<p>Let me introduce a bit about myself. I am a double major in Business Management with a Concentration in Finance and Economics. Unlike cby1990, I immigrated to America when I was 6 years old. I was naturalized years before I applied to Stony Brook. I am currently in the Dean’s List. Even though this is my second year in Stony Brook, I currently stand as a junior (U3 Standing). I recently got accepted into another college upstate and I am going to transfer out of Stony Brook. Before I leave I want to share my experiences in Stony Brook.</p>
<p>When I came into SBU in my freshman year, I was ahead of the game. Typically students had to take WRT 101 and WRT102 to finish their writing requirements. I only had to take WRT102 and be done with it. On my second day of school I was dropped out of my WRT102 class. The email on SOLAR said this in the first sentence: "WRT-102 has been removed from your schedule and ESL-193 will be added once the course becomes available.” This means that I have to take ESL193, WRT101, and then WRT102 to finish my writing requirements. They set me a year back in a sense. What was worse was that there were no ESL-193 classes to be added as they were all full. SBU denied me a class in my first semester here.</p>
<p>During that time, I was a Mechanical Engineering Major. The Mechanical Engineering Major had very strict set of classes that you have to take. During your sophomore year, your whole entire schedule should be packed with MEC classes. If I had to take writing during my sophomore year, then I will have a huge course load of work. When they denied me a writing class my first semester, I will be further set back on my academic course work. </p>
<p>But the problem is that due to the HUGE budget cuts the school had to deal with, students are restricted during their registration dates to only apply for 16 credits a semester. I was concerned because there is a chance that during my sophomore year, the writing classes will be full and I would not be able to take writing along with all of the coursework that I have. This means that I may not be able to graduate on time, as some of junior standing classes require a student to satisfy their writing requirement. These were all potential hazards that would impede me from graduating on time.</p>
<p>The reason why I was dragged down to ESL193 was because of two things: the survey and my SAT essay. The survey was taken when you apply to SBU. Amongst a few things it asked you, it asked you these two questions: Were you born in the US? Yes or No. Did you learn English before you were 6 years old? Yes or No. I answered these questions honestly and I clicked No and No. These two questions then branded me as a foreign or ESL student. This means that I will be judged as an ESL student by the Linguistics Department. They then read my SAT essay, and deemed me as a student deserving ESL193 than WRT102.</p>
<p>During that time, I found it impossible because my combined SAT Reading/Writing score was high; that was why I got into WRT102 initially. But after the survey they investigated further by reading my SAT essay and they deemed me as ESL193. I had a lot of problems with this. I called the head of the ESL program in the Linguistics department and she told me that sending me to WRT102 was an error. They automatically placed me in WRT102 because I did not do my survey yet.</p>
<p>I found that it was unfair for them to judge me by two questions. Furthermore, they then judged me by a 25 minute essay specifically designed and written for the SAT only. I took a lot of SAT prep classes under the Princeton Review and I have learned how to milk the scores out of the SAT essay. I was taught to give a lot of examples and write very quickly. Grammar and syntax errors were rampant in my essay but the whole point was to give as many examples and get your point across. The Linguistics department then read that essay and said it was ridden with grammar and syntax errors and thus I was dragged down into ESL193.</p>
<p>I gave all of these valid claims through the two minute conversation with her over the phone. She then told me that it “doesn’t matter.” I then told her that my SAT reading/writing scores were higher than some of my friends who had to take the writing placement exam and was placed at least in WRT101. The writing placement exam was required for students who scored several points lower in the SAT reading/writing to determine whether or not they go to WRT101 or WRT102. I was waived from the placement exam because my scores were good enough to waive it and go directly to 102. But then she told me that I was “ESL.” I then told her that I have been in this country since I was 6. Then she gave the most offensive and borderline racist statement: “It doesn’t matter, you’re not born here.” She even told me that I can’t take the placement exam because it was for native students.
