<p>I thought Playboy was threatening to delist Albany from its party school lists becuase it was too much party and not enough school.</p>
<p>“Fielding wacky political candidates like Carl Paladino …”</p>
<p>He certainly was out there…however it is tough to live up to the standards of Anthony Weiner and Pedro Espada.</p>
<p>“Fielding wacky political candidates like Carl Paladino for starters whose platform and apparent attitudes were such that his main support was mostly within upstate…especially the Buffalo area. Considering his platform and tone, he certainly didn’t help when it comes to negative downstate attitudes towards upstaters regarding politics and cultural values.”</p>
<p>Yes, like Carl Pallidino is representative of all people who live upstate. <em>rolling eyes</em></p>
<p>I also seriously doubt any 17 year old is going to base what school they are going to apply to/go to, within a specific state, based on someone who ran for Gov.</p>
<p>Thanks, cptofthehouse, for the prediction. Not that I necessarily want it to happen. Not to hijack (though if we’re talking about upstate political also-rans, we’re probably drifting anyway), but how do kids feel about that sort of guaranteed transfer? Do they feel like they’re just biding time somewhere and does it mess up the adjustment process (they have to start when everyone already knows each other). Interesting. I am not so sure my shy boy would take it. This is a whole new wrinkle for me to perseverate on.</p>
<p>Binghamton is a great school! I think people who haven’t visited or investigated in recent years aren’t aware of all the great resources available. There are great educational options, dedicated faculty, and motivated, interesting students. They’ve built tons of new facilities over the last few years, including new dorms, science buildings, an engineering and tech center, Nursing, Engineering, and School of Management buildings. There are opportunities for research and internships and a real focus on undergraduates. The city of Binghamton is actually a nice place to go to school with a decent amount of culture, shopping, recreation and entertainment options. There are actually about 20% out of state and 5% international students on average over the last few years and not as NY/Long Island-centric as people suppose. There is a great retention and graduation rate. The people that graduate from Binghamton have been really successful. I think the SUNY 2020 program is a great step in letting the university centers differentiate themselves. Rockefeller’s SUNY charter had serious restrictions that attempted to keep things equal among the many campuses which has hampered the true development of a flagship in the sense of a Michigan or a UVA. There are pros and cons to the SUNY system, but you can get an outstanding education and happy experience at Binghamton for a bargain-basement price. Ok, pitch over.</p>
<p>Momofnea, for some kids it’s a great opportunity and incentive to work hard since they have that ivy right in grasp. If a kid gets that guarantee, he can go to a local school, and save a ton of money and just be very careful to get that 3.0, I believe, gpa and then get Cornell instate for the next 3 years. That’s a big savings and deal paid for by the popped balloon you get in losing the bragging rights of saying you are gong there during all of the senior functions. Some kids just skip telling about going to the local school for a year and say they are taking the year off and going to Cornell the following year.</p>
<p>My one son turned it down. He actually cleared the waitlist for COrnell in the summer-this was more than 10 years ago, and was all set to go to his other school, and Cornell was off his radar by then, and I didn’t blame him Two of mine turned down instate Cornell much to DH’s and my chagrin. Wait and see how it goes. My friend’s son at URoch on a full ride decided not to transfer as he was doing so well and had some great opportunities there and didn’t feel like starting over at a new school, so the mileage varies on this. </p>
<p>I feel the same about UBuff as Toots does about Bing. Am impressed with both school, and am disappointed that the state of NY has not revved things up about them. The facilities, programs, opportunities, amenities are all there at UB. Also anyone wanting to live cheap can do so off campus after freshman year, like really cheap, find jobs and opportunities as Buffalo is still a pretty big city. Transportation is easily and cheaply available, students are treated like royalty there and the academics are top grade. With all of the grad and prof programs, there is no ceiling on academic at that school. The Asians outside of the US have discovered this hidden gem in hordes. DH and I checked out the text books and some of the curriculum in our fields and have to say, that it is as good as any and better than most there. The problem there is lack of outside NY students and it does not attact the level of ug students that other known flagships do. That’s why I feel an extensive scholarship program should be put into effect to recruit.</p>
