<p>I'm torn between SUNY Binghamton and American University right now.
I got a $20,000 scholarship to American which brings the price to around $30,000, still higher than Binghamtons instate rate ($16,000)</p>
<p>I plan on majoring in Political Science, History, or International Relations.
Can anyone help me compare these two schools?</p>
<p>why is american so expensive.</p>
<p>i would personally go with bing.</p>
<p>At American you can get internsihips – what does Binghamton do in this area? Its in the middle of nowhere?</p>
<p>With such a high acceptance rate, how is the academic environment at American?</p>
<p>One of my Freinds son goes there and she is pretty happy with it.</p>
<p>Anyone else know anything?</p>
<p>Watch the first round of the NCAA tournament this week. If either one wins, go to that one. If they both win, go to whoever wins by more. If they both lose (which they will :P), go to whoever loses by less.</p>
<p>I was already planning on basing my choice on the NCAA tournament lol I was looking for other ideas</p>
<p>Wow…you couldn’t be choosing from two majorly different environments…have you visited both? </p>
<p>American oozes poli sci to me right down to it’s school colors: red, white and blue…
----decent looking campus right in the middle of DC
----smaller class size/ smaller school</p>
<p>I am a Binghamton alumni, but I can still remember how hard it was getting classes, being quadrupled freshman year, and 500 person lecture hall 1 (without discussion sections)…and now with budget issues, no idea how this will impact life at the 'Bing…</p>
<p>A visit is definitely warranted before May 1…good luck…</p>
<p>Alright I had heard some stuff like that about Binghamton. I’ve visited both campuses but haven’t sat in any classes. I think the recent economic issues will cause many more people to matriculate at Bing, maybe making the problems worse.</p>
<p>I guess you have to decide if the $14,000/ year difference is doable…that, however, is a very personal decision…and CC peeps can’t help with that…</p>
<p>Can anyone else talk about budget issues/overcrowding at Binghamton</p>
<p>re binghamton – there has been talk that the are trying to keep the size of the entering freshman class under control to avoid overcrowding in dorms and because of the budget cuts – for this past fall they were way over enrolled and there was a lot of tripling, but that was not typical for how things had been in prior years.</p>
<p>the problem is that this year is going to be so hard to predict – so many more suny applicants, but who knows what yield will be – that it is just really hard to know if they will in fact hit that target. certainly if they do, things in the dorms and in classes will be easier than if they don’t. but until final numbers are in, no can say how they will in fact end up doing.</p>
<p>the budget issues are real – Gov. Patterson is cutting everywhere and the sunys are no exception. as a result, the sunys implemented a tuition increase effective this past spring – the first in a long time, which is i think was more than reasonable. unfortunately, the state took back 90% of the value of that increase to put back in the state’s pocket. how the budget cuts will effect things as a practical matter – i don’t know if anyone fully knows the answer to that yet – as i said, its one of the reasons they are trying to control freshman enrollment. plenty of private schools are also going thru budget problems. though at least from this article says, it sounds like american is doing ok – [AU</a> two-year budget approved - News](<a href=“http://media.www.theeagleonline.com/media/storage/paper666/news/2009/03/02/News/Au.TwoYear.Budget.Approved-3654510.shtml]AU”>http://media.www.theeagleonline.com/media/storage/paper666/news/2009/03/02/News/Au.TwoYear.Budget.Approved-3654510.shtml)</p>
<p>binghamton is a great school and a great value. studying politics at american would however be on a completely different plain – just about everyone there is very politically aware and the opportunities of being in dc are just going to be enormously different than in binghamton (not a put down of binghamton by any means, but its just not the seat of our federal gov’t!). </p>
<p>one thing to consider that i know caused a friend interested in political science NOT to go to school in dc – he was concerned that he’d be surrounded by TOO MANY politically interested people and thought that might drive him crazy 
– wanted to be able to be somewhere more diverse in that regards.</p>
<p>good luck whichever you choose.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks</p>
<p>Well it looks like American lost by less, though I don’t know whether to appreciate that or to be mad at them for blowing their lead.</p>
<p>This one’s easy. If finances are not prohibitive, American beats Bing, particularly for study of government. The setting? American is near Embassy Row, an easy metro ride from the mall with loads of internship opps and lectures by visiting politicians and scholars. Faculty include career politicians; campus speakers include candidate Obama, Madeline Albright and Jon Stewart. Yippee! National museums are free and social opportunities are endless. You have to like city living, tho.</p>
<p>Binghamton is a less than beautiful city tho Bing students seem to like campus. Student body much larger than that of American, may make getting classes and attention more difficult. Altho poli sci faculty may be fine, internship and research opps will pale in comparison. Strongest case for Binghamton: save your $ on undergrad and go to DC for grad school. (Remember costs of getting home/parent visits if you choose DC; it adds a lot.)</p>
<p>I was thinking about DC for grad school, but maybe I could go to a diff school in the area like GW, Georgetown or JHU</p>
<p>all great choices in DC area. Save money, work hard and good luck.</p>
<p>Until my daughter moved to DC, I had no idea what a great town it was for laid back sophisticated socializing. There are just an insane number of jobs doing really cool things. In town connections that get activated week by week like they do at American are tops. The level of opportunity is much higher than you would imagine. Helps to look like you are paying attention if you want to make the most of it.</p>
<p>Sounds good</p>