I was accepted into Harpur at Bing. I was also accepted into Albany with a Presidential Scholarship ($4,300). If I decide to go to Albany, I will most likely be accepted to the honors college. Money isn’t a concern for either (but it would be nice to save $4,300). Does anyone have any thoughts on which would be better for someone not sure what major they’re going to pursue (potentially PPL at Bing) but that plans on going to law school after college.
If the money is no concern and you don’t have a burning desire to take advantage of internships in the Capitol, Binghamton is the more rigorous school with more talented students, a better reputation academically and amongst employers, and more prestigious, with great liberal arts and pre med and pre law programs (Harpur), business school (SOM), and computer science and engineering programs (Watson). Binghamton and Stony Brook are the two elite schools of the SUNY system. They are essentially the Honors colleges. Then, Geneseo, Buffalo, Albany, New Paltz, and Oneonta in roughly that pecking order, followed by the rest of the SUNY schools. (Purchase for the Arts is an exception). Compare the students–83% of incoming freshmen at Binghamton were in top quarter of high school class versus 49% at Albany. Mid 50% range on SAT of incoming freshmen class was 1210-1370 at Binghamton versus 1010-1180 mid-range at Albany. If you worked so hard in high school and excelled academically enough such that you got into Binghamton, why would you seriously consider Albany? Albany’s reputation is nothing like it was 30 years ago, when it was considered one of the best SUNY schools on par with Binghamton and Stony Brook.
I’ve been wondering about this. I am a parent of a college student (not at SUNY), and when I was growing up in NY, Albany and Binghamton were the two “flagship” SUNYs. What happened to Albany? It’s so sad that it has fallen down so far. It used to be that if you were smart you went to Binghamton or Albany.
I am in same boat as you. Parent of college student who grew up in New York and went to college 30 years ago when SUNY Albany was one of the two or three main flagships of NY. Several factors contributed to Albany’s downfall. The ones I am aware of (and there may be other reasons) are as follows: Administration problems which left the University without a President for a number of years. Off campus safety issues, including student chaos and rioting–Google “Kegs & Eggs Party in 2011” (an early St Paddy day type party) where police had to come in riot gear to stop and arrest hundreds of students (mostly fraternities/sorority students) in off-campus melee. Princeton Review named SUNY Albany the Top Party School, #1 and #5 in 2004 and 2005. Less stringent admissions standards over past 15 years. And “Greed and Corruption: the Downfall of the Humanities at SUNY Albany from 1995-2003.” These factors, and perhaps others, have kept parents (including myself) from sending their kids there, and contributed to top NY high school students deciding to go elsewhere to school. To Albany’s credit, though, it has taken measures in recent years to improve things there. And things are definitely better there now. But the damage to its rep has been done, at least for the current time period. Maybe in another 10, 20 or 30 years it will rise again to the top. Let’s hope.
Alcohol…even 25 years ago it was a big problem.
$4300 is not so much. Unless $ is super tight, go to Bing. It is more highly regarded, and w law schools, you will want that.
I am in the same situation. I graduated college in 1983. I went to Oneonta, and my good friend went to Albany. Back in 83, yes, Albany was right up there with BING and Stony Brook. I will say this: You have to know what you are majoring in. Suny Albany to this day has an excellent business school. I would say that the business school is right up there with Binghamton, Buffalo etc, especially for Accounting. I know of several students who are now working for the big 4 accounting firms as graduates of Albany. Yes, overall, there is no doubt that Bing has the better reputation. However, if you want to major in business or public policy, Albany is right up there.
Another example. Stony Brook is an excellent university for the stem majors. Even back in my day if you wanted to go pre med, Stony Brook was the place to go. However, their business school is horrible. If you want to go into accounting or investment banking, one would be foolish to go to Stony Brook.
The point I am bringing out is that students have to really look at their intended major, and see what school fits for them. I know most folks are status conscious, and so am I to a certain degree. I am human as well, but you cannot just paint a college with a broad stroke and say it is great or bad etc.
That said, all things being equal, yes, Binghamton has the better reputation.
@euve69 I actually agree with what you say. And success of a student is not based on the school he attends, but in how well he did academically (because top students at these schools all get good jobs), get internships, and work experience. A student’s hustle/motivation is as important as smarts.
Look at outcomes not the incoming test scores for both schools.
And realize neither is “prestigious” and you can get a good education at either school.
Agree with those above that you have to look at the major.
$4300 x 4 is a lot of money.