<p>On the other hand, New Yorkers have this available for their kids who are not the top students and high flying test takers, whereas in some states, too many in staters are being shut out of these resources. My brother is in VA, and neither of his nieces could get into those school that they wanted in state and had to go OOS to make that match. But that is a nice problem in a way, for a state to have. There must be some way of having that cake and eating it too. I think the SUNY infrastructure can do this, but there has to be the focus to do so. I would start by taking TAP away from private colleges and funneling that money into the state school to work towards improving them.</p>
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<p>Many high school classmates in my era and high schoolers nowadays do factor in political climate of the college/surrounding environment when deciding where to apply/attend. </p>
<p>You even see it here on CC when prospective undergrads ask whether a given area/college is “too liberal”, “too conservative”, etc. </p>
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<p>That’s not what a doctor friend who rotates to Bing every six weeks or so to work in their hospitals before rotating back to working in NYC. Each time he goes up there, he counts the days until he’s back in the city as he doesn’t care for the city. </p>
<p>He’s currently back in NYC, but will be back up there in a few weeks. </p>
<p>While the town has improved somewhat, I still hear many recent Bing alums about how the town was one of the detracting factors to attending/living there. </p>
<p>Said doctor friend attended Buffalo on a near-free ride in the mid-late '90s and largely enjoyed his experience. However, he did have some uncomfortable run-ins with locals due to differences of political opinions and/or on account of his race(Asian-American).</p>
<p>"Many high school classmates in my era and high schoolers nowadays do factor in political climate of the college/surrounding environment when deciding where to apply/attend.</p>
<p>You even see it here on CC when prospective undergrads ask whether a given area/college is “too liberal”, “too conservative”, etc."</p>
<p>No one is not applying to Buffalo because Carl Pallindino ran for Gov. He didn’t even win the upstate vote. There are also plenty of “liberal” state senators and congressional reps in the upstate area. - some of the most liberal in fact (Louise Slaughter comes to mind.) </p>
<p>Going to any school in upstate NY - whether it is UB, Syracuse, UofR, Cornell, etc., etc., etc., is not like going to a school (lets use S Carolina as an example) in a conservative area.</p>
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<p>The Asian-Americans who were discriminated against at a Denny’s and then viciously attacked outside in that town in the late '90s may beg to differ…especially after the case was dismissed as a “drunken brawl” by local authorities when there was many clear signs of racial animus. </p>
<p>No one should be subjected to refusal of service or beaten up on racial grounds.</p>
<p>My (white) DD went to school in upstate NY for two years and she definitely thought there were racial issues (in community, not school). Very sad.</p>
<p>Lots and lots of Asians at UB. Not saying that there has never been or isn’t a problem there, or anywhere, but I’d hardly put it on any alert list. </p>
<p>I have several doctor friends who do go to various areas that are underserved and none of them are thrilled about the trip. It gets old when one has to do this, especially when one has a home and a life elsewhere, and no Binghamton is not likely to be a place to want to visit regularly, especially when one lives in NYC. </p>
<p>I don’t think those are the reasons why these schools are undersubscribed to by students. Actually, Syracuse does quite well. I’d like to see some of that rub onto Buffalo. I think BInghamton is doing well too, especially with instaters. When I first came here to NY with my oldest looking at colleges shortly thereafter, there were not all that many kids from his school that had SUNYs on their list as serious possible. My son did apply to Binghamton, was accepted early, went to visit and the school did make it onto his short list. Now quite a few kids from the same school apply there and go there.</p>
<p>cobrat- News Flash. This isn’t the late 90s!</p>
<p>“The Asian-Americans who were discriminated against at a Denny’s and then viciously attacked outside in that town in the late '90s may beg to differ…especially after the case was dismissed as a “drunken brawl” by local authorities when there was many clear signs of racial animus.”</p>
<p>“No one should be subjected to refusal of service or beaten up on racial grounds.”</p>
