<p>Stony Brook ranked 3rd on Least Happiest Students on the Princeton review. And I've heard lots of stuff about how people end up hating the school and transferring because of everyone sticks to themselves, too many people leave on weekends, and there is nothing to do around stony. Is there anything in stony brook that is fun? And how far is the nearest desirable town to go to? And can someone tell me how it really is? I plan to join the band and some clubs to fight off this social factor, but can someone tell me something to soothe my soul so if I get accepted to stony brook I can just go since im majoring in Computer Science and I think stony is my best bet. Only thing stopping me is that I'm not outgoing, which is why i'm joining activites on campus (im dorming for sure) but im still wary...</p>
<p>First off, the Least Happy Students ranking, like most of the PR rankings, is totally useless. It’s based on answers to ONE question on one survey. Doesn’t seem at all like reliable methodology, and it doesn’t mesh with my (and my friends’) experiences at Stony Brook.</p>
<p>The second thing that jumps out at me is that if you join the band (assuming by that you mean marching band) you’re not likely to have trouble making friends. Joining any club or student group will jump-start the process of meeting people and getting involved, but the band and color guard is a particularly tight-knit group with a lot of great people in it who’ll introduce you to Stony Brook social life. If you get involved with other clubs and activities too, I’d expect you to have more fun stuff to do and more people to hang out with than you’ll actually have time for on top of classes.</p>
<p>More generally, there are plenty of people and plenty of things to do on campus. Recent statistics show that the vast majority of people stick around on weekends; the “suitcase school” image is outdated and inaccurate. I’ve written about this issue in more detail before so check out my previous posts in this forum if you want more specifics, but the basic gist is that there’s a huge variety of activities, events, and social niches available. In 5 years at Stony Brook, I never had any trouble finding more things I wanted to do than I could possibly fit into my schedule.</p>
<p>Stony Brook isn’t an ideal college town. All the basic amenities are there, but it’s not laid out in the most student-friendly way and the town of Stony Brook itself outside of the university doesn’t have all that much in the way of things to do. But Port Jefferson, which is only 10-15 minutes away by car, bus or train, is a lot of fun to hang out and walk around in, with lots of stores, restaurants and bars. I live in Port Jeff, and there’s enough night life here that it’s a huge pain in the ass to drive through on Friday or Saturday night because people spill into the street.</p>
<p>Bottom line: there is plenty of social life at Stony Brook, there are plenty of fun and interesting things to do, and our computer science department is great 
Now you just have to apply!</p>
<p>Have you visited? To me (a parent who lives nearby and has occasion to be on campus every so often) the schools is laid out like a commuter school - lots of wide roads, no green quad with kids throwing frisbees… It always strikes me as depressing when I’m there. I’m sure you can make friends if you join clubs, that wouldn’t be a problem. And if it’s easy to get into Port Jeff, then you’ve got some place to go and you can get into NYC from there. But there doesn’t strike me as much variety of stuff to do on campus. If you haven’t been there yet, make sure you visit.</p>
<p>You are both right. Stony Brook is not a flagship state university, so you can’t expect it to have that college town feeling. I agree that the town is non existent, the layout is very unfriendly for pedestrian and there isn’t anything good within walking distance, only a seven eleven and a run down greek dinner, so there isn’t anything to do outside of campus if you DON’T have a car. If you have a car, you can head out to port jeff, which has some good bars and can be nice to hang around on a sunny day, but you will have to be 21 for the former and you can pretty much see it all in one day.</p>
<p>As far as the social atmosphere inside the school, it is what you make out of it–that is all. If you are a friendly person who is outgoing and become involved, you will find your niche. But if you wait for people to befriend you and don’t put yourself out there, it will be tough.</p>
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<p>By the way, I am a CS major and a LOT of people in that major are socially seclusive. You can literally sit next to someone for an entire semester and they will never talk to you. It is a very grim scene, and honestly it really plays to the stereotype of technical majors being nerdy gamers, and weird social outcasts. There are so many weirdos in my classes that sometimes I feel like switching majors to something in liberal arts. It may have to do with the fact that like 70% of the class is composed of international who live and breathe academics.</p>
<p>So, I think it is a great idea to join clubs, and as many as possible. Since you are not outgoing, you can easily become a zombie like others in the major.</p>
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<p>I dunno about that. SBU has tons of green space, and I often see kids playing around or just sitting outside enjoying the sun (when it’s there), at least on the academic mall, which is the center of campus. And Mendelsohn/H definitely have a huge quad area; I can’t really say about the other dorms because I haven’t been there. You also have to consider when you go… we have a fair amount of time that’s chilly and snowy/rainy or really windy.</p>
<p>And if you’re doing marching band you will DEFINITELY gain friends and get in the social scene. I have a friend and know a couple other kids who are in it, and to echo Pseudonym, they’re pretty tight-knit.</p>
<p>I went to boarding school In SB, and the university was where me and my friends would hang out all the time, and I can tell you that it is incredibly BORING. I befriended a couple of students there and almost everyone hated it. Being from boarding school, of course i would have preferred to be at SUNY because of the freedom, but aside from that theres no spirit or anything. Hundreds, if not thousands leave the school by train every weekend and the campus is practically a ghost town, even during the day when school is in “full swing”. And yea, theres a starbucks and wendys on campus as well as a restaurant but those are only open during certain hours. and yes the only other places to go are either 7-11, Dunkin donuts or the greek american retaurant. The only good thing is the beach which is about 15 minutes away from campus, but the winters in SB are long terrible and so almost no one stays on campus.</p>
<p>You call this spirit?
[Stony</a> Brook Sucks.com - You bet it Sucks!](<a href=“Loading...”>http://stonybrooksucks.com/)</p>
<p>I think it’s really notable that the only ones in this thread claiming SBU’s campus is dead on weekends are people who have never actually been Stony Brook students.</p>
<p>mom22girls, what about the Staller lawn? What about Tabler, Mendelsohn, and H Quad? There’s plenty of green space for the idyllic basking-in-the-sun-with-a-book, playing-frisbee-on-the-quad stuff, and no shortage of people enjoying it when the weather is right. Even the small lawn between the SAC and library always has people hanging out, reading, playing guitar, drumming, playing catch, smoking hookah, etc. on nice days. Nothing about the layout feels commuter-y to me. The center of social life does shift to the residential quads on weekends, so if you’re wandering around the academic mall on a Saturday you won’t get a good sense of how many people are around and active on campus. But rest assured there’s plenty of people around, and plenty to do.</p>
<p>ac902, you’re a high school student. Do you really think you get any kind of accurate picture of SB’s campus life going to that uber-Christian boarding school next to the train station? You lost any credibility at all when you said it feels like a ghost town when classes are in session, LOL. As for weekends, Stony Brook’s student population is huge–it might look like a ton of people at the train station on Friday afternoon but they don’t represent a large percentage of the people who live on campus. Not to mention that when you eyeball that crowd, you’re including the people who are going into the city to go to bars, concerts, etc. on Friday night and then coming back to campus. At any rate, no high schooler on the outside looking in who’s “befriended a couple of students” is likely to have the faintest clue what’s going on at SB. And the stonybrooksucks.com thing is ancient.</p>