Thanks for the info. It’s really sad what has happened at Albany. They need to start giving significant merit scholarships for high SAT scorers so they can start to improve their rankings. And recruit solid faculty. I think the Capital District would be a strong draw for tenure-track professors.
Hey Track. I will say that it is sad that Albany has come down from its reputation from 30 years ago, however, you are correct in what you say in that they are really cleaning up their act. They are no longer on any top 50 list that is current with regards to party school image. The kegs and eggs scandal while deplorable, will wane as the years go by. Shit we as a country are complacent again after 9/11 so all things fade eventually.
One thing that I always found curious are the gpa/sat scores. For instance, if the average sat score for bing is 1250, and the Albany average is 1150 lets say. Is there really a big difference in the intelligence level between those two students? Is a 100 pt combined difference that tremendous? Yes, if the average is 1500 vs 1000 or 1400 vs 950, yes, there is a difference. Also, I often see that the average gpa is 94 for Bing and 90.5 for Albany. Again, is there really that big a difference between the two? Is the 94 student really alot brighter than the 90 or 91 student? Again, if the average for Albany was 82 vs 94, then yes, that is a big differential but when I look at all the Sunys and I see Oswego, Oneonta, Buffalo, New Paltz, I do not see big differences in the gpa’s. I see averages from 88 to 95. Not 75-95 so that is my question. Is there really a big difference? I see differences with schools like, MIT, HARVARD UCHICAGO DUKE YALE BROWN ETC, Now those students for the most part, not all, are exceptionally bright/brilliant students. But hey, that is .0005 of the student population. Yes, as a whole the student population at Bing or Stony is better than lets say Oswego, or New Paltz, but not by that much. Also, I think the professors at all of the sunys are about the same. It is not like Bing has Harvard level professors and Brockport has imbeciles for professors. The professors are all about the same, the difference is that when you have a BIng with a higher gpa student body, they teach up more than maybe some of the other schools, but the education is the same, believe me. Go look on rate my professors and there are alot of good professors at Bing and alot of crappy ones as well. This goes for all of the colleges.
My son is a sophmore in high school, but we did a ton of research and if he does want to go into business/accounting, he will apply to all of the suny’s and then we will go from there.
As a side note, remember when Brockport was the druggie/sr high school? I am not saying that they are Harvard now, but look at the stats for Brockport. Not a cake walk like it was 30 years ago. It is not in the Bing/Sonybrook league but you need a decent gpa and sat to get in.
When you cite those averages, are those means? If so, you’d really need to see the range and the distribution to know whether there’s a meaningful difference.
It’s really up to you. Are you interested in politics? Do you want to go to law school? Grad school? I think if you want to go into politics Albany does have an advantage since you are in the capital and you do have acess to all those internships that you won’t have in binghamton. Binghamton does have a better reputation academically. I have heard that classes in albany tend to be large lecture halls and while you get those at binghamton too, you also have smaller classes as well. Even though you are getting a scholarship for albany, you can save a lot of money by moving off campus at bing. I have heard that the student area of albany isn’t the safest. The school has a bit of a party reputation so if that isn’t your scene, maybe bing would be the best choice out of the two. It’s up to you. Good luck.
My son was accepted into Albany with a $4300 scholarship and will apply for the honors college. He is going for business and likes the idea of being in the capital. However he hates the idea that it’s known as a party school cause he’s a serious student. Right now he is deferred at Bing so we will see what happens.
My older son is a freshman in Binghamton and he said there is A LOTof partying going on there ( students going to class hungover etc) but for some reason it doesn’t have the reputation like Albany.
dim,
I have been saying this for years on various threads regarding partying etc. Suny Albany is an excellent university. Unfortunately it got its party reputation mainly from the kegs and eggs scandal back in 2009 and a princeton review I believe that rated it one of the top 50 party schools in the US. Albany has made alot of changes since the scandal so that kegs and eggs crap will wane over the next several years as it already has. Second, Albany is not on any top 50 list of party schools. It takes time, but they have cleaned up their act.
Each Suny school has its core competencies. If you want pre med, you go go Stony Brook, not Bing or Albany. If you want speech pathology or arts etc you go to New Paltz. If you want business you go to Bing, Albany or Buffalo. Teaching? go to Oneonta or Geneseo. Engineering, go to Buffalo. This does not mean that other suny schools are not good for engineering or pre med, business etc, it just means that the programs are a bit stronger. No suny school is the best at everything!! That is the main take away. Yes, as a whole, Bing is the most pregtigious suny in the system but not for engineering or pre med. Stony Brook is the most pregtigious for pre med. Suny Buffalo is the most prestigous school for engineering.
