<p>I made these two school I just don't know which one to go to.
I didn't recieve any finanical aid from either of them.
Which who you pick and why?
Should I pick the well know school in a big city or a small school in the middle of no where.
If it helps I eventually want to go off to medical school.... but from what Im hear is that it is how well a person does in undergrad not where a person goes that helps him into medical school.</p>
<p>BU is known for grade deflation which has the potential to hurt your med school chances, whereas Stony Brook is known for its strong science departments and is much cheaper. I also wouldn’t call SB in the middle of nowhere, it’s a close train ride away from NYC. But on the other hand, BU is a great school and higher in rankings (if that matters to you)… and SB is more of a commuter school and I hear it’s pretty dead on the weekends because people go home.</p>
<p>I also don’t necessarily agree with the people who say where you go to undergrad doesn’t play a role in med school admissions. The people accepted into top med schools are usually from top undergrad programs (and have very high GPAs on top of that). But does going to Harvard Med really matter? You’re still a doctor- whether you go to Harvard or SUNY downstate for med school.</p>
<p>What do you mean by grade deflation? Like the tests are very hard or they axe like 10 pts off your average?</p>
<p>So where would you pick?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>BU Today : [Grade</a> Deflation or Not?](<a href=“http://www.bu.edu/today/node/1962]Grade”>http://www.bu.edu/today/node/1962)</p>
<p>By grade deflation, I mean only a certain percentage of people are allowed to get grades of A (and B, etc). I don’t go to BU, but I took a class with a professor who graded on a curve and despite getting 90+ on every test, I ended up with a B+ as a final grade. That was because too many students received high grades and only a certain number were allowed to get A’s. I’ve heard from people who attend BU that this kind of thing is quite common, but on the other hand if you want to go to BU you shouldn’t let that stop you from attending- I’m sure good grades are very possible with hard work. Curving is also common among college professors no matter where you go. You just have to consider that if you get a low or below-average GPA, even if you went to a great school, med school admission will be close to impossible.</p>
<p>Grade deflation is a myth. The entire notion is based on hearsay and rumor without any grounding whatsoever.</p>
<p>I would go to BU if you can afford it, but if it is significantly cheaper to go to Stony Brook that is a FINE option. I wouldn’t pay much more for BU.</p>
<p>Hm, not sure where you got the idea that Stony Brook is a “small school in the middle of nowhere.” BU and Stony Brook’s student bodies are about the same size, and while the area around SB isn’t Boston, it’s not hard to go into the city for the night. There’s always plenty going on on campus (yes, including on weekends–the commuter/suitcase school image is very outdated).</p>
<p>Since it sounds like there’s a big price difference, IMO you’d have to be insane to go to BU if it means taking on big loans. Especially if you also expect to go into debt for med school. Stony Brook’s science programs are really rigorous though, so if you’re scared off by rumors about grade deflation at BU you might have a problem at SBU as well.</p>
<p>So whcih would you pick?
How do they pick would students get bumped down a grade when it comes to grade deflation.
I was at Stony Brook today and a lot of people there don’t like it. Just check out princeton review’s rank of the unhappiest colleges. Also check out studentreviews.com for Stony Brook… not to good either.
Btw the city by train is about two hours away.</p>
<p>Also at Stony Brook it seemed very clicky with each racial group… a very diverse student body but almost liek it was divided amongst itself.</p>
<p>I’m about to graduate from Stony Brook, so I think I know the situation here pretty well without having to rely on internet review sites and ridiculous rankings.</p>
<p>The racial cliques thing seems to happen pretty much everywhere that’s racially diverse enough to allow it. It’s not a wonderful thing, but it’s certainly understandable.</p>
<p>“The racial cliques thing seems to happen pretty much everywhere that’s racially diverse enough to allow it. It’s not a wonderful thing, but it’s certainly understandable.”</p>
<p>This is true, but there are also groups which are very mixed. For example Students for Democratic Society chapters are emerging on campuses again and they do not closely resemble what they once were. They are very multicultural. Point being, there are people who hang out with their own but I think there is more ethnic interaction that in previous generations.</p>
<p>vociferous: definitely, there’s plenty of racial mixing in a lot of situations. Stony Brook definitely has a lot of racially and ethnically diverse groups in addition to the more racially segregated groups (it’s also notable that unlike in high school, people aren’t nearly as “clique” oriented in college anyway, so just because someone prefers to eat lunch with a certain group of people doesn’t mean they’re not partying with others, studying with someone else, whatever). I was just pointing out that the “why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria” phenomenon isn’t exactly a uniquely Stony Brook thing.</p>
<p>So Pseudonym how do you find the social life at Stony Brook?