I have never been so angry and offended in my entire life. Just because I’m not born here means I’m ESL? English has been my native language, even though it was not my first. I have never learned how to read and write Chinese outside of my home. I then went back to my triple room and climbed up to my bunk bed and just meditated for a few minutes. My blood pressure ran so high during that moment that I couldn’t contain my body from shaking.</p>
<p>So I then had to suck it up and take ESL193. I wrote a good enough sample essay on the first day of class to bump me up into WRT101. I then passed my writing portfolio to waive myself from WRT102. If you guys have the same situation as me, you will not be as lucky to do what I did by killing three birds with one stone. You cannot hand in a writing portfolio to waive your WRT102 class anymore. My professor in WRT101 was the director of the writing department. He understood my situation wholeheartedly and agreed with me, unlike dozens of faculty members who I spoke to that told me that I needed anger counseling (not exaggerating). So this was the main thing that *<strong><em>ed me off about SBU. Like really *</em></strong>ed me off.</p>
<p>Now, I am going to talk about the school in terms of academics.</p>
<p>If you come to SBU and you are not a science, computer, IT, or engineering major, you will not amount to anything when you grow up. I am very ambitious and amount I mean by alot of money, in the 6th digits or more. Stony Brook’s Business major is good, but has no marketability at all. JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and all of the big financial institutions come here to recruit the IT majors. They barely even look at the Business majors so that is why I am transferring out. If you are looking to major in Art, Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, and English then I have no words to say about it but I personally consider them as “housewife” majors.</p>
<p>If you want to become a doctor when you grow up, SBU is a good litmus test to determine whether or not you have the rigor and the determination to become a doctor. That means you have to get all As in your science courses, particularly Orgo and Chem. If you fail at getting the grades required and having your dreams shattered like most of the students who want to go to med school, you can be a health science major like most of the students who failed, and work as a physician assistant and whatnot in the lower echelon of the healthcare industry. </p>
<p>Some people may be happy to get these types of jobs working an average salary with an average car, marrying an average wife. Like I said, I am very ambitious and I expect myself to be filthy rich one day, so I set my standards much higher than most of the students in this school. This is one of the reasons why I want to transfer out: because the students are not very motivated.</p>
<p>My Business courses so far are easy. I managed to get straight As my first semester of sophomore year, and I am expecting another perfect score at the end of this semester. The classes are somewhat engaging. My Economics courses are the ones I somewhat have to worry about, as all of my economics professors are foreign and are very bad at expressing their thoughts.</p>
<p>The social life in this school is the most depressing thing to talk about. The OP is correct; this school is filled with false diversity. Sure you can see a few group of friends that are mixed, but all in all, the Korean internationals hang out with Korean internationals, the Chinese internationals hang out with Chinese internationals, the African-Americans hang out with African-Americans, the Caucasians are usually commuters and have their own high school niche, the Asian-Americans hang out with Asian-Americans, the Indians hang out with Indians, so on and so forth. It is very rare to see these groups of people talk to each other. I have never seen a Korean international student not talking to a Korean international student. </p>
<p>As an Asian-American student, I can relate to being one of my kind. I try at times to converse with diverse groups but the attempts are little to no avail. There are so many barriers that it made me give up. Firstly, most of the non-Asians cannot tell the difference between an Asian-American and an Asian international. Secondly, this forces me to hang out with Asian-Americans. Lastly, all of these things combined create a depressing and boring social ambiance. This isn’t what college is about.</p>
<p>One of the best examples of why this school’s social environment fails is my old roommate. He is an Asian-American student. My suitemate was a Pakistani guy, a very cool guy with a very diverse amount of friends. My suitemate tries to talk to my roommate, but he never gave a second thought about him for the whole entire year we were all living together. I really think that it was just because he didn’t look like an oriental Asian.
When I thought about going to college, the main idea of getting a college education was not only to prepare you for the workforce, but to expand and broaden your perspective of the world. How can you expand and broaden, when someone forces hypocrisy amongst people of other race, culture, and ethnicity?</p>
<p>I have been so depressed with my group of friends and the social life here that I gave it all away. Hanging out with my friends was the most unproductive thing I can ever do in this school. At least going to parties and drinking it down relieved stress. Talking to them boils my ****. These uniform, social groups, my bunch of Asian-American friends for example, are very counterproductive. For international students, you want to assimilate into American culture and tell about it when you go back to your homeland. But when you go to Stony Brook, you can’t really say anything about it because it is all too similar to your homeland. My group of friends initially is assimilated into American society. I think, over time, they have de-assimilated. They sing and talk about Korean pop culture, while I rocked out and listened to Motley Crue, Metallica, and GunsNRoses. I came here to this country from China to be an American, not a Korean. Moreover, I feel that the more they hang out with each other the more they are causing each others’ downfalls. Each friend enables the others to fail in their academics. First, it is pulling two all-nighters in a row playing games, and then eventually it becomes academic warnings and then academic suspensions. I try to criticize them and force them to be productive, but it is hard to criticize a group of individuals when they praise and glorify each other when in reality they will not be able to get a job in this global environment. And as we are so similar in culture and ethnicity, there is no reason to really share each other’s perspectives on life. I will never be able to get that type of college education that I wanted here in SBU.</p>
<p>Maybe you incoming freshmen will make this school better than what I have experienced. Maybe you will find a colorful mix of friends, if that is what you desire. Maybe you will get your ideal college experience here. But when I transfer out of this school, I know that I will get the college education that I want somewhere else.</p>