My son get accepted to both. He plans to study business. Any feedback on both schools in terms of academic, campus life, intern and job opportunity.
@bigdad930 Binghamton devotes a lot of resources to Accounting which results in them having the big NYC accounting firms recruit heavily on campus and provide internships and jobs to accounting majors who finish near the top of the class. But other than Accounting I don’t see a particular edge in academics business-wise of Binghamton over Baruch. In the USNews&WorldnReport 2018 ranking of undergrad business schools Baruch College Zicklin was ranked #64 versus Binghamton SOM ranked #128. Don’t take these rankings too seriously but it gives you some sense of perception. Baruch is thought of highly. Binghamton has a nice residential campus with several relatively new dorms lthat resemble hotels more than student living spaces. A lot of Long islanders and downstate students attend Binghamton whereas Baruch student body is comprised mostly of students from the 5 boroughs of New York city. How did your son feel at both schools? At Binghamton there are lots of student activities on campus. But it is an enclosed campus and you need a car or bus to go outside of campus. I am not as familiar with Baruch but I understand Baruch business is like commuting to work everyday with the business school located in one building and no campus. While Baruch has the advantage of being in the city and perhaps making it easier for the students to decide part time work or internships in the city, Binghamton has NYC site visits that help students make connections and secure internships/job opportunities. See https://www.binghamton.edu/ccpd/students/nyc-visits.html
Finally, regarding cost, can you afford the cost of each school without taking out loans? Is there a big cost differential? I know Binghamton cost about $25,000 ($10K tuition plus $15K room and board) versus $23,000 for Baruch ($8K tuition plus $15K room and board). But is Macaulay Honors free tuition??That is a big plus. Also did you get any need-based aid or merit aid that would make one less costly than the other? If your family income is under $125,000 then I believe tuition is free for SUNY. Not worth it to pick one of these schools over the other if it will result in paying a lot more for one versus the other. It if costs are roughly equal and your son does not want to major in Accounting, then he should choose based on comfort and fit of which campus and academic program /course offerings he likes better. But if Accounting is his thing, I’d choose Binghamton.
Thanks for your info. At this time he does not know exactly what he wants to major in business … but he knows he likes to explore finance, management or marketing or perhaps study accounting so he gets a feel of his interest. We are living in Queens NY so if he decides to go to Macaulay Honors Baruch then he will commute from home. Like what you say Baruch is a commute school there is no campus feel there. The nice thing about Macaulay honors is tuition is free as long as he can maintain a certain GPA (I think 3.5) for the 4 yrs and I heard there is a funding around $7,500 you can use to study abroad which is a good perk. We will take a visit to Binghamton in April. If he decides to go Binghamton SOM the annual cost will be around $25K and I am ok to pay for that. I just want him to feel what he likes.