Getting into the School Of Management

Colleges and Universities A-Z Binghamton University - SUNY
1

My son is a sophmore in high school, so it is still very early on for him, however, he is interested in business and maybe accounting. I know that Binghamton has a great business school, however, I have heard that if you do not get into the SOM off the bat, it is very very hard to transfer from Harpur. Not impossible, but very hard. Lets be honest here, getting a 3.5 at Binghamton is not easy so if you have a 3.2 or 3.3 gpa, chances are you are not getting into the SOM from Harpur.

Here is the dilemma. If you want Business, especially Accounting, there are alot of excellent SUNY schools to choose from. Albany has an excellent business school. I do not want to hear about any of that party school nonsense because I know kids at Tufts that get shitfaced so lets not go there. Albany has all of the Big 4 recruiting up there constantly. Suny Buffalo also has a great Accounting program, not to mention lil ol Oswego, and even Geneseo. At the end of the day auditing is auditing and intermediate accounting is intermediate accounting. The curriculum is the same for the most part, and as far as professors go, you get lousy professors at Albany, Binghamton, Oneonta, Brandeis etc etc so there is no perfect school.

Do not get me wrong, Binghamton may be ranked higher than the schools I mentioned above, but what good is it if you get into BU Harpur then cannot get into the SOM??? What then?? Yes, you have to transfer anyway to another school where you can major in Accounting.

My question is, why take that risk?? Ok if you are a brilliant person and you know you can get a 3.5 gpa or higher than fine, but what about the bright person that is not a 3.5 student. He or she is a 3.25 or a 3.4 student. That is not too shabby in my book. Those poor kids have to transfer if they want to major in accounting, they have no choice. Why have that anxiety??

If you are a high school student and you get directly into the SOM fine, then go to BU over the other SUNY Schools if you want because it is more prestigious (possibly) than Albany or Buffalo. But if you do not get in directly I hear it is hell to get into the SOM so why put yourself through all of that stress?? Trust me, if you go to Oswego and get at 3.5 or more in Accounting, the BIG 4 recruit there, I know, you will get some internship offers if you come off like a human being and can interview decently. You do not have to go to Binghamton, Cornell etc. It is nice to go to BU or Cornell etc, but definitely not necessary.

The other option is to transfer from another college to the SOM if you want because there is no risk. If you get in, great, if not, you just major in business at the school you are in. Oneonta, Oswego, Geneseo etc.

The bottom line also is if you are a very good student, the BIG 4 recruit at all of the SUNY Schools. They go to Oswego, Geneseo, New Paltz, and especially Albany and Buffalo.

My gripe is not with whether or not BU is better than this school or that school. It is that getting into the SOM is so competitive that the risk is not worth the reward. Just go to another SUNY school, major in accounting, do well and you will be fine. If you do get directly into the SOM, then by all means, go to SUNY Binghamton.

2

moderator, can you please move this thread over to the suny binghamton board. I am not sure how to do that thanks

3

If your son works hard, he will have no problem transferring into SOM. I have a lot of friends who did it. If your son isn’t getting the GPA of around 3.5 ( what SOM requires to transfer), he probably won’t get the Big 4 Opportunities anyway. I don’t know your son, but if he works hard enough at Bing… he can transfer into SOM and get a job at the Big 4.

4

Thanks, for the reply. There is one major difference. If someone is in a business program and gets a 3.2, yes, they will not get into a big 4 firm. However, that is not the be all and end all. You can still work for smaller accounting firms or even go into corporate etc. Not everyone wants to go into public accounting. If you go to BU Harpur, and do not get into the SOM, then you are screwed. You cannot even major in accounting. You have to transfer to another school. Also, lets say one year it is crazy competitive and you need a 3.6 or 3.7gpa to get in to the SOM. That is not easy to do. Accounting is not an easy major, alot of bright folks get 3.2 gpa’s and are thrilled.

My point is that, the risk is not worth it. Someone on a SUNY BING chat board was pounding the table that if you get into Harpur only, and you want to go to the SOM, do not do it. The chances of a transfer are not on your side. Possible, but not on your side. So I guess that stuck with me.

Ilovedogs, do you see the difference? My son may work hard etc but still not make the cut and even get the chance to be an acct major. Whereas, if he is in a business program somewhere,and gets a 3.0 or a 3.2, he may not make the big 4, but there are still other options to work at other types of firms, or the government. Like I was saying, not everyone wants to work in public accounting.

To me, the b4 is like getting into an ivy league school. It is great if it happens, but if not, there are still thousands of other great schools out there.

