Having graduated from Union College, Schenectady, NY this past June, I can give a pretty good account of how it has been. For current events, /msg mr100percent, who is still attending Union, to my knowledge. It seems that Union College aims to suck all traces of liberal from the term "liberal arts college". This mission is spear-headed by Roger Hull, president of Union College, and all around evil man.
As of this year, a brand new housing system was implemented, in which houses, in the vein of Hogwarts exist. The plan is that each freshman, I mean, first year student is assigned to a house, and they are welcome to the common areas of their assigned house, even though they do not live there. The downfall of this system is that social groups form from common friends, not arbitrary assignment.
Religious life on Union's campus is practically underground culture, and also literally, as the religious services offices are in a basement. My experience was mainly with the Protestant chaplain, who had to raise funds from local churches. The college president is staunchly against religion, and refuses to give any funding to religious programs or student clubs. As an agnostic, I found the Campus Protestant Ministry (CPM) club intellectually interesting, and yet, even as an intellectual pursuit, they were afforded no funding.
Frat parties regularly get higher attendance than theatre productions, but to the populace's credit, word of mouth usually leads to sold-out closing performances of the better productions. There is a gay-rights/support group on campus, but homophobia still runs rampant, though it is mostly implicit, as explicit bigotry in the Northeast will make you a social pariah.
Perhaps the most telling or damning aspect of my experience was that I was known as the guy with the dyed hair. I dyed my hair purple, Atlantic blue, fire engine red, and more. I stood out moreso, because except for short-lived hazing rituals, I was the only kid on the entire campus with hair that I couldn't pretend was natural. When I finally cut it and let it go back to my natural brown-black, everyone asked me about it. Administrators asked, "What happened to your hair?"
Union College was truly fulfilling in the academic realm. I was challenged, I enjoyed it, and I took a term abroad in Osaka, Japan. However, too few people spoke up in class, and the social scene was dominated by fraternities. If you like the Greek Letter System, you will enjoy Union College. If you do not, you may yet enjoy Union. As of now, I live in a 4-bedroom apartment in Boston with 3 good friends that I met at Union. I warn all prospective students, however, that you may need to find your own entertainment. Union, and its surrounding Schenectady will do you no favors.