I narrowed my college list down to Syracuse, Fordham, and Binghamton. I want to major in neuroscience. I was also thinking about double majoring along with biomedical engineering (if possible). But if not, I want to major in neuroscience and minor in BME.
Bing orignally wasn’t on my list because it didnt come to my mind of attending a public university but I then thought about the tutition and its a cheaper option since I am considering grad/med school.
estimated tuitions
Bing - $14k
Syracuse - $50k
Fordham - $40k
I want to know how the programs are and/or how the outcomes (job opportunities/internships) are at each college (if anyone knows or has graduated from these insitutions). Please let me know and help me out during this stressful decision.
I know this isn’t what you are asking…but can you pay for Fordham or Syracuse without taking out any loans at all?
Bing is a great school. We are from a neighboring state and students from here apply there with hopes of acceptance.
If medical school is a possibility, please don’t take out loans for undergrad. Or save your money for medical schools. Aid for medical school is loans, loans and more loans.
Yes I already plan to try not to take any loans because I know for a fact I’ll need to for med school so that’s why I’m debating if I should just go to bing since its cheap. If I end up going to either Syracuse or Fordham, I will not be taking loans cause my family will be able to afford.
If, like most would be premeds, you end up not attending med school, whixh school would you rather graduate from?
Well I narrowed it down to Syracuse and Binghamton. I like both of their campuses. As of right now I’m trying to find out which neuroscience program is better. I know that bing is popular for premed and Syracuse is big on communications and business majors but their neuroscience program is pretty good too. I’m just stuck on those two schools to pick from.
I’m an SU alum (Newhouse). Given the disparity in $$, it’s a no brainer. SUNYB is a very good school and even if SU were a little better (and I don’t know for the major), it’s a crazy price difference - you can’t spend on SU.
Same reason my daughter is turning down Miami, Washington & Lee, and others for a school that is much more affordable.
I could, for example, afford Miami at $50K - but why? In the end, no one is going to look at you differently in that major coming from SU or SUNYB.
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It’s Bing based on your criteria and the cost differential. Go there, work hard and you’ll have your pick of grad schools as easily as from Syracuse. It may be slightly more bureaucratic given that it’s a state school and you won’t be distracted by the basketball games (!), but you are going to do well there I’m sure.
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The private schools are also bureaucratic. I’ve tried getting in touch with Miami - to see what I can do aid wise - on hold forever. Others on here had 1:1s online only to then be referred to others.
I think at an institution that’s large - public or private - there’s issues with lack of personalization.
The state schools are worse. There are also issues where certain classes arent’ always available within 4 years due to the budget pressures and the sheer size of the student body. This is very true at even the ‘premier’ state schools like Berkeley, Michigan, UT-Austin, etc.
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I have sent in an appeal letter in regards my financial aid award letter so hopefully I am able to get more aid. I emailed a Syracuse professor of the neuroscience program and I was notified that I can graduate with another degrees of another major (biomedical engineering) along with my first major which is neuroscience. At Binghamton, I can also do this but I will then need to fulfill both of the credits needed for the major while at Syracuse, the neuroscience major is only 24 credits in total.
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I would not count on winning an appeal. These schools do not meet need and to get any school to reconsider, you need to show a material change such as loss of job, etc. You have to consider what you have is all you’ll have.
Yes that is why I am sending an appeal because my mother lost her job for 7 months but just recently got it back. Hopefully they consider, if they don’t I’m still thinking of committed to Syracuse because it is closer to my home.
Wait, so you are asking for more money because your mom is now making more money?
I’m guessing that her mom made a LOT less money in 2020 than in 2019 (FAFSA would be prior prior = 2019)
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(Which is why I couldn’t in good conscience make my parents pay 200k when I could get a better education for 56k. That’s not even taking into consideration med school costs).
Forget the rest of your argument - this is all that matters no matter your wealth:
why I couldn’t in good conscience make my parents pay 200k when I could get a better education for 56k.
I’m an Orange Alum - but if my kid faced this question I’d learn to love Binghamton. In fact, my daughter will be attending College of Charleston for $30K a year over higher ranked Washington & Lee ($81K) Miami ($53K) Florida ($43K), and her favorite American ($57K).
We talk about $ like they’re nothing…even if you spent only $5K or $10K…it’s a lot. And your parents will stress regardless but they will stress a lot more with you spending the bucks at Syracuse.
Personal choice - but young people don’t realize the “significance” of debt. SU will make you no more appealing to med school than SUNYB.
Your choice though…
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I’m not even sure Syracuse is that much better than Bing for neuroscience. The best value is clearly Binghamton.
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But that means even if an appeal worked, it would just be for a year.
OP, in good conscience, I can’t recommend Syracuse over Binghamton.
My son currently attends Bing and is having a great experience. He was accepted to Syracuse. We told him at the outset that unless he received a good merit scholarship, we would not pay for Syracuse over Bing. He didn’t get any merit and immediately forgot about Syracuse. He chose Bing over what we felt might be better fits for him.
Did you get a scholarship to Syracuse? The cost is $77,000 a year versus Bing at about $27,000 a year. Heaven forbid your mom loses her job again. Do you have younger siblings who will attend college?
Bing is only about 45 minutes from Syracuse, so it doesn’t seem a significant factor in terms of travel time, though I don’t know where you are located.
I freely admit I did not think my son made the best choice at first. Now it is clear he made the right one. Binghamton is actually a very nice modern campus and there are plenty of benefits to being there. The college has clearly invested a lot of money in improvements. The town is not wealthy, but it’s lively and there are a lot of nice things to do in the area. You might think Syracuse will be more fun, but I assure you, the kids at Binghamton are having plenty of fun. Too much fun, IMO, haha.
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