Sited in upstate New York, the University of Rochester is one of America’s oldest (estb.1850) and most distinguished institutions, offering highly-rated degree programmes in over 55 disciplines, with students given the freedom to club differing subjects and design their own curriculums. Its four massive campuses host a comprehensive Medical Centre, the world-renowned Eastman School of Music and several other faculties of global reputation, and its 96,000 alumni include Pulitzer prize winners, highly accomplished scholars and researchers, talented artists and musicians. The 2007 Kaplan/Newsweek How to Get into College Guide has proclaimed Rochester a ‘New Ivy League’ institution whose academic programmes and students rival those of traditional Ivy League colleges.

"For more than 150 years, the faculty, students, alumni, and staff of Rochester have been challenging themselves as a community of scholars to advance knowledge, to break new intellectual ground, and to improve the lives of those around them, in Rochester and around the world. The talented, diverse, and dedicated group of people who make Rochester what it is, share a nationally recognised record of achievement that will grow in the future," says Joel Seligman, president of the university.

Rochester is a heavily research-oriented university where every member of its 1,258-strong faculty is also a researcher who studies subjects first-hand and tests his research output in the classroom. Though it offers both undergraduate and posgtrad programmes, it is essentially an undergrad institution with an enrollment of 4,608 students and an enviable teacher-pupil ratio of 1:12. Moreover its $1.52 billion and growing endowment corpus enables it to provide generous financial aid to deserving students. In 2005-06, it gave away $45 million in scholarships.

Rochester. Located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in the Finger Lakes area of upstate New York, Rochester (pop. 1.2 million) is the third largest city in New York state. Popularly christened ‘The World’s Image Centre’, as it hosts the head offices of several leading hi-tech corporates such as Eastman Kodak, Xerox Corporation, and Bausch & Lomb, it also boasts a large number of small, hi-tech companies which offer graduate students many employment options in business and industry.

Moreover Rochester offers students exciting off-campus diversions which include a vibrant night life, shopping centres, the Seneca Park Zoo, Barge Canal, Finger Lakes, GeVa theatre, Memorial Art Gallery, and many outdoor recreation options such as boating and skiing. The city’s climate is to a great extent determined by its proximity to Lake Ontario. Summers are warm and pleasant; winters are cold and snowy; and spring and fall usually pleasant.

Campus facilities. Sited in a bend of the Genesee river, about two miles south of downtown Rochester, the eponymous university’s campuses are aesthetic blends of brick and stone buildings. The 85 acre River Campus is the university’s main activity centre where the majority of undergraduates live and learn. The hub and nerve of student life is Wilson Commons. Designed by globally renowned architect J.M. Pei, this recreational centre houses student organisation offices, meeting rooms, performance facilities, the Hartnett Gallery, lounges, games rooms and a snack bar.

Rochester has three other campuses — the Medical Center, South Campus and the Eastman Prince Campus which houses the Eastman School of Music, endowed by George Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Company. Moreover the Memorial Art Gallery is one of the few university-affiliated art museums in the country which also serves as the city’s art museum, attracting nearly 300,000 visitors a year. The gallery’s permanent collection of 10,000 works includes 50 centuries of world art with masterpieces by artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Matisse, Homer, and Cassatt.

Academic support is offered by the Rush Lees Library, which houses over 3 million volumes, a state-of-the-art online catalogue with multiple research options including internet resources. Other libraries include the Edward G. Miner Library of the Medical Center; The Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music, and The Charlotte Whitney Allen Library of the University’s Memorial Art Gallery

Sports facilities are provided by the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center which features the Edmund A. Hajim Alumni Gymnasium, an 11,000 sq. ft fitness centre with state-of-the-art fitness equipment, locker rooms, and a multi-activity centre. The athletics centre also houses the 2,200 seat Louis Alexander Palestra, a popular venue for university inter-collegiate basketball and volleyball, a field house, with a 200-meter track and synthetic activity infield; the Speegle-Wilbraham Aquatic Center; as well as tennis/squash courts.

In addition to excellent sports facilities, Rochester University boasts over 200 student organisations and clubs which stage events round the year.

Admission. Entry into University of Rochester’s highly prized undergrad programmes is based on Plus Two grades, recommendations from eminent achievers, an admissions essay and participation in extra-curricular activities. Students whose native language is not English should take TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Aspiring undergrads also have to write the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT-1). To be considered for admission in September, Indian students have to write these exams before writing their school-leaving class XII (Plus Two) boards.

For further information contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, University of Rochester, P.O. Box 270251, Rochester, NY 14627-025. Tel: (585) 275-3221; Fax: (585) 461-4595; email: admit@admissions.rochester.edu; website: www.rochester.edu.

Accommodation. Most undergrads live and learn on campus. Halls of residence are sited in the residential quadrangle and students can choose from traditional same-sex to co-ed floors. Each suite provides accommodation to groups of six students who share a bath and lounge.

Degree programmes. The Rochester curriculum, a unique and specially created undergrad programme, provides students an opportunity to choose diverse subjects and combine them into a degree programme. This distinctive curriculum encourages liberal arts education by allowing undergrads to pursue at least one major within one of the three great branches of learning — the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences (including math and engineering) — and a subject in each of the other two streams.