<p>@ Juillet, well that’s a very long and informative post and I thank you for your time. </p>
<p>So, to start off, I haven’t decided what I want to do after undergrad, at least not yet. Even though, Stony Brook’s PhD program is strong, their undergrad program isn’t very impressive; QS ranked it somewhere in the 100 - 200 range. This will matter if I decide to pursue a career in economics after I graduate. However, as I learn more about economics and discover that the career that awaits me after graduation isn’t what I want, I’ll go to med school. Therefore, I need a college to be strong in economics and have a student body that has a chance of acceptance to a decent med school. </p>
<p>As to clear some things, so far from my semester at Stony Brook, my reaction to college has been that it’s “useless.” I’m paying money, so that I may teach myself and in the end get a piece of paper that will imply the college taught me something. Whatever I’ve done, I did it myself. I learned >nothing< from the lectures. I read the books and attended my lectures ONLY because attendance was graded. If I had the option I would’ve never attended any lecture because they were a waste of time. I don’t if this is how college is meant to be, but I wasn’t prepared for this surprise. But I’ll give credit where it is due. The intermediate writing class was excellent and I found it surprising because Stony Brook is not at all known for its Humanities. Anyways, for the rest of the classes, if I failed at teaching myself a concept, I asked some of the junior or senior students to explain it to me, and if they weren’t sure, I looked at videos by MIT professors. I scored a 3.84 GPA and I frankly didn’t put much effort until a week before the finals. </p>
<p>So, here’s the thing. If I get accepted to a college with a strong economics program and I find out that there’s a lot to be learned and that the >college< can help me excel in the field, I will pursue a career in economics and most likely go for a PhD. I will still take pre-med classes to ensure medicine remains an option. If I don’t get into a college with a strong economics program, and have to remain at Stony Brook, I’ll probably go for engineering even though I have no interest in it. The business and economics classes at Stony Brook are considered blow-offs. They are completely by the book and they the lectures are useless. But I must admit, they are easy A’s. I don’t want to attend a college that’s draining my interest in something I’ve always liked. Most of the people here are either aiming to be engineers or science majors who will later on become doctors. The business and economics classes are attended by mostly athletes or people who failed all other classes. And if I’m investing 4 years and a lot of money, I don’t want to waste it on a program that’s a “blow-off” or an “easy A.” I want a challenging program, a program that’s not completely by the book, a program that will actually demand effort on my part. And Stony Brook can offer such a program only if I aim for engineering. </p>
<p>As for the total experience, I’d say academics should make up the major portion of the experience but yes, there’s a lot more to it. I spent about the second half of my life in Dubai. This may seem very strange but there was more “visible” diversity at my high school than at Stony Brook University. My classes at my HS included people from Canada, Lebanon, France, Bangladesh, Brazil, Russia, US, Yemen, China, Sri Lanka – you name it! At Stony brook it seems that everyone is Chinese, Indian, or American. I know that’s not true but again I’m talking about visible diversity. Also, Dubai is a city… and one hell of a city too. Stony brook is far too different from it and I try to go to NYC as often as I can but it takes a lot of time and the transportation costs quite a bit. I know I made a mistake when I chose this college and I knew I’ll be transferring out within my first week at Stony Brook. As an international student, I didn’t have to opportunity to visit colleges and decide whether I like them or not by personal experience. I had to base my judgment from what people posted about it. Sadly, I didn’t pay much attention to the critical posts and just focused on posts, like yours, that made Stony Brook seem the one option right after top-tier colleges. </p>
<p>Now, can you please suggest a good college fit for me? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>