Any Questions about Stony Brook?

Hey guys I’m currently a freshman here at SBU. Im a psychology major on the pre med track. I also commute and am involved in the orientations about to happen for the school. I know a lot of you are debating whether to come here or not so I thought I would open up and answer any questions you have.

Hi I recently got accepted to SBU as the class of 2023. I was wondering if you knew when/if there’s an accepted students day?

@FutureGirlPres my son is considering SB. We live about 40 minutes away. I am wondering how life is on campus & is this why you commute? I have heard a large # of students go home on the weekend. He will be a computer science major & also got into the scholars programm.

I applied as Biochemistry major on the pre med track as well, but I am nervous of getting into Stony Brook.
I have about a 4.0 gpa which is 93 gpa weighted and 1220 SAT. I have 4 recommendation letters and 1 solid college essay for the common app, except for my other 2 supplement essay which are not for Stony Brook. I am in the varsity male swim team at my school for 2 years, nyc park swim team for 5 years, and vice president during senior year for the Christian Seeker Club for 3 years. I currently volunteer at my church’s children worship program and VBS summer program. My ethnicity is Asian American if that helps as well. I applied around January 12th couple days before the day deadline, January 15,2019. I have taken 3 APs as a junior ( US History, English Language, Biology) and now take 5 APs as a senior ( Physics 1, Calculus AB, Computer Science Principles, English Literature, and US Government and Politics). I also have taken 4 college now classes( College and Career Development, Science, Pre-Calc, and Intro to Business). Will I have a good chance of getting into Stony Brook?

Admitted Student Days is April 5 and 6 this year. Find more information here: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/admitted/events/index.php

@sbuadmissions heads up, I think you mean April 6 and 7 bc thats what it says in the link you posted

Question about University Scholars. How does housing work? Are there specific dorms Scholars students are housed in? Are they mixed in with the other students or do they get housed in a block, such as one wing of floor for Scholars students? Would your roommate be another student from this program? I am unclear how this works and we are unable to attend the Accepted Students Day due to an academic competition that is happening in Binghamton on the same day.

My DS was accepted as a University Scholar. We will be attending the special Accepted Student Day session for the University Scholars this Saturday. I can PM you with highlights afterwards.
In regards to housing, refer to this link. I have a question on whether freshmen in the program are typically or required to be in a triple.

https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/university-scholars/prospective_students/advantages.html

Scroll below about housing info.

@sbuadmissions Are honors, scholars or WISE invitations still being send out? When would one get a possible denial? We have not heard anything back yet after admission to the university back in late Feb.

@Melandmaya and @PrtzDC we are going to accepted students day on Sun. Can’t go on Sat & my son is computer nwcience. It is my understanding that the University Scholars kids can get tripled as well. Not sure how housing works. Found it confusing what I read. My son was accepted into Scholars & honors in computer science. I hope someone will be available to talk on sun.

@Melandmaya and @lovemycats We live about 2 hours away in Hudson Valley, but felt that it was important enough to attend both the University Scholars session on Saturday and Admitted Student Day for CEAS on Sunday. My DS is an engineering major. We are deciding between Stony Brook and a US News #10 school (which will be just $5,000 more per year after merits/financial aid and could be less in 2 years when my DD attends college).

Besides tripling in a double sized room (with only 2 desks from what I read here), we are trying to understand how easy/difficult it is to change majors within the engineering school (or even declare a minor), overall job placement stats for engineering majors, access to undergraduate research/projects, and how the University Scholars program could enhance these factors.

@PrtzDC we live 40 minutes away from SB & from my understanding it does have a larger commuter population. He will be computer science. I do not know how easy it is to change majors through the dept. He is between there & Binghamton & Rutgers. Binghamton is Sat & the following week is Rutgers accepted days. As of now he wants to graduate bet free so he is taking the private schools off the table unless he is unhappy after accepted days. He wants to save the debt for grad school. I also dont know how job placement is or research expires. I do think being in the scholars program does give them a leg up on these things.

As promised, here’s my personal observation of the University Scholars session this past Saturday. Obviously, comments here are mine and facts may not be accurate.

The one-hour session started off with an overview by Faculty Director, Prof. Brian Colle, followed by a 9-student panel discussion. Then, Q&A session. An informal reception followed with both students and the faculty available for additional questions.

Here are some highlights:

The program admits about 250 students a year, representing the top 10% of the incoming class.

In addition to scholarship (academics), the program emphasizes leadership and services (community services and outreach programs). For instance, about 25% of the student government positions are held by University Scholars.

It was very clear that the program tries to build a sense of community among its students. It has a student mentoring program (PAL?) for incoming freshmen, There are social events and service events to further enhance the sense of community and comradery. This was evident when we personally spoke to the current University Scholars students that were present. There was constant informal mentoring going on among the students in the program. We really got the sense that “it feels like a family”.

