<p>I was supposed to go with my friend but she backed out of it so now Im going alone on Saturday. How long is the tour, and like what's included in it?</p>
<p>Chirishsarah, I went on a tour this summer with my daughter. They first have you attend a half hour information session. A typical session but they will show you a very funny video from a college commencement speech. You can see it on YouTube: “Average is the New Exceptional”. Check it out. After that they take you on the campus tour. I would say this lasts about an hour. Ours was a science specific tour i think (I think you could opt for other types, like fine art specific, etc). It included a tour of the dorms (which I thought were pretty nice), the cafeteria, the science buildings/labs, a lecture hall, student union, the gym and the library. We had two female tour guides. One of which was a Biomedical Engineer major. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out!</p>
<p>If I recall, from start to finish it was just over 2 hours. They had a designated parking lot to use and then you walk over to the one building to sign in. I believe it was the SOM lobby. From there the herd migrated across to a pretty good sized auditorium; waited for everyone to get seated and the person from Admissions discussed all the good things about Bing with a presentation on the screen. Lots of good stuff about Bing’s reputation and rankings, internships and affiliations and starting salaries, research facilities . . . Discussed the several different schools and went over the popular topic of applying to one school (usually Harpur) and transferring to one of the others (usually SOM). Nice info about the campus, like the nature trails, etc.
From there we broke in to groups, starting with separating the engineering types from the non-science kids and off we went. While I don’t recall every building we visited the guides (2) utilized each site to go over a related topic(s). For example in the Library we were not only told about those resources and facilities we also learned about Greek life at Bing and the internship office. Next we were off to the dorms and cafeterias. The dorms are laid out very well, and the proximity to the cafeterias are great. Most of the room and board related buildings are fairly new if not brand new and some of them are downright beautiful, ditto on the views. One thing you’ll pick up on is Binghamton’s meal plan which is based on using a cash balance on your card and significantly discounting the price of the food. Instead of paying for a meal that may be too large or too small you buy what you want at a very fair price. Another major part of the dorm visit is realizing the dorms are dominated by underclassmen. You really do get your choice because upperclassmen overwhelmingly live off campus. Just over half the Juniors and almost all Seniors rent in town.<br>
I will say after 20+ college visits the young woman that led our tour was easily one of the most knowledgeable, informed, and enthusiastic without being annoyingly perky guides we ever had. She answered all questions easily including ours regarding AP credit, SUNY early admit credit, Study abroad, and the 5 year MBA plan.<br>
The tour ended outside one of the newest dorms and we were free to hit the bookstore (gift shop). We zipped over to the shopping center across the street, there’s a huge supermarket with a great cafe inside for a quick lunch.<br>
Tour was very good, mostly due to the super tour guides and the impressive facilities and realization of the excellent reputation the school has and is cultivating. Well worth the time. My D has applied RD and from what I’m hearing notices are starting to come out. Unfortunately as my D said afterwards - School is great, but why does it have to be in Binghamton? If you’re leaning towards a true campus experience and don’t mind the cool weather, it’s worth the visit.</p>
<p>Thanks for the details, guys. :)</p>