As to your point about partying at Bing, I have said this for the past 20 years. Partying goes on at every school in america. My friends son went to Bing and he said his roomates were out of control. My point is that Bing students throw up on the carpet and like to get laid just like the oswego, cortlandt, new paltz kid. Are the Bing students robots? Do they not have hormones? lol The Binghamton student on the whole may have the higher gpa and or sat score and be more studious, but that does not mean that they do not drink or smoke weed.
I guess it comes down to the fact that if you have a student body with a higher overall gpa and sat score, they may be more serious so there is less partying?? I do not know but believe me, I know students at Bentley and Brandeis that love to party and drive daddys bmw around campus. I guess some unfortunate events at some universities like Albany just stick around longer. Hey, I remember back in 1983 when Albany was right up there with Binghamton.
One final note. If someone wants to go on to accounting or other business fields, Albany has an excellent business school. Not rated as high as Bing, but believe me, right up there with bing. Especially for accounting. In fact, it is harder to stay in the business school at Albany than at Bing. To graduate from Albany, you need a 3.25 overall gpa in the school of business, but only a 2.0 at the Bing SOM. However, the Bing SOM is harder to get into than Suny Albany.
The bottom line is go where you think you will do well and be happy. We are all in to prestige, but in the end, college is what you make of it, and if you do well whereever you go, you will be a success.
Pro or con, you cannot do a 3+2 MBA program in Albany. Too many requirements. Also, recent experience of faculty is of upperclassman not attending a business course and failing. Might think they should be weeded out after a year or two.
@euve69 great post. Albany has been on our radar for a couple of years now as it was a close 2nd for my older son who as I mentioned chose Binghamton. In my opinion the staff at Albany gave us more of the warmer personal attention and did more in the way of sending emails inviting us different events such as meet and greets.
That being said my Bing son is doing very well there so no regrets and time will tell what son #2 decides ( but I’m hoping it’s Albany)
Dim,
One important point I want to bring out to you. You may already know this as you have an older son at Bing but I wanted to let you know anyway. I have done approx 1 yr of intense research on alot of different subjects with regard to sunys since I have a son in high school but I wanted to get a head start so I do not have to do all of the research later on. He is a soph in high school but time goes by fast!!
If your son gets into Bing but not the SOM directly from high school, it is very very very very did I say very? hard to transfer to the SOM!! Do not let them fool you. I believe you need a 3.5 gpa or higher in harpur to transfer to the SOM. That is not an easy task, especially at Bing. A 3.5 is a 90 average, so lets get real, not alot of students have a 3.5 gpa in college. Now, if your son is extremely bright and things come very easy for him, then hey go for it. But this is exactly what I have been researching for the past year and I have had Bing SOM students on these threads agree with me on my analysis. To me, it is just common sense.
Lets say your son wants to go into accounting or management etc. He loves Bing but does not get into the SOM from high school. Now he goes to harpur, gets a 3.2 or a 3.5 even and cannot transfer to the SOM, now what? He has two choices. A, switch majors, which in my mind is totally absurd. Why should he switch majors for? His passion is business, now he will major in psych? or political science?? CRAZY!! Or B, he has to transfer to another school which is not the end of the world, but why should he put himself through that? He may love Bing, now he has to transfer?? It is great to transfer if you hate a school, but if you love a school and make frineds, now you have to transfer because you did not get into the SOM?? To me, that is crazy!!
If we were talking about Harvard MIT, Columbia, NYU, Duke, Yale, etc etc ok, take the chance to transfer, but Binghamton?? No offense, but Bing is not Harvard, Wharton or Princeton!!
My personal advice to my son when he is ready and still wants business is simple. If you get into the SOM dirrectly from high school and Bing is for you, then fine go there. If you do not get into the SOM directly from high school, go to another suny. Albany, if you can get into their direct admit program, Buffalo, Oswego, New paltz, Geneseo etc. Why put that pressure on yourself?? And, if Binghamton is your dream school, go to another college, do well and transfer to the Bing SOM. My sons friend did not get into the SOM from high school. He went to the university of Delaware, and transfered to the SOM after two years. He would have stayed at Delaware, but he did not like it.
