Commuting to Stony Brook vs. Dorming at Binghamton

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I want peoples opinions on the two. I have made the following pro/con list of my own... feel free to add to it, or just to add your own comments.</p>

<p>I'm trying to make up my mind by Sunday so that if I DO want to dorm at Binghamton, the form goes online on April 15th. And I don't want to spend all this money to dorm if I can't even get the dorm I want...</p>

<p>ANY INPUT IS APPRECIATED.</p>

<p>Stony Brook</p>

<p>PROS
- Easy to get home
- Long Island pizza & bagels
- Known for research advances nationally, if not internationally
- Very affordable
- Has a medical school*
- Accepted into University Scholars Program
- Ability to save money for medical school
- Continue Friendly’s job
- Research = HUGE!
- More time to focus on studies, since social life would take a back seat.</p>

<p>CONS
- Feel like I’m going to work = commuting.
- Need a functioning car for ALL FOUR YEARS.
- Additionally, gas money = $$$
- Dreary campus.
- Too many Northport-ers/too familiar.
- HUGE lecture halls = HUGE classes.
- Bigger than Binghamton
- Will never have THE college experience.
- Lack of school unity – half a commuter school.
- Those that commute, originally plan to do so, in my opinion.
- * Going to the same school for Med. School as undergraduate isn’t necessarily good. Fierce competition with others Stony Brook undergraduate graduates.</p>

<p>Binghamton</p>

<p>PROS
- Undergraduate focus
- HUGE Jewish life
- Independence
- Pretty campus
- Get away from parents, but a decent distance away.
- RA = leadership role.<br>
- Has a nursing school – backup in case MD isn’t my plan anymore.
- Reasonable transportation to and from school. (i.e. Bus, friend, parents)
- Really smart student body – more selective.
- BIG study abroad program.
- Smaller lecture halls (approx. 400) = smaller classes in general.
- Wouldn’t need a car (maybe in sophomore year, but not a requirement)
- Already foresee myself there/feel at home.
- Change in scenery/setting.
- IVY of the SUNYs reputation.</p>

<p>CONS
- Up to $40,000+ in debt (if current financial situation persists, without being an RA)
- Known primarily in the Northeast (?)
- Rural-ish area* (Though this does NOT have to be a bad thing)
- Weather = mostly rainy and cold. Could be depressing.
- Would require moving assistance to get stuff to dorm.</p>

2

<p>I'd recommend commuting. Sorry but I don't have a lot of time to go into details at the moment, but you've laid out the Pros and Cons quite well. Here's my exact same post from a similar topic. I'd also recommend checking my post history out, I've posted on two different topics named "Satisfied Commuters" versions 1 and 2, I'd recommend checking them out if you're interested in seeing the views from other commuters such as myself.</p>

<p>*It's definitely worth noting that you're going to save money by commuting. Furthermore, I don't know what your relationship with your parents and immediate family is like, but I get along with mine just fine, so I'm glad that I commuted so that I could stay with them, help out around the house (instead of just leeching off them from afar), and of course, save money. If you don't have any problems with your parents and immediate family, that's all the more reason to commute to college instead of dorm.</p>

<p>There was a pretty good article in the paper years ago about how college students have a blast in the dorms during the first month or so...then the reality of sharing their personal space and whatnot with a stranger sets in, and it becomes not as much fun as it used to be. At that point, you might as well be flushing the $2000 or however much it costs to live on college down the drain, for all the good it's doing you.</p>

<p>I was in a similar situation as you, every paper, magazine, online article and everything said "dorm dorm dorm, you have to dorm" when that's actually not the case, commuting IS an option, and it's a great one which I'm glad I chose. I'm having a lot of fun commuting, and yes, I talk to lots of people and have friends, I don't huddle in a little hole in the wall here while I'm not in class waiting for the next class to start.*</p>

3

<p>Hey, I'm back, got a little more time now, and judging from your posts, it looks like you've really thought this through. Let me give you direct links to those topics I was telling you about, where myself and other satisfied commuters tell you more about what its like to commute.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/253356-any-satisfied-commuters-out-there.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/253356-any-satisfied-commuters-out-there.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/394153-any-satisfied-commuters-out-there-version-2-a.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/394153-any-satisfied-commuters-out-there-version-2-a.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Now, regarding some of your cons for commuting...</p>

