<p>Good Morning all,</p>
<p>Although this is my very first post on CC, I have been reading the forums for a while. I thank you all for such great help with my application process.</p>
<p>After the round of rejections/ acceptances, eh, I have narrowed down to a very few choices but I find myself unable to decide as to which colleges to weed out. I am having trouble finding the "one".</p>
<p>I was wondering if I could hear from either current or former students regarding the following. Please be completely honest. </p>
<p>1- I am not really looking for the traditional college experience in terms of the keg party, getting drunk kind of scene. Is the scene at Bing mostly geared towards partying, drinking etc? There is nothing wrong with that, I assure you. It is just not where I want to be. I am not a drinker and I am more of a coffee shop, lay low kind of gal.</p>
<p>2- I am interested my majoring in either Psych or Neuroscience. My HS guidance counselor indicated that I should be looking for plenty of research and internship experience. Sadly, this is not something I would be able to do over the summers, as I need to obtain paid work. I want to be able to support myself, in terms of incidentals, clothing etc, while my parents pay for tuition. Is there opportunities for both during the school year? I read on another thread that Bing has connections with Upstate Medical but that is about an hour and a half away from Vestal. Does Upstate medical have facilities closer to Vestal then? Are there other hospitals or clinics in the area with affiliations? I tried a map search on google maps but I did not see much.</p>
<p>3- Can someone provide more details on academic advisement? I am very confused as to how that works. I am not sure I would be declaring a major right away so I am not sure what happens then. I have read that Bing will set you up with an academic advisor in your major. What if you don't have one from the get go? I really need individual guidance.</p>
<p>4- Is there a page where I can look at current research taking place at Bing? As you can tell, I am really interested on this.</p>
<p>5- I do not want to go on a pre med track. Is the curriculum geared towards premed?</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Hi! My name is Rob and I’m a Binghamton University Student Ambassador.</p>
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<li><p>To be blunt, Binghamton has a party scene. All colleges do, in some form or another, and if a college tells you there is no drinking on campus, they’re absolutely lying. The party scene at Binghamton is not all-consuming, though. Many of our students choose not to drink or choose to drink rarely, and that’s entirely fine. I personally do not drink, and I still have a great social life here. I absolutely love it at Binghamton. You also may be happy to know that we have something called “Jazzman’s Cafe” at several locations around campus, which is basically a Starbucks style of shop. Coffee!</p></li>
<li><p>One of the strengths of our science programs here at Binghamton is our research, definitely. We try to get our students involved practically as early as possible, and it’s very easy to take part in research during the school year. One of my friends who I’ve talked about in the past on CC, Sam, is a second-semester freshmen like me. Sam is doing Parkinson’s research this semester - and not the kind of “research” that involves data entry and never getting to work with the professor. She’s getting to do really cool things. For instance, she performed brain surgery on a rat by herself around two weeks ago. Again, this is as a freshman. As long as you as a student reach out to some of our faculty, they will be willing to get you involved in their research if they believe that you have the necessary skills.</p></li>
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<p>As for internships at hospitals, we do have multiple hospitals in the Binghamton area that we are partnered with to provide our nursing students with clinical placements. Upstate Medical is a bit farther away, but if you get the opportunity to internship there, it really is worth the drive - it’s the most prestigious hospital in the upstate area. We do have closer opportunities for our students as well, though.</p>
<p>I would also encourage you to look for internships during the summer. I totally understand the financial side of things, but paid internships DO exist, and our Career Development Center is great at helping our students find them. I work part-time at the Career Development Center, and the job postings that I see come through contain many paid internships. Definitely take a look - you never know what you’ll find!</p>
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<li><p>I posted a lot about academic advising in another thread, explaining about how our dual-advising program works. I’ll link you there, but if you have any additional questions about advising, definitely ask! I’d be happy to help. Here’s the link: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15831783-post2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15831783-post2.html</a></p></li>
<li><p>Here’s a few links you can check out for examples of current research taking place at Binghamton:
[Binghamton</a> University Research News - Insights and Innovations From Binghamton University](<a href=“http://discovere.binghamton.edu/]Binghamton”>http://discovere.binghamton.edu/)
[Division</a> of Research - Binghamton University](<a href=“http://research.binghamton.edu/]Division”>http://research.binghamton.edu/)</p></li>
<li><p>We do have a Pre-Med track available, but you can choose not to participate in it, definitely. Binghamton is a research university, so our curriculum is mostly geared towards preparing our students to be able to conduct research while teaching them the theory portion of the sciences simultaneously. That leads some of our students towards a Pre-Med track, and we have advisers and other programs said up to help them on that path. It leads many of our students to other areas. We have many students within our science programs that are not on a Pre-Med track.</p></li>
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<p>Let me know if you have any other questions!</p>
<p>~Rob</p>
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<li>Rob is right. </li>
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<p>2.Look up the academic advisor for Pyshc and Neuroscience and make an appointment to see them or talk with them over the phone. Ask them your questions.</p>
<p>There are research opportunities on campus, but you may want to give yourself some time to acclimate to college before you do any research. You can earn up to 8 credits for internships toward your degree. You can earn some interdependent study credits as well. Rob is right. There are paid internships available around the state and country. Do the research to find them. You can locate some twitter handles on the topic by entering “new york internships” and you will see at least two handles pop up. Also, BU has a search function for jobs and internships but you won’t be able to access that until August, I think, as a incoming freshman. Start now identifying sources for next summer. Maybe look for someplace close to home. </p>
<p>You can get that internship credit away from Bing. while at home. You just need to pay for it.</p>
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<li><p>There are general counselors and major specific counselors plus there are other counselor networks (students advising students) and a host of other related services. You will get some counseling before signing up for courses next fall during summer orientation. Once your are in the computer system, you can figure out the ins and outs of what you need to graduate.</p></li>
<li><p>Rob’s links are a good start.</p></li>
<li><p>My son is not interested in pre-med either. He want to do research as well and Bing. is accommodates that goal. Be aware that they try and weed out the pre-meds so the bio courses might be challenging. Same can be said for intro psych with pysch being most popular major for undergraduates across country.</p></li>
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<ol>
<li>I’m not a student yet, but I plan on attending this fall. I’m not a partner too, and I’ve met a bunch of people on the class page of FB who are like that too. So if you’re worried about being alone in the crowd, I suggest joining the group. 
to be honest, every college can be considered a party school.</li>
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<p>I’m also starting this fall. I’m not a partier and I signed up for chemical-free housing</p>
<p>1- I am not a partier either. With a school this size, of course there’s going to be a significant frat/party scene, but it also means that there’s going to be a significant amount of people who just aren’t into that. You might want to look into Late Night. Friday and Saturday night from 9 to 2am (I think?) there’s always a ton of stuff going on in the Union like movies and activities and food. There’s a good number of people who are always there.</p>
<p>2- Dunno about this, sorry, I’m a humanities major.</p>
<p>3- You’d be in Harpur Advising. You’re not assigned to any specific person; you can walk in whenever you want (or make an appointment with someone specific because some people prefer some advisers over others). They can answer pretty much all of your questions. There’s also the Career Development Center which can help you find internships. They have walk in hours and appointments too.</p>
<p>4- [Binghamton</a> University -](<a href=“External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center | Binghamton University”>External Scholarships and Undergraduate Research Center | Binghamton University) This maybe?</p>
<p>5- Definitely not. There are a good number of pre-med students but I find that they tend to major in bio or chem. I’ve never heard of a pre-med psych major. The psych program here is not social psychology-- it’s more cognitive/research based, so that’s good for you. I don’t know much about neuroscience but I know some people in it who are happy with the program and not pre-med.</p>