In the direct admit and transfer scenario, there is not pressure!! You know up front if you are in or not. Why bite your finger nails and take xanax lol and hope you can transfer to the SOM from Harpur?? Maybe I am a wimp, but I would not put that pressure on myself. But then again, I many not be as book smart as most kids today lol.
Anyway, best of luck to your son, I just wanted to point this out to you. Many parents and students do not realize that it is alot easier to transfer from another college with a 3.2 or 3.3 to the SOM than from within the university. I think it is unfair and I cannot understand it for the life of me, but thses are the hard and cold facts. So just explain this to your son so he really makes a wize decision and knows all of the consequences if he does not get into the SOM from Harpur. Hey maybe he will get in to the SOM as a deferred!!!
Good Luck
@euve69 you hit the nail on the head of what if anything I do not like about Binghamton! As you said transferring within the school is nearly impossible. Last year my coworker had brought that to my attention because she too researched it. Her son applied to SOM but was offeed a spot in Harpur instead and turned it down and went somewhere where he was directly admitted to business college. When I researched what she told me I found out she was right!
Son #1 is in Harpuer where he wants to be (science kid) but the nervous parent that I am became worried that what if he decides one day to want to transfer to Watson Engineering (He has no intest in business). Not that he ever said he wants to but it makes me nervous that basically a kid has to know at 17/18 yrs. old what he wants to do.
And right, you would think it should be easier to xfer within the school than from another school. Ugh!
Son # 2 already said unless Bing offered him SOM he will not even consider it. Especially when every other school he applied to offered him direct admit.
Thanks for all your input your child is lucky to have a parent so on top of things!
Okay, so I am a student at SUNY Albany and I find that some of these comments are a little harsh regarding UAlbany. Yes, we DID have a reputation of being a top party school, but that is no longer the case. Are there parties? Yes, but nothing like previous years. It is very quiet on the weekends; not to say you can’t find a party, but usually you have to be involved in some student organization that participates in that kind of thing/know people who are into that stuff.
Anyway, I am in the School of Business (now the Massry Center of Business), and it has PHENOMENAL programs. Big 4 are on campus quite frequently, as well as many other companies. There are numerous job fairs hosted by the University that allows students to meet recruiters and potentially find a job/internship. Every friend of mine in accounting that has graduated from the business school has landed a job right after graduation; many with Big 4 firms.
We are ranked NUMBER TWO in the COUNTRY for criminal justice.
I see you want to go to law school… well, I am actually in a pre-law fraternity (it’s all major inclusive), and my fellow fraternity brother has just been accepted into Duke University’s School of Law. The amount of experience he gained here in Albany was amazing. We are in the capitol of NY after all. Many of my other brothers who have recently graduated have also gone off to respectable law schools, including the University of Maryland School of Law, Fordham University School of Law, etc. Also, we are now in a partnership with Albany Law School. UAlbany’s political science program is also ranked high, around 75th or so in the country.
UAlbany is responsible for the creation of the NUMBER ONE college of nanoscience and engineering in the country. Yes, it is now a separate school, but UAlbany made it into what it is today. Also, it still works closely with UAlbany and many students in CNSE take some classes at UAlbany.
Safety issues? Okay, yes it is not the safest college, but it is by no means dangerous in the sense that you have to run to your dorm at night to avoid being stabbed/kidnapped or something. In fact, uptown campus is pretty d*** safe. ALL SCHOOLS have their issues. This can’t be used against UAlbany. We have the College of Saint Rose right down the street from us too, so the police department here in Albany and on UAlbany campus along with St. Rose security monitor the college neighborhood pretty frequently… which again, is far from UAlbany uptown campus. You need to drive/take a bus to get there; walking would take ~1 hr.
UAlbany is doing a lot to improve the campus. They just renovated the fountain and it looks amazing. Now, they are working on the campus center, renovating the old campus center and expanding it as well as redoing the parent fountain outside of the Science Library. I’m sure that some would consider this a waste of money, but once they see how great the campus looks after, I’m sure there will be no complaints.
People need to consider the program they are going into. I would NEVER choose Stony Brook over UAlbany for accounting, just like I would NEVER choose UAlbany over Stony Brook for sciences. Each SUNY school has its perks, and when it comes to business related programs, economics, political science, criminal justice, social sciences, etc., UAlbany is a pretty good choice.
My son received a letter that he is automatically in the honors college at UAlbany , no need to apply. I can’t find much info on the honors program, does anybody have any info? I have found other threads asking the same question but no responses.