THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE: Getting Schooled in an Academic State of Mind

In eight years of living here, New York City's streets have "schooled" me. I've learned that an empty subway car is usually that way for a reason; that tourists will always, always block your direct path to anywhere; and that my life lies somewhere in the balance between Uptown's polish and Downtown's grit. While I didn't receive my formal studies here, the School of Hard Knocks has done a pretty efficient job of stretching my capabilities and potential.

For those seeking higher education, there are few better places to land than the Empire State. Through its vast network of universities, community colleges, academic medical centers and even an online program, the State University of New York (SUNY) comprises the "largest comprehensive university system in the United States," and boasts 46 campuses, 7,500 degree and certificate programs, 460,000 students in any given year, and 3,000,000 alumni.

And that's not counting the many, illustrious parochial and private schools. Columbia and Cornell Universities may ring a bell; no other state in the country can claim two Ivy League institutions.

Seven U.S. presidents studied at New York schools: Columbia is Barack Obama’s alma mater; Chester Arthur graduated from Schenectady's Union College with the class of 1848; William McKinley briefly attended Albany Law School in 1866; Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower are both United States Military Academy (aka West Point) men; and Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a family tradition of matriculating to, dropping out of, and later receiving honorary Juris Doctors from Columbia Law School.

With schools starting back, we enter an Academic State of Mind. We celebrate the unorthodox (i.e. Fisheries and Wildlife Science) and wonderful things one can learn in New York, including the craft skills that many of our Makers honed while in schools scattered throughout the state. Not to mention everything they learn outside of the classroom.

From New York City,

Christine Murphy
Co-Founder, COO and Editor in Chief