<p>I am either going to Bing or Stony on a premed track. I've been told that Stony is better for the physical sciences, is that true? I know Stony will provide me research and volunteer opportunities with a hospital and lab on campus. However, Bing is slightly higher ranked, harder to get into, and has nicer dorms so I can't decide. Which is better for undergrad bio/chem? Thanks.</p>
<p>Stony has better sciences while Bing is more prestigious has a much better social life and attitude among students. It’s really your call. I’m majoring in Chem and I chose Bing over Stony.</p>
<p>Hi! My name is Rob and I’m a Binghamton University Student Ambassador.</p>
<p>We have a very good pre-med program here at Binghamton. As soon as you designate yourself as a pre-med major, you are set up with a specific pre-med adviser to guide you through the entire process to ensure that you’re taking the classes that you need to get into med school. This adviser is in addition to the Harpur Academic Advising office that is available to help you with scheduling and gen-eds and a faculty adviser you will receive within the Biology or Chem Department when you declare your major. This ensures that you’ll have someone available to help you every step of the way.</p>
<p>We have a lot of research opportunities at Binghamton. I have a friend named Sam who I met through a Latin class last semester, and she’s a freshmen on the Pre-Med track. She’s doing Parkinson’s research already in only her second semester on campus. Just last week, she did brain surgery on a rat. This is just one example out of many, and goes to show how easy it is to get involved on campus. The professor she’s doing research under didn’t even teach any of her classes. All she had to do to participate in research was go to his office hours, express her interest, and prove that she was qualified to help out. That’s really all it takes - as long as our students take the first step in reaching out to professors, then our professors are more than willing to work with you and get you involved.</p>
<p>Speaking of our faculty, we have very prestigious faculty. One of our most famous faculty is Professor Wittingham. Take one second and count how many mobile devices you have in your pockets or in your room. iPods, cell phones, gaming devices, etc. All of these devices work because of a lithium-ion battery, one of the most important developments in alternate energy in the past century. The lithium-ion battery was invented by Professor Wittingham. He, like all of our professors at Binghamton, teaches undergraduate classes. You can learn from distinguished faculty like Professor Wittingham and get involved with their research. Who knows, maybe you could help him discover the next best thing in energy!</p>
<p>These are some of the big features of our pre-med and science programs. I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to sign up for a campus tour. We offer science-specific tours, so you’ll be able to hear a lot about our science and pre-med programs. In the end, I can’t really “persuade” you to go to Binghamton, and I really don’t want to. I want to make sure that you make the best possible decision you can in choosing a college. I think Binghamton is a fantastic choice; it’s been great for me and we offer some really amazing programs and opportunities here. It’s up to you, though, to determine if Binghamton is the place that you can see yourself living, learning, and growing as a person.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any other questions!</p>
<p>~Rob</p>
<p>Rob. That is not quite correct. All professors at Binghamton don’t teach undergraduates. Many don’t. Some don’t teach at all. Some teach only one graduate course a year and nothing else. Others teach a few graduate classes but no undergraduate classes. US News lists the student faculty ratio at Binghamton as 20:1. But since all the professors don’t teach, the ratio is not very accurate as a way to see if there are small classes. The university has increased the number of undergraduates considerably without hiring new faculty. The result is a university that is markedly different from the one that was known as the “Jewel of the SUNY System”. The students are very different also. Credentials of the college students were stronger when it was smaller. But it has built up its sports teams to give the school more spirit and it is a very efficient way to get a college diploma. Some students can shave off a year if they come in with enough APs over 3.</p>
<p>Rob. We did one of those science tours this weekend thinking we would get to see the engineering facilities. We stood outside the engineering building for a few minutes and that was it. My son’s friend who was interested in seeing the mech eng facilities didn’t see a thing. My son who is interested in ECE didn’t see those facilities either. This is unlike any other engineering school we visited. The brand new engineering facility is very nice but is not where an undergrad will spend most of his or her time.</p>
<p>Peppersmom, the engineering programs are not the highest rated programs on the campus. That may change if there is more funding for it and you said that you did see the new building. So it will probably go up. There are other much higher rated departments. It depends on interest. Stony Brook’s engineering is considerably higher rated.</p>
