<p>I'm starting to seriously consider adding Bing to my college list. It seems to offer both intelligent, motivated students and a low OOS cost. However, I have a few concerns:</p>
<p>1) I am planning to pursue either a major or minor in mathematics, possibly combined with a degree in systems or electrical engineering. Math is my passion, and I want to study it with as much rigor and depth as I can. Stony Brook is by far the best known SUNY for math, but it sounds like a terrible place to be and my dad went through hell as an undergrad there. Is Binghamton's math department strong and rigorous? Do undergrads have good placement in REUs and grad schools?</p>
<p>2) Are there things to do if you don't want to drink or party?</p>
<p>can’t answer about the math dept. but as for your other questions.</p>
<p>there are plenty of people who don’t drink or party who find things to do. latenite binghamton runs events every weekend. [Late</a> Nite Binghamton Homepage](<a href=“http://latenite.binghamton.edu/]Late”>http://latenite.binghamton.edu/) people also just tend to find like minded people to hang out with. there is chem free housing that can increase your chances of finding such like minded people to live with on campus.</p>
<p>the student body is diverse in the sense that many racial, ethnic, and religious groups are represented. less diverse geographically – OSS are a fairly small minority. but among the NYS students there is quite a bit of diversity – NYS is far from homogenous – there are students from cities, from suburbs, from rural areas – upstate, downstate – there is a fairly strong NYC and surrounding suburbs contingent. </p>
<p>to also give you an idea of the varied interests/diversity of the student body – you may want to look here – [PAWS</a> - Powered by CollegiateLink](<a href=“Login”>Login)
the list of clubs on campus – will give you an idea of both the cultural clubs and the activity clubs to give you an idea of what types of interests people on campus have. (can’t say how active any given club on the list actually is).</p>
<p>Being a math major, I can say that math is a useless degree unless you’re going to grad school. If you want to be an actuary, the Bing math department offers a program in Actuarial Science, but let me make this very clear: YOU DON’T NEED A DEGREE IN MATH OR AN ACTUARIAL SCIENCE TO BE AN ACTUARY. You can be a engineering major or even an english major and still qualify to be an actuary, just so long as you pass the exams.</p>
<p>By the way, the math department is garbage at Bing. More than half the professors speak “english as a seventh language.” Even the ones who are fluent in english don’t teach very well. If you take calc I, II, III, linear alegbra, you should be aware that the majority of those who teach these are graduate students, not professors. Surprisingly, most of these Graduate students teach better than the professors.</p>
<p>My recommendation is to go to Bing (Stony is rated far lower than Bing) and major in either systems or electrical engineering. Keep in mind that engineering isn’t going to be easy. There’s gonna be a lot of work, but also a lot of math since they require you to take lots of math courses. Ultimately, you’ll get a better degree than just “math.”</p>