Do you dorm there?</p>
<p>Also wouldn’t the research and all the general oppertunites and quality of eduation be better at Boston U?
It seems that Stony Brook’s pre-med program primarily sends students to SUNY Downstate and Stony Brook Med Center for med school. No real presigious med schools.
Where as with BU they had some move onto Hardvard med school etc.</p>
<p>can someone else please comment on grade deflation.</p>
<p>This thread is pretty bleak for SB. Can anyone say something good about SB? Teachers, clubs, ECs, friends, career opportunities, anything at all?</p>
<p>I love the social life at Stony Brook–there’s always far more stuff going on than I have time for 
Anyone who says there’s nothing to do either has very outdated information or is sitting in their room waiting for the world to come to their door and drag them out to the party. If you put yourself out there, there are always new people to meet and events to go to. Stony Brook is big enough and diverse enough that there’s definitely something for everyone. If you like big parties, we have those. If you like hanging out with your friends and talking about the nature of consciousness until 4am, you’ll find people to do that with. If you like staging Improv Everywhere style awesomeness, you’ll be in good company. If music or theater or art is your life, we’ve got your people (and your practice rooms/performance spaces/darkrooms!). If you want to learn archery, ballroom dancing, capoeira, belly dance, crew, rugby, or taiko, if you want to Take Back the Night, fight for queer rights, or work on a political campaign, if you want to write a play in 24 hours, or race a boat you built out of cardboard and duct tape–we have clubs and events for all of those. If you want to paint yourself red and freeze your butt off at the football game, you won’t be alone, and if you’d rather stay in and talk about how awesome bacterial genetics is, you won’t be alone either. There are even people who’re up for all of the above. I’ve gotten to know an amazing number of brilliant, interesting and fun people at Stony Brook, and I wouldn’t trade my experience here for anything.</p>
<p>I don’t live on campus now (I live in an apartment off-campus with my girlfriend) but I did for three years. I really loved dorming at Stony Brook, and definitely recommend it. Even though there are perks to living off-campus (having more space, having more of a separation between school/work and home, being able to have bigger parties without worrying about RAs…) it was also nice to always have people around to hang out with and to be only a short walk from everything on campus. I’d definitely recommend dorming for your first couple of years at least.</p>
<p>Not sure why you’d assume the quality of education and research would be better at BU. There are tons of research opportunities here for undergrads, and our labs are doing amazing things. I’ve had some truly amazing teachers here, and professors who are incredibly willing to help and advise students however they can have been the rule, not the exception. There are some profs who are more focused on research than teaching, but there are also world-class researchers who are great teachers and very approachable.</p>
<p>I really don’t know much about the details of where SB alumni go to med school, but I will say one thing many Stony Brook students have in common is money-consciousness. Going to a state university med school leaves you with much less debt than a private one, and hence much more flexibility in how/where you practice as a doctor. SUNY Downstate and Stony Brook also have damn good (and very competitive) med schools, so I don’t think it’s fair to imply they’re not good just because you don’t perceive them as “brand name” places. I also definitely know SBU grads at excellent non-SUNY med schools (and grad schools, and law schools).</p>
<p>I think that’s enough gushing for now, but if anyone wants to know anything else specific about Stony Brook, let me know.</p>
<p>Or would SUNY Albany be a better alternative than Stony Brook?</p>
<p>Btw Psuedonym were you in the honors program?
I was only accepted itno the regualar pre med program. Not honors at all.</p>
<p>Also are you asian? I’m part filipino but I don’t look it.
Cause it seems to me that it is only asians who like it there.</p>
<p>Nope, not in the honors program, and not Asian. So there goes that theory.</p>