<p>I'm a prospective Computer Science major and am trying to decide between which school to attend. I got into Binghamton, Stony Brook, and Geneseo. (Honors CS at Stony Brook). Scholars program at both Binghamton and Stony Brook. I've resigned myself to sort of accepting that the academic experience will be the same at Binghamton or Stony Brook for my department. I'm mainly wondering about social life at the various schools. What I've heard is that the only thing to do at Binghamton on weekends is party/go to a bar. I heard that Stony Brook is more of a commuter school, and people just leave on weekends. And I visited Geneseo and the town seemed pretty dead... With all of this in mind, which school is..to put it simply, a happier place, social-wise. Also, if anyone has anything to add about the CS departments at any of the schools, please do... I know that Geneseo's is only about 50 people and that Stony Brook's and Binghamton's are pretty comparable in size. I also got a full tuition scholarship from Stony Brook and no money from Binghamton or Geneseo, which while it isn't the most important factor, also isn't nothing...</p>
<p>I would say binghamton for overall social life and academics. Stony brook is more of a party school and from what i heard, it is empty on weekends. Geneseo is very good academic wise, but its a small school in a rural setting.</p>
<p>bump........................</p>
<p>I would closely examine each schools faculty. Stony Brook has more Full tenured professors then Binghampton. This is usually a very good indicator of the quality of the CS program. That said, most ug courses are taught by asst prof's and lecturers, and the intro courses will be handled mostly by TA's.
IMHO, Stony Brook CS > Binghampton CS>Genseo</p>
<p>Lets assume you have survived being weeded out. By the junior year, more and more courses will be taught by full prof's. Full prof have the interesting research. Of course, as an ug you may not even have access to that type of research experience. </p>
<p>Honors College very nice. Full ride, even better. Social life....you will have time for about a few hours of that every week when your not studying. remember, your a cs major and not a theather major.</p>
<p>For CS, I said Stony Brook. Some people leave on weekends but it's far enough that not everyone does. Stony is full of kids who study a lot. Life outside academics is...er, less. Either way, it's free. How can you go wrong? Anyways, you can always take the LIR into Manhattan if you're seeking a social scene if you're at Stony.</p>
<p>Not the honors college, just honors CS. Is there much going on at either school besides partying/bars?</p>
<p>binghamton has "late night binghamton" that runs free programs every weekend -- <a href="http://latenite.binghamton.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://latenite.binghamton.edu/</a></p>
<p>All I know is that i absolutely LOVE geneseo's campus, the food is great, main street is a blast, and the buildings, especially biology are very nice</p>
<p>However, excluding education and biology, in which geneseo excells, I do not know if any of their other programs are very strong</p>
<p>Well, computer science? I could say Geneseo.</p>
<p>My father, uncles, and aunts went there. They all loved it. BUT keeping this in mind: Geneseo is a MUCH SMALLER student body than Binghamton or Stony Brook. And, when you look in retrospect to the town, it's easier to eliminate things.</p>
<p>Town Atmosphere: 1st) Geneseo 2nd) Binghampton 3rd) Stony Brook.</p>
<p>Reason: Binghampton is a dead town. I went there for a rock concert, about two years ago, and literally, there is NOTHING there. I mean, of course the college is huge, but it is, by far, not a college town. There is maybe a Pizza Hut, Denny's, and one hotel. It's not really where I'd consider going for four years. As for Stony Brook, many that go there are from the 'long island' area and arent smart enough to get anywhere else (lucky for you, you got the Honors, so clearly, you are intelligent) so, on the weekends, they get back together with their cheerleader/jock party frat friends and skeedattle into their parents basements to play pong on the weekends. yeah, not so fun. but, as for geneseo, when i went, it was a good party atmosphere. when did you visit? did you go to a party? did you stay with friends? after you were drunk, did you go to the nearest pizza/sub joint and chill with the owners while talking to everyone else around there?
