<p>Please don't put too much bias in your opinion, but why do people say students are generally extrememly unhappy at Stony Brook, but are very happy at Binghamton.</p>
<p>Why was Stony Brook ranked the number one college for the unhappiest students, while Binghamton is so great.</p>
<p>This has been beaten to death in countless threads on this site.</p>
<p>If you're calling yourself a scientist, yet you're going to base your college decision on what the Princeton Review has to say about colleges, then best wishes to you.</p>
<p>Chris</p>
<p>thank you, SBU from a Binghamton Alumni.....we do have to stick together!</p>
<p>Everyone is different. I hear a lot of things about both schools. Some say they are happy, some not. My friend is a Binghamton alum, and he said there is a building that people use for suicide there. That means someone is unhappy. It is based on the person. If you are one to have fun, then you will be happy. If you sit alone all day, then you probably wont be happy.</p>
<p>I love how the sbu admissions rep gets all OFFENDED by this statement. Obviously they are surveying SOMEBODY. Princeton review looks at a lot of schools, I'm pretty sure they didn't just pick stony brook out of their ass for unhappiest students. </p>
<p>Generally, we ARE unhappy...here's why..</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Its practically a "do it yourself" school. Academic Advising is pretty useless unless you are looking for someone to look over the bulletin with you. What a big help that is. ALSO, the Career Center has a ridiculous rule of booking appointments no more than two weeks in advance, but every time you try and go to make an appointment the two weeks are filled up. </p></li>
<li><p>The people in registrar and housing are bitter, rude, and generally annoyed to just be speaking to you; forget about any care or willingness to help you with anything. </p></li>
<li><p>Parking sucks. Literally. There's nowhere to park unless you want to be like a half mile from campus. And they recently bumped parking tickets up from $15 to $30. Cheap bastards.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>3.5 (this ones personal, so I won't give it an official number)
There is absolutely NO outlet for music, or musical theatre unless you are looking for opera..And even with that, there are maybe 2 performance classes per semester, and they aren't even required for majors.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Food is pretty crappy, plus you pretty much have to walk about 10 minutes to get to any food from the dorms. And NOWHERE serves breakfast. I find that bizarre but I guess its not really a big deal. And there are some dorms where you HAVE TO have a meal plan, and of course, they are unwilling to negotiate that. And then if you have a meal plan and don't use it often enough, they take points away AND you are not refunded for what you don't use; stony brook just takes that money. Like I said, cheap bastards. </p></li>
<li><p>Lots of big classes with professors who really don't give a **** about you, and are rarely available for office hours or to help with anything. Plus you also get the fun of the occasional TA taking over the second half of the class. I'm paying for professor's, thanks, not grad students.</p></li>
<li><p>There are a TON of commuters, and many of the residents are from long island, so practically everyone goes home on the weekend and theres nothing to do. Plus the surrounding area is not very exciting anyway.</p></li>
<li><p>The DEC system (general education requirements, or whatever you'd like to call them) is absolutely ridiculous. There are 11 DECs and 4 SKILLS and some DECs you need more than one of! Seriously, who needs "World beyond European Traditions"...really, I could do without those in my GENERAL EDUCATION. Idk, I was just under the misconception that college was when you got to finally stop taking ******** classes that you aren't at all interested in...</p></li>
<li><p>Lasts but not least, the campus is ugly, it rains a lot, its cold, and generally just a sad boring school filled with sad boring students. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>IF you do however, decide to come to this hellhole, here are my suggestions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Try to dorm in Kelly or Tabler quads, they're reaaaally far from the academic part of campus, but they're all suites and just generally more fun.</p></li>
<li><p>Find a club or activity to join, because it is seriously DEAD on the weekends, and this way you'll at least have something to do. </p></li>
<li><p>DON'T move off campus unless you are 100% sure that you are NEVER going to want to move back on. They max out housing to 115% every semester so once you leave, they pretty much don't care about you at all anymore. You could have the best reason in the world for coming back and they won't even listen. They're actually, literally MEAN about it, in fact. And the wait list is a joke, so don't even bother. They are so busy de-trippling freshmen all year, that they don't even get to it. </p></li>
<li><p>If you plan to commute, put your name on the list for a parking pass in the stadium lot asap. Thats the only almost-decent parking on campus besides the teachers lots but those are illegal and you WILL get $30 tickets.</p></li>
<li><p>Try not to take classes in Old Chem. It smells and is probably going to cave in on itself pretty soon.</p></li>
<li><p>Just do yourself a favor, find a better school. Unless you really want to go to med school or to do something with hardcore science or math, stony brook just generally sucks.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>just out of curiosity which major and year of college are you in?</p>
<p>Roth is decent also. Problem is that the geniouses who constructed this wonderful establishment of higher learning never considered the idea of drains, which would in theory prevent puddles the size of swimming pools from forming all over campus. Also, the food on campus is horrendous. I got food poisoning from SAC food 7 times last semester, including the day before I had 2 finals. So you judge for yourself, how good the food truly is. </p>
<p>TAs are helpful depending on the class and how knowledgeable they are. Some are just in it for the credit and suck at explaining. Others may not even show up to office hrs. Profs vary all across the board. They may pretend to care, but most don't and are out to get you and fail you-- like maybe gen chem. Also don't be surprised if you discover mistakes on exams-- it's very frequent here especially by the gen chem dept (they make mistakes right and left-- luckily they had me point them out before riots erupted about exam questions). So just to sum it up. SBU is all that you make of it. And don't get me started on how bad the housing is and how "benevolent and understanding" the housing office is to your roommates concerns.</p>