Special one-on-one advising was highlighted. Dedicated advisors to the program help navigate students through the maze and bureaucracy at SBU. Essentially, many develop a special, close relationship with their advisors.

The program also serves as a conduit for the students to have access to faculty and be involved in their research. Freshmen get to know as many faculty members immediately early in their first year. There is a special faculty panel event for the students in the program. Obviously, this is very important for any student, especially in STEM.

Priority registration. As some already know, students in the program get to register for classes 3 days earlier before others. This is a big deal, obviously.

One thing I did notice is that a good majority of the students in the program are pre-med (no surprise given SBU’s strong pre-med student population). One current senior in the program commented that it seems like 75% of his University Scholars class started as pre-med. The panel of 9 students were all pre-med except for 2 (a journalism major and a business major). A lot of the programs, events, advising and mentoring seem to be tailored made for pre-meds. If you are a pre-med, the Univesity Scholars program will help you so much. I did get a sense that engineering majors make up about a third of the program. Our DS is an engineering major.

Obviously, we really like the University Scholars program, and its benefits help students get the most out of SBU: priority registration, one-on-one advising, access to faculty and be involved in their research and strong mentoring program among high achieving students.

Hope this was helpful for those who couldn’t attend.

@PrtzDC thank you for sharing. It may have been better if use were there. We went yesterday for computer science & my son is also in departmental honors with scholars. We were all very turned off from SB from the introduction with a video presentation. We would have preferred a more welcoming approach. Im not sure if part of this has to do do with going to Binghamton the day before or not. He is CS. Also afraid the CS department has a large weed out ratio. Maybe more support with the scholars but he left & said he prefers Bing. We do have one more school to visit. Thank you for following up though. Also our tour guide is in Scholars & told us some of the same info. She is premed also. Didn’t know the ratio, which kind of make sense to our sense of the school population.

@lovemycats What is your impression of Binghamton compared to Stony Brook? The vicinity to Brookhaven National Lab make SBU seem a better choice for STEM, but perhaps Binghamton Scholars and FRI research programs are just as good?

@nypapa We were very happy with it. The first thing they emphasized is happiness & if your not happy you won’t be a good student. My son got into the scholars program not FRI. We are told that research is still an available if he wants it without fri. I find the services are plentiful for them. I’m not sure what area of stem you are looking at, mine is computer science. I really liked the CS dept & felt there is a lot of support from the dept. the scholars does include specific classes but most replace gen ed classes, provide additional advising, separate living & not tripled, as well activities & trips that are all free. Another benefit is priority registration. All I can say is look. I should add we are not strangers to Binghamton, my husband graduated there 35 yrs ago.

@lovemycats Good luck in your son’s decision. CS is the most highly impacted major, especially at state schools. Unfortunately, SBU has to have weed out courses since it can’t admit all those highly qualified students wanting to major in CS. It’s just reality. If Bing has more friendly, approachable CS dept, kudos to them. SBU is the only SUNY my son applied to. We are still deciding between SBU and a USNews top 10-ranked private school (about $5,000/yr difference). Latter offers flexibility in engineering curriculum, in addition to pursuing another major/minor in non STEM field. My son was admitted as a CS major but wants to take more advanced science and fundamental engineering courses. He’s now thinking it maybe better to be a mech engineering major with a minor in CS. We are still uncertain if this is possible at SBU and still graduate in 4 years.

As a former PhD student in engineering 25 years ago, everyone in my class was fully supported (including living expenses) by the dept. Has this changed over the years?

@PrtzDC he is accepted into their honors program, which he may be fine with but I was uneasy when I heard many don’t make it. Also didn’t like thatvis was so large. Just my opinion. My son was also very turned off on the video presentation. Felt is was very cold. I felt the head school should be present to welcome new students. Mine son was also accepted at the RIT, RPI & Stevens. University of Rochester offered a very good package but still would need a loan & decided against that. They all seem to have internship at the same places & believe have good good outcome. I feel it is the field in general that is in demand. Good luck to your child.

Just wondering, but can freshmen choose their roommates? I know that they organize by LLC’s but can people choose roommates within the same LLC?

Hello, I’m waiting for my ap calc score release and I’m wondering if ap score sends are mandatory. I heard if you meet the requirements you send your scores for credits. SB requires either a 4 or 5 for calculus so what happens when you don’t score a 4/5? Do you still send the score (because wouldn’t it be pointless in this case)? SB also emailed me saying “To help facilitate your Orientation session and ensure that you are placed into appropriate classes, please take the following actions as soon as possible (if you have not already done so)“
It sounds mandatory to me but I just wanted to clarify.