<p>I'm a high school senior and these two colleges are my top two choices so far. My grades are well above the accepted average at both schools. My parents really want me to go to Stony Brook--mainly because it's so close to home. However, I visited Binghamton recently and I really fell in love with it. It seems like such a friendly and lively environment, and I don't see that aspect at Stony Brook's campus. I don't like parties very much, but from what I've heard SBU is dead on the weekends and I don't really think I want that. I plan on majoring in something related to science (maybe engineering, I'm not quite sure yet).
Academically, which school do you think has a stronger science program?
Socially, which school do you think is friendlier and easier to fit in to?</p>
<p>Okay, my brother and sister both go to Stony Brook(for mech engineering and biochem) cause we live about 10 minutes away from it. They tell me horror stories about the crazy number of asians there. Im not trying to be racist, I am asian, its just these Asians are EXTREMELY smart. Lots of international Asian students that are complete geniuses. They tell me about how to compensate for the extremely high international smart kids that the courses are bumped up really high in difficulty. Also, they completely destroy the curve- which will affect your GPA. Some of these international kids literally, dont show up for class ever, and then come in on test day- then get a perfect score. With an extremely high amount of asians at the school, you can just infer that theres not going to be much partying(i can assure you my brother and sister have never got turnt). Stony Brook has a really good science/research program yes, but that is the only thing i see going good for it(well, it has a nice campus to). If social events like partying and stuff are even a small priority for you, then i’d say go with Binghamton- because you wont be doing much partying at SBU. </p>
<p>Am I missing something? You advise someone to go to the school with fewer strong students? How about going to the school with the better students and learning something. And that’s the difference right? There is a big difference between students who believe that school is about their GPA and those that actually will contribute to the world. </p>
<p>@lostaccount Two kinds of people? Im just kidding, im just factoring in the idea of having a better social community as well as not taking a hit from international students. </p>
<p>It’s really up to you. Stony Brook has a lot of commuters and if you are on long island, you’ll probably see your high school classmates. But I will warn you, parking can be a pita (more so than Bing). A lot of people go home on the weekends but if you look around enough, fun could be had. You can also take day trips to the city or to the beach. If you are from there area, you won’t really have to deal with a lot of adjustment. The athletics are slightly better at stony brook and stony brook at least has a football team. </p>
<p>Stony Brook has solid programs in the sciences, research opportunities and pretty good facilities as well. However, it does have the reputation of having a lot of international students who stick to themselves. A lot of classes at stony are graded on a curve, especially lower level ones which tend to be giant lecture halls. The professors are a mixed bag but that is the same as bing.</p>
<p>Binghamton also has a lot of long islanders mostly from nassau. There are also a lot of people from new york city, rockland and a significant amount of international students but not nearly as many as stony brook. There aren’t really a lot of people from other parts of new york or out of state. The thing about binghamton is that it is very diverse (racially at least) but it can also feel very cliquey because people tend to “stick to their own” even more than at other places. The jewish community is very active at bing. As for parties, they exist and also there are a number of bars on state street. I wouldn’t recommend joining greek life though because they have kind of a bad reputation for hazing and getting into legal trouble.</p>
<p>Binghamton is in a less developed area than Stony Brook. Binghamton is a small city with not that much to do. The campus is located all the way in Vestal and kind of isolated from everything. You generally can’t have a car freshman year but you can take the bus for free. Also, a lot of students that come from long island/nyc complain about the weather at binghamton and some even get depressed about it. It generally snows from late November to late march/early april. So take that into account.</p>
<p>The sciences at binghamton are OK but not as good as Stony Brook. The facilities could do with some updating and a lot of the classes are large lecture halls. Students at binghamton tend to be really competitive (in a bad way), especially pre-med majors so take that into account. The food at binghamton is terrible. </p>
<p>One isn’t that much better than the other. It can go either way. Pick the one that makes you happy.</p>
<p>Have you considered Geneseo? For sciences Stony Brook is much stronger. You can look at the ratings yourself. Binghamton was once stronger in humanities but not any more. You can look at the rating lists. Unless you are willing to say that none are any good, then you would select Stony Brook for science. For humanities Geneseo. </p>
<p>I love college talk. Let’s get some more opinions.</p>
This has a bearing on a couple of the other posts:
International students
Binghamton: 11%
Stonybrook: 10%
( Source: USNWR Best Colleges, 2015 Edition)
@queenmikasa: If you found the environment at Binghamton “friendly and lively,” then I would weigh that pretty heavily, as the academic differences between these schools may be difficult to extricate. Good luck.