i really loved geneseo when i went. but, it has no theater program, so its a no go for me. but really, i would say for computer science, you should consider it. also, next to binghampton, its an incredibly competeive suny. something ridiculous like, 12,000 applicants for a class of 2000? i dunno hahah but it was fairly tiny.</p>
<p>Geneseo is a happier place, full of small-town elements in a beautiful campus full of smart individuals who like to have a good time. Just, keep in mind. It's on the smaller scale, so its more intimate. But it is also like, 20 minutes away from a SICK mall. haha, i know this cause i live in that area.</p>
<p>when did you visit geneseo and with who? it could make all the difference.</p>
<p>I finally visited Stony Brook. And I do have to say...I loved its campus. At least more than Binghamton or Geneseo. Binghamton came off as a very gray, depressing place. And Geneseo reminded me of high school. Stony Brook came off as much less cramped, much..greener, not just concrete, and it definitely shows that they have money. A lot of the buildings are newer and the dorms are definitely much nicer than either other school. But this is really just a personal impression. It was a beautiful day so obviously that casts everything in a nicer light, and I also really like being in New York City and Stony Brook reminded me of that somewhat.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I likely would NOT go there if I were not in the Honors CS program. The small class size and GREAT faculty (at least the ones I met) are really appealing, but I'm not sure how much I'd like being in the larger program because of its size.</p>
<p>Which is more liberal? bing or geneseo?</p>
<p>I want to say Binghamton just becuse as a larger school there would be a more diverse student body. Geneseo felt very preppy to me, but I could be just running on a misconception.</p>
<p>Stony Brook, being a very science-oriented school and having a student population with a high percentage of international students, would generally be more liberal for that reason. However, all college professors are generally liberal, and let’s not forget that all of these schools are in New York. Does a ‘conservative’ school even exist? Even so, I know Stony Brook (and probably Bing/Geneseo too) has “campus republicans/conservative” clubs…and Stony Is located on the North Shore of L.I., where many people are conservative in comparison to the rest of the state, so if you go outside of campus, you’re going to enter a more conservative area with upper middle class family neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Look to Stony for the sciences, Geneseo for humanities, and Binghamton for business. Geneseo is tough to get into, so you have to be a string applicant.</p>
<p>Stony Brook is nationally ranked for graduate research across the board … the other two are not on the map as regards graduate research.</p>
<p>This following ranking is for Ph.D. Faculty Quality, taken from the NRC publication and found compiled in a useful way at this website: [NRC</a> Rankings](<a href=“NRC Rankings”>NRC Rankings)</p>
<p>SUNY Stony Brook is ranked:</p>
<h1>38 in Arts & Humanities</h1>
<h1>22 in Biological Sciences</h1>
<p>unranked in Engineering (that’s what SUNY Buffalo is for)</p>
<h1>44 in Math/Physical Sciences</h1>
<h1>39 in Social/Behavioral Sciences</h1>
<p>In your particular area of Computer Science, SUNY Stony Brook’s Faculty Quality rating gives it a #31 ranking in the NRC study.</p>
<p>The other two schools, Binghamton and especially Geneseo, are more like Liberal Arts colleges and don’t have research focus that Stony Brook has. Different strokes.</p>
<p>^DunninLA, thanks for that link, it is a great resource. By any chance, do you know if there is a similar ranking for LAC’s or is it restricted to national universities?</p>
<p>“Binghampton is a dead town. I went there for a rock concert, about two years ago, and literally, there is NOTHING there.”</p>
<p>Literally nothing there? Are you sure you weren’t wandering around in the Hamptons, looking for the mythical “Binghampton”?</p>
<p>BobbyCT – The list ranks PhD programs at national research universities. True LACs are undergraduate-only institutions so you aren’t likely to find them on a ranking of graduate programs.</p>
<p>^Thanks hudsonvalley51. I read the information incorrectly and thought it was ranking the colleges that sent their graduates on to PhD programs. I need to follow my own advice and read before I react.</p>
<p>Go with Bing or Stony Brook. Bing is a good town, is close to a city and has great academics. SB is great for CS but isn’t in as a great a location except for the LIRR which will take you into the city (eventually, its a long ride). Geneseo is a good school but not as good as SB for CS and the rural location is more of a turn off (for me anyway).</p>