I’m currently a sophomore in SOM, majoring in Accounting with a concentration in Finance
I’m also a member of PwC scholars
CC was a huge help for me when I was applying, so I want to give back a little.
As per CC’s rules, anyone is free to ask or answer anything on this thread.
I will check back in a few days and answer all questions that were posted to the best of my ability. Note that I probably cannot chance you - I don’t work in admissions.
Hey Thanks for posting. I do have a question, however, I also have a comment/ question as well. My son is a sophmore in high school. I know it is a bit early, but hey, next summer he will be visiting colleges so we did alot of research already.
My comment/question is this. I know you cannot chance folks, and to be honest, it is silly really since nobody really knows what a admissions committee will do. However, we all know that the SOM is very hard to get into. That said, eventhough my son will apply to BING SOM, if he does not get in directly, he will not attend Harpur (if he gets in) because it is not worth the risk. I will explain. My son may want to study Accounting as well. Now, there are alot of very good schools for Accounting. Albany, Buffalo, Baruch, Geneseo, New Paltz, Oswego etc. Are they as prestigious as BING? No, but you will learn Accounting just the same at the other universities, and if you do well there, all of the BIG 4 recruit from there. My friends son went to New Paltz, got a 3.6 gpa and is now interning at KPMG so yes, BING may be a feeder school, but Albany is also an excellent business school for Accounting and has all of the top CPA firms recruitng from there as well. The other colleges also have the big 4 firms coming up to recruit. Maybe they dont LIVE on campus like at BING, but believe me, if you do well, you will land an excellent internship at a good firm.
With BING, If you do not get in directly as a high school freshman, or as a transfer from another university, it is very very very did I say very? hard to get in from Harpur. Yes, I know if you work hard etc etc etc and get a 3.5 or 3.7 in Harpur you can maybe get in to the SOM, but it is not guaranteed. So now what? If someone goes to Harpur and does not get into the SOM, they are screwed!! Now you have two options. A, switch majors which is stupid to say the least. Or B, transfer. Really? My son will have to transfer out of a school he may have loved and made good friends? Nope, sorry, not worth the risk. Our other friends son graduated from the SOM as a transfer from University of Delaware and he works for EY. He even said that it is unbelievably hard to transfer to the SOM from Harpur. He got in as a transfer.
What I am trying to say is simply: The SOM has an excellent reputation, however, if you do not get in as a high school student directly, or as a transfer you are taking an enormous risk. Personally, I do not think it is worth it. No offense, but we are not talking MIT, Stanford, Harvard, or Wharton here. It is Binghamton!!
Now, the other schools that I mentioned above have standards as well. Albany wants you to have a 3.25 to get into their business school, Buff is a 3.0, some of the others like Oswego, Oneonta you just declare a major and you do not need a minimum gpa to study Accounting. But as you can see, you do not have the pressure to get a 3.5 plus, which by the way, is not easy to do at any college, let alone Binghamton.
So that said, I would like to hear what you have to say. I may be totally off base, so I am all ears!!!
My second question is simply, what makes the Accounting program at BING so great?? I am not asking this sarcastically. I know the SOM has an excellent reputation, but I would love to have specifics. A quick side note. My question is really directed at ANY good program as well. Albany, Baruch etc. Here is what I mean. When you log on to rate my professors, you see alot, and I mean alot of lousy professors at BING as well as NYU, Albany, Geneseo etc. I know you may laugh,but I read tons and tons of ratings for alot of universities, and I see alot of good reviews, but alot of very poor reviews. I will not mention names, but one professor in particular at the SOM for Accounting who is the head of the PwC scholars program has a terrible terrible overall rating. You probably know who I am referring to. Now, you are a PWC scholar, so this professor loves you guys, but what about the non scholars? If a professor has 97 overall ratings and 75% of the ratings are terrible, are all of the SOM students crazy?? Same goes for good reviews.
The bottom line with alot of the professors at ALL the universities is that they DO NOT REALLY TEACH!! They want you to teach yourself, then go to the lecture for clarification and office hours etc. Yes, I know it is not high school but how in the world do you teach yourself intermediate accounting? I am not saying it is impossible, but it sure aint easy lol. If you have to teach yourself accounting, heck, just skip college, save the tuition and go to Khans Academy or study you tube videos!! Like I said, I know this is college, and you will not be spoon fed. I do not expect that, but I do expect professors to TEACH, not be worried about what articles they are going to publish. This goes for ALL universities, not just BING.
