Stevens vs Stony Brook for Physics

[juneblue]

Would appreciate any insight. My son will be entering college with a 504. We are torn between these two choices because Stony Brook seems to have the better physics program, but it is a huge school environment. We don’t know much about the Stevens physics program, but it seems pretty good as well from preliminary research. With scholarships, Stevens will be about $45K and Stony Brook will be under $30K. But, cost is not an issue for us compared to what would be the better environment.

[happy1]

Entering college with a 504 can mean a thousand different things. Without knowing your child’s particular issues any comment may or may not make sense for your son’s situation. Also I can’t speak to the physics departments at the two schools but in general I’d consider Stony Brook and Stevens to be academic peers.

It is probably late in the game to do meaningful research but here are some things I would consider.

–If your son would thrive with smaller classes and more direct interaction with the professor I would look into the sizes of classes, particularly for intro classes which can tend to be large, at some schools.

–I would contact the Office of Disability Services at both schools to understand: 1) what documentation is needed to be approved for accommodations at the school; 2) what types of accommodations the school can be expected to provide; 3) what types of academic support (ex. tutors, writing centers etc.) exist on campus; and 4) how a student must arrange to get accommodations. Typically a college student must self-advocate (ex. talk to each professor) to get accommodations but there may be some variation from college to college. When my S was down to his last choices we made an appointment and he visited the Office of Disability Services at the schools but I expect there is not time to do that now.

–Think about which school might be a better social fit.

–Look at what, if any, courses outside of the major are required (ex. general ed requirements) to see if anything might be problematic for your son (ex. some students struggle with foreign language, writing etc.). Most colleges have an online course catalog or have this information on the website.