<p>redsrule: Several things you just said are misinformation.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>All faculty DO teach undergraduate classes. We have no such thing as “junior” faculty, which is the way that most universities “hide away” their best professors for graduates. I just checked, for instance, and Professor Wittingham is teaching a “Techniques for Studying Solids” class in the chemistry department for undergraduates next semester. Every professor teaches at both levels.</p></li>
<li><p>Our student to faculty ratio was previously 21:1 before we started expanding our student body. It is now 20:1. We HAVE been hiring faculty continuously, and we plan to take the student to faculty ratio down further as part of President Stenger’s Road Map to becoming the premier public university of the 21st century.</p></li>
<li><p>Our student body has never been more competitive. This year, we received over 30,000 applications for only 2,500 spots. That’s a LOT of people applying, and it certainly translates into an extremely competitive student body.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>peppersmom: I’m sorry that you didn’t feel that we showed you enough of our Engineering facilities. The reason that we do not typically go into the Engineering building during a tour is that the facilities in side of it are extremely similar to the others that you see on a Science tour. On the Science tour, you should have seen a lab. That is a good example of what an Engineering lab would be set up as, with a few minor changes in equipment. Similarly, you most likely saw a classroom and classrooms would be set up very similarly in the Engineering building. Keep in mind that the Engineering building is NOT where all engineering classes are held. Students from all schools will take academic classes in all the academic buildings that we have at Binghamton. We do attempt to get our students involved in the ITC that you saw as soon as possible in their academic career. There is quite a bit of undergraduate research that does go on in that facility to allow our students to get the hands-on experience that they need in order to develop the skills that they’re learning about in class.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any other questions!</p>
<p>~Rob</p>
<p>No Rob, all faculty do not teach undergraduates unless you count having undergraduates working in the lab or teaching one undergraduate class every few years. I don’t see this as a big problem at all but it is not correct to claim that all professors teach undergraduate classes each year. When I was discussing the change in students I did not mean that there were fewer people applying but that the students who attend are not as strong academically as in the past. I am not saying that there are no strong students. But when the number accepted doubles (consider what happens if a school accepts the top 200 compared to accepting the top 100) , they can’t all be in the very top. Binghamton used to be the obvious choice for strong students attending SUNY. The choice of Binghamton is not as certain anymore. Geneseo attracts very strong students. So twice as many students are accepted at Binghamton and Geneseo now attracts very strong students. That is not a bad thing at all. It is good that Geneseo has become so good.</p>
<p>redsrule: All faculty teach undergraduates. You have sourced nothing that shows otherwise, while I have given examples of distinguished faculty that teach undergraduates. You’ve made several claims that you have not backed up with any evidence whereas I have given examples and shown where my information comes from, so I feel no reason to further attempt to argue against what you’re saying.</p>
<p>Over the past several years, the average SAT/ACT scores have gone up. Our students are bringing in more advanced credit. The average GPAs and class ranks of our students have gone up. Yes, we’re slowly increasing the number of students at our university, but the percentage we’re increasing our student body by is exceeded by the percentage of students applying to our university. The percentage of students that we accept has gone down because of this, making our university more competitive to get into and increasing the quality of our student body to continuously higher levels. Again, you’re making claims that are not based in fact with no proof or source to back them up. I love to see people come on these forums to give information to prospective students - it’s important that all prospective students are armed with information to make the best possible decision on which university to attend. It is even more important, though, that this information is correct.</p>
<p>~Rob</p>
<p>Does Binghamton University include all SAT/ACT scores in the published information? It would be necessary to see information from all the scores to determine if there have been changes over time. Particularly critical would be to convert the new SAT scores to the old ones since the recentering of scores means that an old 730 is a current 800. Something to consider before saying that scores have gone up. They haven’t. Not all profs teach undergraduates. I’m not going to point out those that don’t but there are a number. Most do but some don’t. I think we both can agree that transparency is important right? That has not always been this university’s strong suit. Nice if there is a change with the new administration. Time will tell.</p>