So that said, I ask this question, maybe Philosophically, what really makes the SOM a great program?? Is it really the professors? Maybe, but when I read the reviews, I see a mixed bag, nothing special on that end. So please give me some feedback on this as well.
Finally I do have a comment. I was very surprised at this to be honest with you. The one positive aspect I see with the SOM is this. To graduate from the SOM, you need a 2.0 gpa just like the rest of the university. That part is great. So, for as hard as it is to get into the SOM, it is not like you need a 3.5 or what not to stay in. I did find that aspect surprising.
Again, thanks in advance for your feedback, and please do not take my questions or comments as an attack on BING. I think most professors in the USA suck, but since we are on the BING thread, I wanted to really get the real dirt.
Thanks Again!!
bing2018, I just wanted to clarify a few salient points. If you are going for finance and want to go into investment banking and work in the FRONT OFFICE, OR IN CONSULTING, then yes, you do not go to a Oswego, Oneonta, Fredonia etc. No offense to those schools, but you really need to go to a top school, unless you have a connection etc. By a top school, I am talking about an IVY, or a school that is at the ivy level such as an NYU, Stanford, MIT, Uchicago, Duke, Umich, Northwestern Tufts etc etc. That is just how the industry works. I am not saying it is fair, but that is how it is. Now, if you go to BIng, or Buffalo, I am not saying that you cannot land a front office job at Goldman, or JP Morgan in the front office, but it is extremely difficult. I am sure there are students from Bing that have landed jobs in investment banking, but most come from the ivy league and the Stanfords of the world.
Accounting is a different animal. The salary structure is basically in stone. Starting salaries at the big 4 are between 62-67k. So, that said, maybe the BING student gets 67k and the Oswego student gets 62k, but as you can see, there is not that big a difference. I guess what I am saying is that you do not need to go to an ivy or a NYU to study Accounting. It is nice, however, EY, or KPMG, will gladly accept a student from New Paltz, if the grades are there and they like them. IB as I mentioned above is a different animal. It may not be fair, but that is the real world.
That is why I do not think that a student should go to Harpur, then bite their finger nails hoping to get into the SOM for Accounting. Go to any other good SUNY school, do well, and you will get a good job. Why put yourself under that stress. Believe me, EY, Delloite PWC will not care if you go to Baruch, Albany, ST johns etc. However, I can see if someone would want to take the chance to get into the SOM for investment banking. That is a different story. The Goldmans of the world do want to see the top rated schools. Although, not to take a shot at BING, ( I want my son to apply there) but BING is not an ivy or a Duke, MIT etc, so it will still be hard to land a front office job. Not a back office job. They are excellent positions as well, but I am specially honing in on the front office jobs.
Anyway, I just wanted to clarify my previous post. Also, I am a big believer in the SUNY system. I think it is crazy to go to a private school for Accounting and spend 200k-250k on a Boston University, NYU, BRANDEIS, TUFTS etc for Accounting. IB, yes, spend the money on NYU, but not for Accounting. Go to a suny school or a good cuny like Baruch.
To answer your first question/comment, I’ll give you this. Note in advance that I am one person, I do not represent the population of SOM nor Binghamton as a whole. I agree with you regarding the transfer status. If your son is 100% committed to studying business, than Harpur would be a risk. From what I hear, it is fairly difficult to transfer into SOM, and an Albany/Buffalo/etc. business degree would probably be better than a Binghamton Econ degree. In addition, there is always graduate school - if your son wants to study accounting, he very well may look to earn a Masters in Accounting or an MBA in order to sit for the CPA exam. So yes, I agree with you. When I was applying to colleges, one of my top choices was the University of Virginia. Ultimately, I was accepted to UVa and I was ecstatic, however one problem stopped me from going. McIntire, their business school, is not direct-admit; that is to say, one must apply after sophomore year to get in. So I was faced with a risk - should I go to UVa and apply to McIntire, with a 50-50 shot of getting shut down and have wasted two years (internal acceptance rate is about 50%), or should I go elsewhere where business is guaranteed. Ultimately, I decided Binghamton was the correct move - I gave up a shot at one of the top business schools in the country, ranked among Wharton, Stern, and Dyson, in order to go to a SUNY school where I knew I would accomplish what I wanted to. So yes, this is slightly different than the scenario you brought up, but ultimately I’m trying to tell you I agree. I would not go to a school if I was not accepted to the program I wanted to be in. To me, it’s not worth the risk.