<p>Sort of unrelated, but in reply to blazinyan300, I got food poisoning from Stony Brook food when I went to do a lab there in 9th grade (I live 15 minutes away).</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>I've eaten at Stony Brook plenty of times, and no food poisoning. You sure it wasn't something you ate outside or SBU, or your own stuff?</p>
<p>Na its the delectable SAC food.</p>
<p>Doubt it highly. If it was the food there, then everyone would be getting sick, correct? Then they would have to shut down the places. So I doubt it was the SAC building, or any other building at SBU.</p>
<p>Zuljian, you aren't a student there yet so you don't eat the food multiple times everyday like blazinyan does... I read something about food poisoning there before too, but I don't remember where</p>
<p>But like I said, if one person got it, then a lot of people would be getting it, and there would be a problem. It doesn't matter if I am a student there or not. It isn't like he is the only person who eats at SAC, so that would means others would get effected by the same food.</p>
<p>No everyone would not get it b/c everyone has different stomach strengths. If you are used to home cooked meals, your stomach will be hurting for a while there since the food sucks. If your used to eating fast food a lot, then you'd probably feel right at home. </p>
<p>Take for example chili. Some people can eat very spicy chilly be fine, while others can barely eat it at all. </p>
<p>Plus why are you on such the defensive Zuljian considering you haven't even started school at SBU. You may think that you know everything about everything but in reality the best knowledge is experience. So talk to me after your first semester. </p>
<p>By the way, the food sucks nearly everywhere on campus because its too fattening, clogs your arteries, makes you sick, and for the most part, tastes just plain gross.</p>
<p>Especially the salads. The salads here are really fattening. And so is the grilled chicken; they grill it, then dip it in lard.</p>
<p>Come on, man. If you want to find fattening food on campus, you'll find it; and if you want to eat healthy food, you can find that too. I've eaten on campus two or three times a week for almost four years, and I haven't gotten sick once. Everyone's different when it comes to food, which is why you have more than twenty different dining options on campus. It's one of the joys of a big school.</p>
<p>I had written a response to the diatribe above a while ago, but never posted it. Here you go:</p>
<p>Wow. Okay.
1. Yes, it is. You're a college student; if you expect to be babied, then stay home.
2. I can't comment on this, other than that I walked a student upstairs to the registrar to register for summer classes last week, and the student called me back the next day to thank everyone for being so helpful. And when Zuljian and his friends wanted to live together this fall, they contact Res Life, who made it happen.
3. Parking's tough, but it's certainly manageable; if you want to drive to class from your residence hall, though, you might have problems. Use the bus, walk, ride a bike, whatever... plenty of ways to get around.
3.5. Seriously!?!? No outlet for music?!?! What about the huge arts center in the middle of campus? Or the Tabler Arts Center, with a coffeehouse where they have live music? Or the Wang Center? Or Nas, who was here this spring? Come on. Let's be fair.
4. We have twenty-something dining facilities on campus. If you can't find anything to eat, you need to expand your horizons a little bit. Nowhere serves breakfast? Then how do I get a muffin and coffee every morning?
5. You're paying for an education, not professors. Grad students are just younger faculty members... within a few years, they're going to be professors somewhere themselves. I really don't understand this argument, and never have.
6. We're in a suburban area; if you like the suburbs (malls, towns, beaches, restaurants, movie theaters, ballparks, parks, etc.), then why are you going to school in a suburban area? And if you want access to NYC, it's less than two hours away.
7. If you don't understand the concept behind a liberal arts education, then you might want to rethink your educational goals.
8. Rains a lot? Cold? I'll just copy Wikipedia.
Long Island has a climate similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cold winters. The Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms are not uncommon, especially when they approach the island from the mainland areas of the Bronx, Westchester County and Connecticut in the northwest. Measurable snow falls every winter and in many winters one or more intense storms (called a Nor'easter) produce blizzard conditions with snowfalls of 1–2 feet (30–60 cm) and near-hurricane force winds.</p>
<p>Long Island temperatures vary from west to east, with the western part of the island warmer on most occasions than the east. This is due to two factors: the western part is closer to the mainland, and it is more densely developed, causing the "urban heat island" effect. The eastern part is cooler on most occasions due to moderation of the Atlantic Ocean and the Long Island Sound, and its being less developed. On dry nights with no clouds or wind, the Pine Barrens in eastern Suffolk County can be almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) cooler due to radiational cooling.</p>
<p>On your suggestions:
1. Students I've spoken with tend to add Roth to the list because of the a/c.
2. Absolutely get involved with clubs. Ab-so-lutely. If you're not, you're just wasting your time. But that's not exclusive to Stony Brook; that's any school in the country.
3. That's a fair point as well. Off-campus housing is tough, and it's expensive.
4. VERY good advice about the stadium lot.
5. (giggle)
6. Sorry your experience wasn't what you hoped it would be; best wishes wherever you wind up.</p>
<p>Chris</p>
<p>the reason I am getting so defensive, is because SBU is a school I am really excited about going to, and I am really getting sick of everyone on here, and other places saying SBU sucks, and all of this crap. EVERYONE I talked to at Orientation, and other places said they LOVE SBU.</p>
<p>well of course at orientation they are going to tell you they like the school.....they want students who actually like the school to run the orientation..otherwise it wouldn't make a good impression for incoming students</p>
<p>There will always be propaganda in Admin. This is in every school, no matter how bad or good it is. If orientation ppl told you that they hated it, they would be fired or asked to leave.</p>
<p>They are happier cause the mountains are close and they get student discounts for snowboarding.
Unfortunately for me, science at Bing doesn't compare to science at Stony.</p>
<p>Um I didn't just talk to students who were Orientation leaders, I talked to students roaming as well. Also even if they are Orientation Leaders, they would say it there was something wrong probably. But yeah seems fine.</p>