<p>- Feel like I’m going to work = commuting.</p>

<p>Hmm, well, you're going to be going to work anyway after graduation, and being able to separate your school life from your home life is a BIG plus in my opinion (I'm pretty sure someone else mentioned it in one of the topics I linked you too).</p>

<p>- Need a functioning car for ALL FOUR YEARS.</p>

<p>Buy a reliable used car, drive carefully, and hope and pray for the best.</p>

<p>- Additionally, gas money = $$$</p>

<p>Still, not as much money as living on campus, especially if you have a car with even average gas mileage (around 25 MPG or so). I spend maybe $30 a week on gas, so that's $120/month, about $720 for a 6 month semester. Still, well below not only the room and board expense of living on campus (not to mention the other expenditures, you wouldn't be enjoying home cooking, instead you'd have to pay through the nose for cafeteria food or buy the stuff yourself)</p>

<p>- Dreary campus.</p>

<p>That's why you commute, you wouldn't have to live there.</p>

<p>- Too many Northport-ers/too familiar.</p>

<p>Can't really say much about this, but remember, you're not living there, you'd be there for what, 6 hours a day on average, not 24.</p>

<p>- HUGE lecture halls = HUGE classes.</p>

<p>At our college, some of the entry level classes are packed, and I hear that the business major classes are kinda packed, but as a CS major, we rarely have full classes, so I guess it'd depend on your major and how popular it is.</p>

<p>- Bigger than Binghamton</p>

<p>I biked around campus my first 3 years, that helped shrink the distance between classes a LOT.</p>

<p>- Will never have THE college experience.</p>

<p>It's overrated really. Just because everybody else does it, doesn't mean it's what you have to do, I believe that myself and others have spoken a little bit more about this at length in other topics, and I'll be frank, for the first week, maybe two, you might regret your decision to commute, but once you start seeing the advantages in your day to day life, you won't regret it anymore. </p>

<p>A little after I first came here, I was talking with some other freshman in one of my classes, and I told them that I commuted, and much to my surprise, one of them looked kinda downcast and said 'Man, you're so lucky, I wish I could live at home.' </p>

<p>- Lack of school unity – half a commuter school.</p>

<p>Eh, my school's been called a 'suitcase school' before, since everybody heads back to their homes Friday afternoon, or so I've been told.</p>

<p>- Those that commute, originally plan to do so, in my opinion.</p>

<p>This wasn't the case for me, I thought I was going to do the 'average' college experience too, dorms and everything, until I made that decision to commute to college instead, and I'm glad I did.</p>

<p>- * Going to the same school for Med. School as undergraduate isn’t necessarily good. Fierce competition with others Stony Brook undergraduate graduates.</p>

<p>Can't really speak about this one, a little outside my area of expertise, but remember that if your college is like a lot of others, you're going to run into a bunch of folks on their parents' dime who really don't give a darn about their grades or anything else scholarly for that matter, you'll probably be fine!</p>

<p>Anyway, I hope this helps, and check out the other two topics and read the responses there, it seems like a lot of commuters don't post here, but we managed to get some of them together in those topics!</p>

4

<p>I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.
I may have to double deposit because I won't know about the loan acceptance from Binghamton until July sometime... so I need to talk to the offices tomorrow. I really wish they were open during the weekends.</p>

<p>But I'm thinking about Stony Brook more and more. I visited yesterday, and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to commute there.</p>

<p>It's just a pain to agonize over it.</p>

5

<p>One good thing about commuting is that your grades will probably be higher. If you hate commuting or later decide you want the true "college experience" you can always get housing next semester. Plus Your room/food>Binghamton's room/food</p>

6

<p>At Stony Brook, getting housing the next semester would probably not work out. Their waiting lists are often very long for dorms, since they don't really have enough to dorm all the students they have.</p>

<p>And, I have excellent study habits and discipline, so I'm not too worried about my grades being a problem. If I want to go to medical school, I know that I need to work hard for it.</p>

7

<p>True, but the point is that as a commuter, you'd be able to focus more easily on school without worrying about all of the issues that dorming entails. </p>

<p>If you're mature enough to list all those pros of commuting besides the usual 'omg I'd get to own a car!' that a lot of people seem to only know about it, as well as the realistic cons (a lot of which I posted about anyway), then I think you'd be fine and you'd be happier overall as a commuter student.</p>