Now onto the professors/what makes SOM so great question. My personal belief is that you are going to get a very similar education no matter where you go. You’re going to have bad professors and great ones, and ultimately, you’re going to be learning the same material. A student at Wharton doesn’t learn a different tax code than a student at SOM. In terms of the specific professor you mentioned, I think your queries might be outdated. The current head of scholars is a Finance teacher, not an Accounting teacher, so perhaps you have old data. And I can tell you that she is one of the best professors I’ve ever had for finance, hands down. Every student in SOM has to take FIN 311, which is an introductory course, regardless of major. She was my professor for that, and although it was extremely difficult, I learned a ton. She was always readily available and willing to help, and that had nothing to do with the fact that I’m a scholar. I have found for the most part that nearly all SOM teachers are willing to help the students. I’ve never had a professor tell me ‘no’ when I asked to meet with them, even if it was out of their free time. Of course some are better than others, but ultimately, you will get a proper education at SOM, like you will at any business school. SOM for the most part is what you make of it. If you’re going to go to all of your classes, get A’s in everything, and graduate with a 4.0 without participating in outside activities, you did not succeed. I have found that SOM knows they are no Wharton, and they don’t try to be one. Students are encouraged to participate in business competitions, to join business related clubs/societies/fraternities, and take all of the opportunities offered to them. As you stated later, a SUNY is not the place to go if you want a front-office finance job. That is correct. Very very very, did i say very? few students land Investment Banking jobs out of Binghamton. And the few that are did not do so because of having a 4.0. Rather, they joined clubs, won competitions, and made connections. All of the networking opportunities are given to us at SOM, we just have to take them.
I hope I helped clear a few things up, please feel free to let me know if I need to clarify anything further/if I missed parts of you questions.
Best,
Bing2018cc
Hi Bing2018. First off, Thank You for your honesty, I sincerely appreciate it. Alot of folks would go on and on how great the SOM is, and how that is THE only school to go to for Accounting, so thanks for your candor. I always like to see if I am on track or not. Believe me, I would love for my son to go to BING if he got in. However, if it is not the SOM directly, then it is too much of a risk. Also you are a realist. When I say to someone that you need an ivy league degree or a top 15 business school to get into a front office position in investment banking they sometimes bristle and take offense. I try to explain that it is the way the business world works. It is not a knock on the person or the school. I t is just the way it is. I do not agree with it, but you cannot have blinders on. You are very in touch with what goes on in the business world.
You do bring up a good point though with regard to knowing what you want to major in. If one does not know 100% then Harpur is an excellent choice, but if you do know , then go to another school like you mentioned unless your are extremely extremely bright or brilliant and you have the confidence to know that you will get a 3.7 plus in your freshman year at Bing. Most folks cannot accomplish that. That is the reality.
Being well rounded is important. Look at high school. To get into a good school, it is not enough to get good grades, you need some extra curricular activities as well. I would hope my son would join a business frat and a few clubs as well.
It is funny how you mentioned Virginia. I read on other threads how students sweat it out trying to get into their business school as well. Virginia is not a household name up here in the north like Whaton, NYU, Duke etc, but it is just as good! I think you made the correct choice. Why put yourself through that pressure?
I know you are a sophmore so it may be a bit early to ask you this general question, but I will give it a shot anyway. When I read alot of threads on different universities, Albany, Bing, Geneseo, Baruch etc etc, a common theme is that you have to teach yourself the material. That can mean Accounting 101, or Intermediate Accounting which is a tough tough course. My question to you is: How in the world can someone teach themselves Accounting, especially Advanced Accounting? Yes, you are not in high school, so no more spoon feeding, I understand that. But Accounting is not straight forward like reading a history book, or a psychology book. That is the part that amazes me. This is the thing that I get pissed over. Alot, not all, but alot of professors do not really teach Accounting. They expect you to read chapters first then they go over the chapters sometimes if you are lucky in class. I understand that you have to read on your own, but teach yourself an entire course? That seems unreasonable to me, but maybe I am in a time warp. Lol,
If you can shed some light on that, I would appreciate it. Again, thanks for everything, and good luck to you in your future endeavors!!