<p>Lets be honest the JEWEL of SUNY is Geneseo!</p>
<p>Your post was so irrelevant redsrule. He asked Stony or Bing for his specific major, and you just brag about Geneseo. What was the point of that post?</p>
<p>Exactly Ventura!</p>
<p>No one can ‘persuade you’, don’t be naive to be persuaded. Judge both schools, look at the hard facts, the undeniable facts, the fact that SBU is full of pre-meds, where a big chunk of those pre-meds get into medical school, where as Bing doesn’t have a similar culture due to it’s lack of concentration in Science and lack of resources, here is my answer:</p>
<p>I argue that Bing would not be a wise decision, and given your goal, it would be a terrible decision that you will regret, and I’ll tell you why. Stony Brook is far more ‘prestigious’ and better ranked than Binghamton when compared to the Sciences. Bing is more of a liberal arts school, with mediocre Science programs. From Physics, to Computer Science, Math, Chemistry, Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Health Sciences, Pre-med, comparing Bing to Stony Brook, to be frank, an insult to intelligence and common sense. </p>
<p>I’ll give you a slight example, of something which occurred today. Aside from Stony Brook known globally as an international competitor(thanks to Brookhaven National Lab), we are known to have students who are kick-ass in the Sciences. Back to my exampe, just today the results for the Putnam competition, the most prestigious Math exam on planet earth, this is an international competition where strictly the best of the best universities in the WORLD participate. Stony Brook was ranked 4th.</p>
<h1>1 was Harvard</h1>
<h1>2 was MIT</h1>
<h1>4 SBU</h1>
<p>This is huge, and it’s just a slight indicator of how strong Stony Brook is when compared to Binghamton in nearly every Science category. We are far stronger, and I will continue to give you PRACTICAL examples. No matter how hard Binghamton tries to compete with us in Computer Science, Stony Brook keeps shutting Bing down. We have won the ACM competition, competed internationally and generally the game is between Princeton vs Yale vs Columbia vs Stony Brook. We have 4x the # of faculty when compared to Bing in Computer Science, with 6x(and our budget is going higher and higher) the research budget, a new $100 million CS building under construction, CEWIT($50 million investment), along with an existing Computer Science building that is easily the size of the entire school of Engineering at Bing. We also have strong supporters, think of Jim Simon who continues to donate heavily to the University, and recently gave us the largest public school donation ever to a SUNY school(or I think any public school ever), so we have good friends ;), along with heavy investments made by our president.</p>
<p>Aside from being considered the flag-ship of SUNY(Binghamton is NOT considered a flagship by most NY politicians)source:
[Spitzer:</a> Stony Brook should be “flagship” school](<a href=“http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/spitzer-stony-brook-should-be-flagship-school-1.879792]Spitzer:”>http://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/spitzer-stony-brook-should-be-flagship-school-1.879792)</p>
<p>We simply have more investments in the Science, and are considered a top notch Science school, while Bing is a liberal arts school. Science is something we’ve been doing well in for quite some time, with Noble prize scientists teaching in our departments, inventing innovations like the MRI, and producing top-notch Alumni like the president of Stanford, it’s an insult to even have a conversation about which school is better in Science between Stony Brook and Binghamton.</p>
<p>About Science Rankings, now that I showed you above the calibre of our students, from nearly winning Putnam Math Competitions, to winning ACM competitions, to winning International Student Cluster competitions in Germany(Bing was no where to be found) to conducting research in a NATIONAL LAB(something BING does not have! BNL, is a federal lab, and you’d be silly to assume Bing would offer you a similar experience, it is IMPOSSIBLE for Bing to offer you an experience of a national lab, where you are conducting cutting-edge research, at a multi-billion dollar facility, with leading GLOBAL scientists)to a hospital(isn’t that great for pre-meds), to an actual dental school, medical school, Stony Brook screams SCIENCE, where Bing screams ART!</p>
<p>Stony Brook has a a top 20 biology program, Bing is a top 200 program, evidence:
[SUNY</a> Stony Brook’s rankings in the biological sciences](<a href=“http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/rank.html]SUNY”>http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/rank.html)</p>
<p>Stony Brook has the 4th best nuclear Physics program on earth, where as Bing is no where to be found, as per US world News.
