Hello guys! Does anyone commute here to stony brook? I’m planning to live at home and take a LIRR all the way from Brooklyn…3 hours of traveling. It’s cheaper though. Do you think it is a good choice or is it better to spent the money for a dorm? Or maybe some of you who got in need a roommate if you rent on your own? Hmu
Dorm without a doubt. Three hours of commuting is insane and you will miss a lot of the college experience by living at home
@lilaw88 so you think it’s worth paying 13.000?
Ouch… 3 hours on the LIRR is a LOT. And that’s EACH direction from Brooklyn, right?
Are there any CUNY schools— maybe Queens??-- that would be a better option and a better commute?
Is there any way you qualify for the Excelsior scholarship, so that tuition would be pretty much covered and you could spend your money on room and board?
@bjkmom I was accepted to hunter college, I was going to go there, but then I realized I want SBU so much
OK, so find a way to make it work. Are you currently working? Do you qualify for work-study at SBU?
Or decide that Hunter really IS a great school, and decide to “bloom where you’re planted… at Hunter.”
What about Hunter doesn’t compare to SBU?
I don’t know, some people just say cuny isn’t good enough. Of course it will be cheaper and also I will get a chance to stay at home, but I want to get in a dental school after my bachelors. Do you think that after hunter college I’ll be able to make it to a dental school ?
I bet you a dollar that the people who are trash talking CUNY are mostly other kids, right? Who know absolutely no more than you do, other than the fact that going away sounds so much more glamorous than staying home???
If you want to go to dental school, then you’ll want to spend as little as possible undergrad. I don’t know the particulars about Hunter-- the people I know who went there did so long ago that the stats no longer matter. But I think it’s a great question for an admissions counselor.
Oh, and keep in mind-- that 3 hour EACH WAY commute to SBU is the Good Weather time. Think back to the weather over the last month, and think of what snow does to a commute like yours. And, because I have absolutely no idea of the answer-- how would you get from the LIRR station to the school? And would you be comfortable doing it in darkness? And in snow and ice?
Hunter is looking better and better in my mind.
If you want dental school, you absolutely don’t want to pile 3 hours of commuting on top of all the course work. You will need top grades and significant EC experience in related fields. You are going to wear yourself out trying to do all that on top of a monster commute.
Here is a list of where Hunter college graduates have been accepted:
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/prehealth/pre-health-faqs#What%20are%20some%20medical%20and%20health%20professional%20schools%20Hunter%20students%20have%20been%20accepted%20to
Three hours each way? Or round trip? Each way is nuts
According to the LIRR schedule, I’m seeing trains a 2 hour one way commute-- with a change at Jamaica.
"8:32 PM Brooklyn, New York…
10:32 PM Stony Brook
(Stony Brook, New York)
Or 2.5 hours
7:56 PM Brooklyn, New York-- that one is Brooklyn to Penn to StonyBrook!!!
10:32 PM Stony Brook
And that’s station to station, not home to classroom.
And, from the SBU site (can you tell I’m in no mood to make up a Precalc test, lol???):
“Railroad - Long Island Rail Road - Stony Brook can easily be reached by the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), originating in Pennsylvania Station, Manhattan (New York City). Be sure to take the Port Jefferson line of the LIRR to the Stony Brook station. You will probably have to change trains in Huntington or possibly Hicksville. The Stony Brook station of the LIRR is located on the north edge of campus, a 15-minute walk from the Wang Center and Nobel Dormitories. A regular campus shuttle bus stops on the campus side of the train station, and it can be taken to the Wang Center or Nobel Dormitories.”
So we’re talking a walk from home to the LIRR station, a change at either Penn or Jamaica, possibly another change at either Huntington or Hicksville. From the LIRR station, it’s then a matter of walking 15 minutes to the Wang center.
Rinse and repeat after class.
My advice to to run to Hunter!!!
Definitely. We live 15 minutes from SB and my son lived on campus to get the experience. Not to be ruin in bad weather he was right there and was able to spend nights in the library and meeting with other kids for group projects. The LIRR does stop on campus but uuu need to take a campus shuttle to class from the station.