5

@euve69 You bring up good points. Again, if your son really works hard then he should have no problem switching from Harpur to SOM. But, I do understand your concern about what happens if he does not get in. I guess it’s a matter of risk and reward. Maybe consider applying directly to SOM as a reach? Then he can always still have other SUNY business programs as options… just a thought. Then going to a different SUNY with a business school would make more sense so he can definitely study accounting and will be guaranteed a job doing something - maybe Big 4 or maybe not. Yes, there are a lot of other great opportunities besides Big 4. Bing puts a lot of emphasis on the Big 4, but there are so many different jobs out there.

6

Seems like there is a lot of focus on these threads on “the big 4”. Essentially you’re talking about getting an education geared towards getting a job with a very narrow trajectory in mind. I guess you are using that as proxy for a highly competitive well paying position but even so, it is a bit bizarre. No network is going to exclude a high achieving individual on the basis of the name of their school and no SUNY is so prestigious that it trumps everything else. If someone can’t get access to education in a field they are interested it does not really matter if the school is called Binghamton, Harvard or Oneonta. And you are correct, accounting is essentially the stuff of trade schools, although the overall education isn’t. But that other part, becoming an educated person, is only as important as it is to the individual seeking the education. Out on a limb here but the vast majority of students could care less about that part-just going for that ticket to the job.

On a continuum, prestige-wise, Binghamton and Oneonta are a lot closer to each other than they are to Ivys+ schools/ highly competitive schools. That isn’t a put down of Binghamton. Prestige is not synonymous with quality. Prestige is a more ephemeral judgement not necessarily tied to any one attribute; judgements about which are not necessarily stable. Taking SUNY out of the name of the 4 centers doesn’t take the 4 centers out of the SUNY system. It therefore seems more important to ensure that a student gets access to the course of study that is of interest rather than ensuring that the student attends a particular unit in the SUNY system.

7

And what is wrong with getting an econ degree and then getting an MBA/MS in accounting…?

8

Nothing if that is what you are choosing to do.

9

you can do that, however, in bing, you cannot take accounting courses unless you are in the SOM so how are you going to get an MS in accounting if you do not have your bs in accounting?

10

@euve69 I am not 100 percent sure about this, but I am pretty sure at least that Bing has a 3+2 program (3 in Harpur and 2 years in SOM). I think you can walk out with an MS in accounting without the BS

11

@lostaccount Yeah, I am not saying that Binghamton is equivalent to Princeton and I obviously agree that the prestige is closer to Oneonta than a top ivy. I do think people’s perception of Binghamton is higher, and I do think that makes a difference. When I was telling people where I was deciding where I was going, I heard more positive comments about Binghamton than the other schools I said. Obviously, not Yale quality but I do think the good reputation helps. I disagree about being narrow minded and too much focused on the job. I would rather study something in college that leads into employment after graduation rather something I am just interested on.

12

I think you may have misinterpreted what I said. That is my error and I will try to be clearer.

What I am saying is that it seems a bad idea to go to a school that you already know does not give you access to the program you want. I’ve read many posts by students saying they were offered a slot at Harpur but not for the school they applied to. If they had applied to both Harpur and SOM, that is different But if they had not applied to Harpur and had applied to SOM, well I see that as a problem. Despicable is probably too harsh a word but if is true that the school is accepting students and encouraging them to attend while they know the student wants certain training that they are withholding, then that is unfortunate. It is especially unfortunate if they are doing that with more than just a few students.

I’m not certain they are really admitting students to Harpur who applied only to SOM. If they aren’t, this is all moot. If they are, they may be creating problems for those students and for the school itself. For those students, they are encouraging a student to attend a school that does not give them access to the training they want. That means they either need to transfer, change their goals, or find a way into the program that they were excluded from.

Why would a student attend a school that excludes them from their chosen program if that student had an option to study at a school that gives them access to the type of training they want? The name of the school makes little difference if you are limiting the schools to SUNYs. While the 4 university centers seem to have decided that their marketability is greater if they take the SUNY out of their name, all 4 are SUNYs and more similar than different. Go to the one that gives you access to the education you want not one that is using you to fill their slots with a promise maybe some day they will let you into the program you want. I could better understand the conflict if the choice were UPenn without Wharton versus the undergraduate business program at Frostburg State University. Go to UPenn. But the better choice when choosing between a SUNY with access to the business school versus a SUNY without access to business schools seems obvious.

The second problem they are creating, if this is true, is the potential for a cut throat student body. This would be an unintended consequence of having an appreciable number of students at Harpur competing to get into a program that offers few slots. If many freshman believe that they have to outdo their peers to get into one of the school’s own programs, the climate will be competitive rather than collaborative and supportive. Hopefully if they are accepting students to Harpur who applied to SOM they are doing so with the idea that all can come to SOM if they show they are doing satisfactory work. If they offer up only a fraction of the slots to in-university transfers, they are doing the school and students a disservice.