I’m very happy to help, and any other questions you have you should feel free to ask here as well. Unfortunately, I cannot really shine light onto the teaching yourself method with regards to accounting. I just finished all of my intro courses/most of my gen-eds last semester, and I placed out of intro to accounting (ACCT 211) by taking a SUPA (Syracuse) class in high school. As such, I’m starting my core accounting classes next semester. I don’t want to give you false information, so I will leave it at that. However, I can tell you that with my other classes, I find that the teacher gives you the basics of the material needed for a general understanding - they give you the foundation. It is then your responsibility, as a student, to take that information and utilize it as you read the textbook and learn new information. It is challenging sometimes, as you are learning things that weren’t explicitly taught to you in the classroom, but you have been given enough to understand what you are reading. And as I said before, professors at Binghamton are always willing to go out of their way to help you. That’s not necessarily unique to SOM, but rather Binghamton in general. My first semester I took a Writing Course (WRIT 111), and my professor gave us a list of every hour he was free every day of the week aside from his office hours, and made it clear we can meet with him at any of those times. I remember one time I tried to set up a meeting, and the entire day was booked. Sorry for getting offtrack, but I want to make it clear that if the material does become difficult, there are still many helpful tools for students to utilize. Good luck to your son!
Bing2018cc
Hello Bing 2018, my daughter applied EA this year to Harpur but was instead accepted to CCPA. She can accept the admission to CCPA and try to transfer to Harpur after her freshman year or take her chances with RD at Harpur. Not sure if you have any knowledge about this but would you think transferring into Harpur would be difficult? I don’t think she really would want to major in Human Development at CCPA (which is the only major). Just thought you may have heard of this being at Bing? Any thoughts would be much appreciated, thanks.
Hello Bing2018, I have the same question. my daughter applied EA this year to Harpur but was instead accepted to CCPA. Have you heard of this scenario and would you know if we decline accepting CCPA her relative changes at being submitted to Harpur as RD?
I guess Bing2018 is busy studying!
Sorry for not responding! I was without wifi for the past couple of weeks and haven’t had a chance to check this!
@whozitnow: I actually have a bunch of friends who chose this route. I would personally recommend she accept the admission to CCPA (assuming she wants to go to Binghamton). In her freshman year, she can easily take gen-eds through Harpur, meaning she doesn’t have to take any classes towards her Human Development major (maybe one or two, but nothing that will slow her down too much). After this, the transfer process is pretty straightforward, and assuming she can maintain a decent GPA (I don’t know the numbers off hand), she will be granted admission to Harpur and be able to pursue what she wants. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
@FrankGal: As I said in my prior answer, this is fairly common. I do not know her chances of getting into Harpur is she declines CCPA; however I do know there are a fair amount of students who pursue CCPA with the sole intent of transferring to Harpur, and this has a pretty high success rate as far as I know. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
My D accepted and is looking forward to attending Bing!
Hello bing2018cc,
After reading the posts, unfortunately, it seems like a long shot to change from Harpur to SOM. I’m planning on transferring for fall 2016 and applied as a Poli Sci major but would like to change majors to Marketing for SOM. Any idea on how likely it would successfully work? I’m a freshman at Pace University and finished fall 2015 with a 3.3 GPA, which is low. I am currently majoring in Marketing with a minor in Psychology.
I really do appreciate the time you spend answering all of our questions, it does a big favor on those who plan to transfer or to those who simply seek more information about Bing.
Thank you,
Chef
@almightychef: It’s hard for me to give you answers about an external transfer. Unfortunately, my knowledge is fairly limited to internal transfers from Harpur to SOM. I’m sorry for the lack of knowledge, but I wish you the best of luck! If you have any questions about SOM or Binghamton in general, please feel free to ask.
Hi I got accepted to Binghamton’s SOM for class of 2020 and as a student of SOM
I am mostly likely going to be attending in the fall
can you double major in management as well as economics or would you only be able to have two concentrations in the management major?
Thank you so much!
@pkstennis: As far as I know, you can double major in Business Administration (Management) and Economics. However, it would definitely be more beneficial in terms of career outlooks to do two concentrations within the Business Administration Major (Finance, Management Information Systems, Supply Chain Management, Leadership and Consulting, Entrepreneurship, etc.)
Thank you so much!
Can you shed any
Sorry, can you shed any light on how large the intro business classes are at Bing and even the gen ed class sizes. Are they large lecture hall size? Hundreds in a class? Thanks!
went on a tour yesterday, they have one lecture hall building with halls ranging from 453 seats to 241 seats to 50 seats. the intro to bio and psych and all that stuff will have be in there but once you get in your major there will be about 30 students per class. look up binghamton lecture hall 1 - 14