@bjkmom this is phenomenal ! I actually never thought about this under this angle. Definitely, commuting doesn’t seem an option. And like you said, those are the kids, my other classmates who are telling that. But Im concnerned to spend as little amount of money for undergrad, so I’m considering going to hunter college, see what they can offer, maybe speak with advisors. And it takes only 1h to get there from my home.
Thank you so much for your answers ! It really openeded my eyes!
I hope I’ve been of some help.
I have nothing against Stony Brook–except, in your case, the geography. It just seems like it would wear you down; prevent you from doing anything else except commute to and from classes.
So it seems that commuting is off the table. Now let’s talk finances.
I imagine that the tuition for Hunter is probably pretty close to that of SBU, so that’s a wash. Did either of them, by any chance, offer you money that could influence your decision? If you really do have your heart set on dorming and/or SBU, do you have the money-- ballpark $12K or $13K a year-- to make it happen? Are you by any chance eligible for the Excelsior Scholarship to help cushion the blow? Have you had the money talk with mom and dad about how much they can afford?
If SBU is off the table, is Hunter a done deal? Or are there other SUNY/ CUNY acceptances to consider?
If you’re set on Hunter-- and, as we’ve said, it’s a great school!!-- then have the “I think I’ve decided” chat with mom and dad and talk about putting down a deposit.
Then go online to their bookstore and get yourself a Hunter T shirt to wear to school on May 1. Go to the Facebook page for the class of 2022 and meet some of your future classmates. And decide to be thrilled to death to be attending such a great school.
My daughter’s first choice was Oneonta, and she was so hurt when she was rejected! She simply wan’t thrilled with the research she had done with her other choices, and what we had learned by visiting. So she had a one day pity party and sent out apps to other schools.
Next fall she’ll be attending a school neither of us had ever heard of last fall: Plymouth State in NH. We visited and fell in love!! Sometimes God (Or the Universe if you prefer) puts you where you need to be; you just don’t realize it at the time.
@bjkmom I was also accepted to NYU , Binghamton, u at buffalo. The thing is I really want to go to stony. And my parents tell me that I should go to stony even if it is expensive. And they can afford to pay for the dorm and for the tuition. We have 50-60k on our savings, but stony gave me just 3k of financial aid which means that I will have to pay around 7k-9k out of pocket plus the dorm and a meal plan it is 13k. I know Stony brook is worth paying these money, and i will have my college experience only once in my life, so maybe I just should go and dorm ? I am a very dedicated person, so I want to go to a place where I will get more knowledge/research /extracurriculars. I also play saxophone pretty professionally, and I saw that stony brook has a great orchestre, I was planning to go and play with them. Also, I already put my deposit to stony brook for both , housing and orientation. But I still have time to think until May about hunter, and get a refund of a partial deposit.
OK-- if you’re looking at SUNY, it seems that you’ve chosen SBU over Binghamton and Buffalo. And NYU is crazy expensive.
So now it looks like your choices are commuting to Hunter or dorming at SBU… does that sound like where you are?
Are you eligible for Work Study-- could you get an on campus job to help defray things like spending money?
Are you working now? Would you consider picking up a part time job now? You could make some pretty decent money between now and September.
Jobs at SBU: http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/student-employment/working-on-campus/index.html
How about taking a day and going to see Stony Brook again?
Yes , I’m choosing between hunter commute and SBU dorming. I’m currently working part time, and yes I was also planning to work at stony. They have research programs for which they pay for example . Going to visit SBU seems like a good idea! I even chose my classes and put them in a shopping card but couldn’t register yet. I think I won’t be so exited about hunter, some of my friends go to hunter and they can’t even pipette the right way… the thing is stony brook doesn’t guarantee dorms for transfer students and I’m afraid I won’t get a room, although they said if I made a deposit before may1 I have a better chance of getting it
You’re not a transfer; you’re an incoming freshman, right?
It sounds as though you’ve made your choice then. Congrats!!!
Here’s the site where you can buy a T shirt!!! http://rit.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?categoryId=40000&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=22552&top=Y
Is the $50-60k in your parents savings specifically for college, or is that their entire savings? If it’s a college fund, it seems like dorming at Stony Brook is affordable. If it’s their entire savings, I’d commute to Hunter or look for other schools. But I wouldn’t try to commute 2-3 hours/day, especially in NYS.