New Paltz, Geneseo, or Binghamton help me out here

Which of these schools (New Paltz, Geneseo, or Binghamton) do you think is the best? Do you have any reviews of any of these schools? I want to be a psych major but I will be an incoming undergrad freshman so I may end up changing majors sometime. I also don’t need to worry about masters or doctorate programs atm, I will think of that later. just which school do you think is the best

If you are not dead set on one specific major; then your preferences would matter most. My older brother seriously considered Geneseo and Binghamton. With how much larger Binghamton is, he liked Geneseo soooo much more. And the quaint Main Street area abutting campus was nice. Which did you like most after visiting?

I never got to visit geneseo but I did visit binghamton and I feel like it is so huge which made me like it slightly less. How is the geneseo campus?

It is a nice campus; and the tour was more organized than at Binghamton. See if there are virtual tour videos on-line

Binghamton is the more highly ranked school overall and the best of these three choices for psychology or any social science and humanities major in my opinion. And the quality of students is much better at Binghamton due to its greater admissions selectivity. Check out the differences in mid range gpa/class rank and standardized test scores of these schools. Binghamton is the more elite school of these three. Also, what is your Fallback major? If it’s computer science that would eliminate Geneseo, which did away with that department. If it’s business that would eliminate New Paltz, which only a few years ago got accredited and does not compare to the business school at Binghamton or Geneseo. But dont expect to be able to easily transition to Binghamton’s School of Management (for business) or Watson school (for computer science and engineering). It will be easier to transfer between social sciences and business at Geneseo. How comfortable (what was the fit) when you visited each of these campuses? Geneseo is very rural . New Paltz has an artsy quirky and quaint town feel. Binghamton has a nice out in the mountains feel and is next to a corridor of big box stores and restaurants and places to go to along Vestal highway. Also, the town of Binghamton is within a short car ride with lots of bars and restaurants. The campuses each have a unique feel. The cost for Binghamton will be a bit more, given the relatively new but costly forms which seem like hotels, which is a good thing. How does cost come into play?

I don’t think I’d want to fallback as computer science or engineering or business. I didn’t like how big binghamton was but I do admit I think they have a lot of resources which is good, I think new paltz was pretty cool in terms of looks but I didn’t get to attend a propper open house because I couldn’t attend those dates, I walked around but since it was a saturday and a holiday, most facilities were closed so I didn’t get to see much, I also never got to visit geneseo. As for cost, both geneseo and new paltz both give me enough to cover tuition without worry, binghamton gave about 3/4 of their tuiton fee; also in the future I plan to apply for the excelsior scholarship when that is ready, so cost is not a big worrying factor in my decision

I don’t know how you could not visit your top 3 choices as you have had this entire past year, vacations, holiday breaks, etc… Binghamton is your only choice because you cannot/should not pick a school without visiting and taking a formal information session and tour to give you a real informative overview and flavor of a school you will be spending the next 4 years of your life at. Unless you can squeeze in a visit to Geneseo and New Paltz with an info session and tour I would say you only have one choice —and a fine one at that–Binghamton.

I disagree that you should default to only the school you visited, particularly if another sounds like a better fit for some reason. Plenty of people pick a college without visiting. Play on each school’s website. Read Fiske, Princeton Review, Ulitmate Guide, Insider’s Guide, social media. Get a sense of each school. Which sounds best for your personality?
You can get a great education at any of the three. It is what you put into it.
I will say that we loved Binghamton when we visited recently. I have not visited the other two so can’t comment personally, but I know students who have been happy at all three.
One of the psychology professors at New Paltz is one of my husband’s best friends from college with whom we visit at least once every year; he is a great guy (and brilliant) who has been very happy teaching New Paltz students for many, many years now.

Geneseo is much smaller and more isolated than I thought before I visited. The town is very small and you’re surrounded by cornfields for miles. It made me feel uneasy, but then again, some people love that environment. I personally felt extremely claustrophobic at how rural it was. It has a good academic reputation and is a LAC.

Binghamton is where I went. I loved it so much. It is a bit big, but at the same time, it really isn’t. You can walk the entire campus in 10-15 minutes. And for what it’s worth, at every “big” school, students find a way to make it small. Whether it’s an academic program you’re in, a club, a religious community, a sport, your circle of people will still be small. There are plenty of academic offerings if you’re not positive what you want to do right now. I also went in as a psych major and switched my second semester. There’s a good number of “could’ve gone to a highly ranked private school or Cornell but couldn’t afford it” people, which leads to a strong, motivated student body.

New Paltz is where my brother goes. Its overall vibe is quirky, hippie, friendly, artsy. It has a strong reputation for certain departments, but I’d say has the least impressive general name recognition compared with Bing or Geneseo. That being said, everyone I know there is very happy to be there and seem to be doing well.

If Binghamton is too large, New Paltz may be a good fit. At New Paltz you can cross register at both Marist and Vassar, so there are a lot of options. And it’s a train ride away from Manhattan. Binghamton may not seem as large, though, when you’re involved in your major and activities. Geneseo may be too small since it’s more rural, but if you like that it may be a good fit.

What’s the cost difference per year and how are you bridging the gap? If finances may be an issue and you’re depending in the Excelsior grant, I think I’d choose New Paltz or Geneseo unless your parents can comfortably fund the difference.

Binghamton is out because out of the 3 it costs the most and the other 2 offer about the same amount, so it’s now down to geneseo and new paltz. I really like new paltz and I think I would prefer to go there but my dad says it sucks because geneseo is better academically, ranking, and recognition wise. However, geneseo is like in the middle of no where and I don’t have a car to get around places because I’m hella broke and cars are expensive and college is even more expensive. I still probably have like 2 days to decide because I’m not about to put my deposit in on the day of may 1st because what if something happens and the internet crashes or something, but it’s not a lot of time so I need to make a choice real soon and god I hate making big decisions.

Oh my God, I wish you were going to Binghamton so we could be best friends lmao, I’m physically incapable of making any big decisions. I haven’t even committed officially yet because I’m still sort of torn between Bing and Fredonia. I also got into New Paltz. My sister went there and graduated a few years ago, she absolutely loved it. I remember her taking some psych classes and saying she enjoyed them. That probably doesn’t help, but go with your gut…that’s what I’m trying to even though it’s killing me LOLLLL good luck!!!

after talking to so, so, so, many people and a lot of arguing with my dad and maybe a little bit of a breakdown I’ve come to the conclusion that I think I’ve wanted to go to New Paltz for my right brain and feed my creative side and I love the arts so I thought going there would make me happy because even though I want to major in psych, I might’ve been able to take some side classes for things I wanted to learn for fun and be happy. So everyone I talked to agreed that I seemed like I’d be happy at NP. I made a deposit for geneseo yesterday and was about to withdraw it and instead apply to NP but my dad contacted me and we talked for a really long time and he did the calculations again and found that bing gave about the same amount of money as the others once you take away the loans they added up so he spent a long time trying to reason with me on why I should still go to bing and how much of a better school it is. He also said if I really don’t like bing after a semester or two then I could always transfer to NP if I still want to. Long story short I made a deposit to binghamton today. I think I’ll be going there and hopefully I’ll like it and if not I’ll transfer.

Personally, I would recommend SUNY as the top choice - world class facility, top level resources. My son hails from the great state of Delaware and he is doing wonderful. He is from the 'burbs of Wellimington Delaware.