<p>I don't have many options and didn't apply to enough schools. </p>
<p>Right now, I have acceptances from:
UC Berkeley (i'm out of state though, so tuition will cost a fortune), NYU, and Boston U. </p>
<p>I'm on the waitlist for Vassar and Binghamton and Stony Brook just let me apply last minute (thankfully.) I'm pretty sure I'll get into both of them because I have a 2170 on the SAT and was ranked #10 in the class.</p>
<p>Berkeley is my dream school, but I can't afford it. BU was my safety (not financially though...) and NYU was target. I didn't get into the 2 Ivies I applied to. Given the 3 extremely expensive options I have, I didn't have much of a choice but to apply to these SUNYs (I'm from NY.) I plan on going to one (if I don't hear from Vassar for the waitlist..keeping my fingers crossed though) just for a year and then transferring somewhere else
I've heard that Binghamton is a "public ivy," but I've never visited it before. For Stony Brook, I'd stay home and commute and work at Trader Joe's and save the maximum amount of money until I transfer for fall 2012.
I think I'd be happier away from home though.
For anyone that has visited either of these schools, can you help me out?
I plan on majoring in linguistics, but like I said, I'm not planning on spending the full 4 years at either of these schools. So which would look better for when I'm applying to transfer to a school that's a better fit for me. I'm vegan, so does anyone know if Binghamton has good options for that? And are there ANY "hippie"-type people there? And I hate partying/don't drink and am very competitive/school-focused. I also love languages (know French, Spanish, and German), so which has better foreign language programs? Given this bit of information, does anyone have any suggestions/commentary? </p>
<p>All that stress/applications/fees for scavenging last minute...not fun.</p>
<p>Hey, you never know… You might go to a SUNY intending to transfer ASAP, but like it so much that you’ll end up staying, as it often happens; hey, you never know. ;)</p>
<p>To be honest, Binghamton and SBU both lack a “world class” linguistics program. Go to Binghamton for the better overall quality of education. Case closed.</p>
<p>I think it would be kind of weird to go to a residential college with full intent from the start to leave after only a short time. You may be reticent about making commitments, friends, getting involved with things there, putting down roots, when all the other frershmen you’re living around are all about that. I think if I were in that mindset I’d rather go to the commuter school.
YMMV.</p>
<p>I believe that Binghamton is considered a better school for everything but sciences.</p>
<p>Hinman dining hall has a vegan station that has some sort of vegan food for every meal. There’s also a salad bar in every dining hall along with whatever is at the other stations that may or may not be vegan. I’m pretty sure we’ve won some sort of award for best campus for vegans or maybe vegetarians. I’m not exactly sure and can’t seem to find anything about it right now.</p>
<p>There’s also the Food Co-Op in the basement of the old union. It’s a “Student-run cooperative offering healthy, organic, local and vegetarian groceries as well as cheap, fair-trade coffee.”</p>
<p>Thank you all for the input. Yeah, out of the two, I’d rather go to Binghamton…but I’d also not want to get too comfortable considering I plan on leaving after a year… we’ll see what happens. Still hoping for a miracle to happen for berkeley, or to get accepted from the waitlist from Vassar.</p>
<p>I’m planning on majoring in Arabic and monotony in linguistics. When I toured, I saw that they have a massive library of Arabic and Hebrew literature, and other languages I’m sure. All indications I’ve seen are that bing is a fantastic school for language people like us.</p>
<p>Stony Brook for engineering, natural sciences, applied sciences, and medicine. Binghamton for everything else. Overall, Bingo is slightly better ranked in the USNWR and as a result remains the top institution of SUNY. However, Stony Brook is considered the flagship institution of SUNY. Both schools are great but based on your major then it might be better for you to attend Bingo…</p>
<p>…But if you are planning to transfer after a year the it makes more sense for you to attend Stony Brook</p>
<p>Why is SB the flagship institution of SUNY unofficially?</p>
<p>*Provide 90% of revenue of the Patents to the SUNY system
*Is a member of the AAU - Association of American Universities - the top 62 research institutions of the United States in which University at Buffalo, not Binghamton, is also a member of.
Is co-manager of the Brookhaven National Laboratory joining Princeton, Cornell, the University of Chicago, Stanford, and the University of California-Berkeley as the only major institutions involved in a research collaboration with a national lab.
Has a student body of over 24, 000 students.
Has the Stony Brook Medical Center, the state of the art medical Hospital for SUNY students, which Bingo lacks.</p>
<p>This is what makes Stony Brook University the flagship institution of the SUNY system.</p>
<p>Under law, there is no official flagship in the SUNY system. But it is clear, that it was then governor Spitzers intent to make Stony Brook the flagship University for obvious reasons already stated. Maybe if he didn’t resigned due to his controversy he would’ve officially made Stony Brook the Flagship.</p>
<p>Yeah I would go with Binghamton if you get in. There really is something to living away from home and Binghamton is a very good school so puts you in a good place whether you end up transferring or not. However, is Vassar really more expensive that Cal (Berkeley) for you? I don’t actually know the finances but they would seem at least close unless you expect to get more aid at Vassar. You could also try SUNY New Paltz which is a good school, smaller and there is definitely a comfortable vibe on campus which would be accepting of vegan, etc.</p>
<p>I visited New Paltz and despised it. My family and I left the tour early, noting within just half an hour that the school was NOT a good fit for me. The hippie thing was great, but it the intellectual vibe there was very very very low. </p>
<p>And Vassar would be give me good financial aid for they cove 100% of financial need and my parents EFC is only $8,000. I don’t think my chances of getting off the waitlist are good, but we’ll see within a few weeks.</p>
<p>As of now, I deposited to Berkeley but will be attending Binghamton if that doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>I just visited Binghamton and hated it… I don’t like Stony Brook either but which would be better for transferring purposes in a year? I think I’m just going to do Stony Brook, save a ridiculous amount of money the first year, and then transfer to U. Chicago or McGill. Any good chance of being accepted though, if I start at Stony Brook?</p>
<p>I have friends whose kids have transferred from SBU to Geneseo, NYU and Cornell (that one was a deferred admission to a specific program) within the past couple of years.</p>
<p>The main thing I would say is that you should either take gen ed classes that will travel anywhere or if you have a specific transfer school in mind, contact them and find out which courses they are looking for.</p>
<p>My D has friends at Bing who love it.</p>
<p>If you’re definitely set on going elsewhere, I would go the SBU route if I were you. Actually, if you live out there, look in to Suffolk CC’s honors programs - it has an employee whose only job (or so I am told) is to help honor students find schools to transfer to and try to help them get as many scholarships as possible. It’s a lot cheaper than SBU and, frankly, nobody cares where you spent your first year or two as long as you get the 4 year degree…</p>
<p>I loved the drive upstate with all the lovely trees, but the city itself felt just like suburban Long Island. I guess I was expecting something a bit more rural. I stayed with an older friend in her dorm and she was at College-In-The Woods, which had literally nothing I could eat as a vegan. I heard Hinman is better for that and that there’s a vegan co-op though. The campus was too large and eh, I just didn’t like it. The people seemed really cool, but as I said, I plan on transferring anyway and wasn’t that impressed with the school to spend 3x the amount (due to room and board). I was also constantly comparing it to Berkeley, which I know I shouldn’t have done. Only 15 languages, offered, come on. I wanted a school that offered a few dozen. So I’d like to keep my freedom (being able to have a car and stuff), keep my job at Trader Joe’s, save a ton of money, and commute for a year before I transfer… I guess I shouldn’t say I hated Binghamton, but rather that I don’t find it worth it to go when I plan on leaving anyway.</p>