<p>My son has been accepted to Stony Brook as an Undeclared Major and is seriously considering attending. I know that SB is known as a science school; what is it like there if you aren't a science student? Also--what is the social scene like? He's from NYC and doesn't drive (yet). Any opportunities for fun if you don't have a car?</p>
<p>Also--the dorms. I know they house the students according to their major. How do they assign students to housing if they haven't picked a concentration?</p>
<p>I want him to learn but I also want him to be happy!</p>
<p>I'll let the folks who are actually students or parents address the social aspect, but I do want to clarify the housing piece. We house students based on interest, not major; he'll rank our six Undergraduate Colleges (<a href="http://ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/sb/colleges/%5B/url%5D">http://ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/sb/colleges/</a>) based on his preferences -- each of the six quads house one of the UCs. So all the people he lives with will have the same general academic interests, not necessarily the same major.</p>
<p>For example: the College of Arts, Culture, and Humanities is housed in Tabler Quad. The Tabler Center, in the middle of the quad, has a theater, practice rooms with pianos, an art studio, art gallery, coffeehouse, etc. It's a meeting place (and academic space) for students with interests in the arts, regardless of their major. Not all of the UCs have the same type of facility -- not every one lends itself to that type of facility -- but the first-year seminars and programs are geared around those themes.</p>
<p>Hope that makes sense. If you have other questions, don't be afraid to ask.</p>
<p>And don't necessarily be scared off by the "science school" thing; our five largest majors as of Fall 06 are Bio, Psych, Business, Economics, and Health Science (although English, History, and Poli Sci will all likely knock Eco out of the top seven by this fall).</p>
<p>Chris D'Orso
Assistant Director of Admissions
Stony Brook University</p>
<p>In some ways, Stony Brook can actually be a better school for a non-science major than for a science major.</p>
<p>I'm a double major in Linguistics and Biology, so I've sort of got both perspectives (though linguistics is definitely a science, it's not always viewed as such and is a smaller department here). While we're known for the sciences, many of our arts, humanities, and social sciences programs are just as strong as our "hard science" departments--and because they're not as well known, there's sometimes less competition for resources. So while in the bio department there are a huge number of courses available every semester and tons of labs to work in, in the linguistics department all the professors know me and I've had the opportunity to take grad classes and work one-on-one with professors in a way that probably wouldn't have been possible in a larger department. I've had some really fantastic profs in both science and non-science departments, and there are exciting things going on in all different subjects, so don't worry if your son doesn't want to be a scientist or an engineer--he won't be alone.</p>
<p>Socially, there's plenty to do. A car is definitely a plus in this area, but not a necessity.</p>