<p>One incident does not make an area “conservative.” I went to high school in Syracuse, lived there as an adult, and both my husband and went to graduate school there. I have personally know several Syracuse mayors, common councilors, and congressional reps. Most are not, and have never been R’s or conservatives - especially at the local level. The Cong Rep more often than not has, but R’s from upstate NY couldn’t get elected dog catcher in the real conservative parts of the country. </p>
<p>There are bigots everywhere - even downstate.</p>
<p>The grass is not as green in California as you might think. Two of the variables used to calculate rankings, number of kids graduating in the top 10% of their high school and average gpa are not good indicators of the preparedness of the entering class of freshmen. The UC’s are not allowed to evaluate students based on URM status, so in order to preserve a student body somewhat reflective of state demographics they give priority admission to kids graduating in the top 9% of their high school class. This would be a good system if every high school in California met some sort of quality standard, but this is not the case. Many high schools offer no AP courses and just a few honors courses. Yet kids graduating in the top 9% of these schools get the same boost as kids from the super competitive schools. If you compare middle 50% SAT scores for all the UC’s except UCLA and Berkeley, which admit a high number of OOS anyway, you won’t see much difference to other state flagships. And it’s hard to believe undergraduate teaching quality at the UC’s is in any way superior to other state flagships. Many classes are overcrowded and taught by non tenure-track instructors. Add to that the current effort to move more courses online, and it’s hard to find the “ivy” in public ivy.</p>
<p>Ah, but Momsquad, it might be as good as it gets for now. The UC system has consistently been ranked first in just about every assessment of public colleges. I don’t doubt that there are problems. My brother who is a Californian has nothing good to say about the schools there from K-UC, as he lives right there and sees all of the warts. Doubt his kids will go to a UC, maybe not even qualify for one as my other brother couldn’t get his kids into the Virginia public schools that they wanted. </p>
<p>The NY system was modeled after the CA system, but it isn’t doing as well in terms of name recognition and attracting the top kids in thes tate. The UCs have done well that way, and the academics are top rated as well.</p>
<p>Heh, heh, MomofWildChild, good point. If one has to go back that far to find a an incident like that, an area is doing pretty well.</p>
<p>While not a flagship, Lake Jr. and I were impressed with SUNY Plattsburgh, which has a new science building and an excellent program in Physics, which is Jr.'s interest. Met several Plattsburgh students on our visit, from all walks of life. Many of them had no reservation saying that they chose the college for the tuition break. The bright students at Plattsburgh impressed me as people who would have been motivated and successful at any school.</p>
<p>As for the 4 SUNY University Centers, I think the Nanotechnology center at Albany is a great idea, but IMO there are too many research centers spread out in the SUNY universe. I counted 17 STEM locations supported by the SUNY Research Foundation. Wouldn’t the money be better spent on just a couple, three campuses instead of 17?</p>
<p>^ everyone wants a piece of the pie.</p>
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<p>Friend of mine who teaches at one of the SUNYs says this has been a chronic problem from the beginning of the SUNY system, which was cobbled together out of a bunch of separate institutions in 1948. From the outset, my friend argues, state legislators have viewed SUNY mainly as a source of political pork, an opportunity to pour money and jobs into their own legislative districts. That’s why there are 64 campuses, 4 “university centers,” 10 doctoral-granting institutions, and 13 “university colleges” spread out in every far-flung corner of the state. And that’s why there’s no true flagship: what one gets, others must get as well to put together the political coalition that’s needed for anything to go forward, i.e., “You get yours only if I get mine.” </p>
<p>No doubt some of this occurs in other states as well, but it seems particularly dysfunctional in New York State which easily spends enough money (roughly $5 billion/yr, or roughly 3X what Michigan or Virginia spends on post-secondary education) to have a stronger top-end state university, if that were a priority for them. Instead, the highest-ranking SUNY comes in at #32 among public universities according to US News, despite NY ranking #3 among the states (after CA and TX) in total state post-secondary education spending. What New York ends up with is a bunch of middling to better-than-average schools in a lot of state legislative districts.</p>
<p>^bclintock, exactly. </p>
<p>My DH works for NYS and everything happens that way.</p>
<p>D really likes her flagship U here in Texas. A good mix of challenging classes and social life</p>