Stony Brook has a top 25 national Computer Science program, Binghamton is no where to be found(I think Bing is like 108 or something), as per Gourman report & USWN
Stony Brook has a top 50 Engineering school, Bing is no where to be found, as per USWN
Stony Brook has a top 25 Math department, Bing is no where to be found, as per USWN
Stony Brook has a top 50 chemistry department, as per USWN, Bing is at 140
Stony Brook has a top 20 Psychology program, Bing is no where to be found.</p>
<p>It’s easy to dance around the whole ‘USWN ranks Bing one or two positions higher, so Bing is better’, but when you dissect the rankings in terms of Science, you see an mismatch between SBU and Bing. The boost given to Bing is in its liberal arts and business school, not Science. Science is what drags Bing down.</p>
<p>Simply put, no Binghamton Student can deny this: Stony Brook is a far, far,far superior school when it comes to Science, research in Science, opportunities in Science. The president of Stony Brook, who is an M.D himself, is continuing this process by heavily investing in Science. The goal is to make us a top 20 public university, and a global force in Science, our contributions and discoveries in Science are already thanked by the world.</p>
<p>Bing is a great liberal art schools, but please refrain from misinforming the public. Bing and Stony do NOT belong in the same category, when the discussion is about Science. From rankings, to practical competitions, to discoveries, to research that has led to discoveries like the MRI, to alumni that is unparalleled in Science(think of the president of Stanford), to a far higher Science research budget, to simply more investments, there is no comparison. Even in something like Earth Science, we are top 25 in the nation, where once again Bing is no where to be found. However, if you want to major in Business, History, Finance, Anthropology, Bing might be a better choice, but every university knows that in the SUNY system, Stony Brook is synonymous with top quality Science.</p>
<p>For those board, read this,</p>
<p>[Stony</a> Brook Happenings » SBU Student Math Team Places in Prestigious Putnam Competition](<a href=“http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/student-spotlight/putnam-competition/]Stony”>http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/happenings/student-spotlight/putnam-competition/)</p>
<p>This semester alone we won a national robotics competition, did some major breakthroughs in Chemistry, ranked 4th in the Putnam prestigious competition(THE MOST prestigious Math competition in the universe), ranked 2nd out of 67 universities in a Computer Science competition, and much, much more. As you can see, aside from far, far better rankings, our students are even giving ivy-leagues a run in certain fields, thanks to our unparalleled resources.</p>
<p>Is Stony Brook still considered a suitcase school? Do you have any research on what percentage of students leave on the weekend to go elsewhere, perhaps home? </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/suny-general/1048777-binghamton-stony-brook.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/suny-general/1048777-binghamton-stony-brook.html</a></p>
<p>We toured Stony Brook last Sunday, and Binghamton on a Sunday in February. Aside from the weather (beautiful on Sunday, extremely cold and windy in February), there were many fewer students hanging out on campus at Stony Brook. I was trying to encourage my daughter to consider Stony Brook but she says she knows too many kids from NYC who go home every other weekend. So, no, not completely a suitcase school, but Binghamton is much less so.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on how SUNY Buffalo and Binghamton compare, particularly for the sciences, engineering and business?</p>
<p>Thanks, OldMom, for your observations.</p>
<p>But there must be some research backed-by a link to this question. I’m sure Stony Brook must have thoroughly researched this issue at some point.</p>
<p>Red, </p>
<p>My question was not directed to you.</p>
<p>Do you have any research regarding the number of students that leave campus on the weekends at Stony Brook?</p>
<p>If not, then don’t respond to me.</p>
<p>Read my link. For years Stony Brook has had a rep. as a commuter school.</p>
<p>There are other things to consider outside a school academic reputation in choosing a school.</p>
<p>If your son or daughter is not happy wherever they end up, they will not succeed no matter that academic reputation.</p>
<p>Maybe that simple thought escapes you.</p>
<p>PS If you would have taken the time to read my posts, you would have learned that I don’t work for Bing.</p>
<p><a href=“At ‘Suitcase Schools’ Around the Country, Friday Means It’s Time to Leave - The New York Times”>At ‘Suitcase Schools’ Around the Country, Friday Means It’s Time to Leave - The New York Times;
<p>Folks tend to get really cranky when you refer to their schools as a “suitcase school”. I noticed that on a few college visits we made last year - Stevens, CW Post, TCNJ, Stony. It’s like you’re attacking the school’s spirit of something. But to answer your question, yes…I think Stony does have a bit of a “suitcase” reputation. Just part and parcel of its huge in-state student body and it’s location -easily accessible to most downstate NYers as well as anyone in the general tri-state area. Does it make it a bad school? Of course not…but it does influence the campus dynamic.</p>