gardening could be improved and that the school could market campus events better.

But with the areas that could be improved, there were also areas that students praised about the school. Students really enjoyed the events taking place on campus, including the involvement fair, the Terry Crews speech event, and the Brian Baumgartner meet and greet. Students also praised the great professors the university employs, the close proximity between buildings, and the most common answer, the social community that the college generates.

“Students are engaged with each other. Like, everybody knows everybody. And if you don’t know the person, you’ve heard of them,” said freshman Santiago Ruiz. “They do a lot of good activities that you can go to. I’ve been to a lot of the activities myself, both resident and non-resident activities, and I’m going to keep going to them. And this year they’ve been amazing with tickets to games, they do give you stuff to do,” said sophomore Ayden Pitt.

“I would say just the people. The people that Farmingdale attracts, they’re compassionate souls. They’re chill. It’s not an intense environment,” senior Esther Sherry mentioned. As you can see, students rave about the social aspect of Farmingdale State College, as it is well fit for creating meaningful relationships with other students.

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