My daughter got into Binghamton and Stony Brook and is deciding between the two. She wants to study creative writing and Russian. She is a socially-awkward girl, and she found a group of kids at SB who she’s already friends with over chat. Does anyone know about the English programs at each? Does anyone know if graduate schools and corporations look differently on Stony Brook vs. Binghamton? Is Binghamton too snobby from Ivy League rejects? Or have too many social climbers? I don’t need my daughter recreating high school social nightmares at college. All comments are appreciated.
Have her join the chats at both schools. My school sends lots of kids to both schools, and I’ve never heard of snobby/ social climbers as an issue at either.
Would she be more comfortable being close to home? It’s a 5 hour drive from SB to Binghamton-- will geography play a part in her decision?
Has she visited both schools? My kids found that, in the final analysis, it was the school visit that sealed the deal on where they wanted to go. I say you try to get to both, and get a feel for where she’ll be more comfortable.
Binghamton is generally thought to be the stronger school (though not by much). I help with some of the college recruiting in my company and Binghamton is a bigger name. Someone I know who works with me went to Binghamton and loved it - not a snobby social climber at all, just a son of immigrants who grew up in Brooklyn.I assumed she’s visited both. Look up the professors in the English departments. You can’t go wrong with either choice.
Thanks for the replies. Yes we are going to all the accepted students days (SB yesterday, Bing next weekend). I just wanted to get some anecdotal information as well. She did join the chats, as someone graciously suggested in a reply. Since she was waitlisted for Fall and accepted for Spring at Binghamton, the chats are all about dorms and majors. So she is feeling less of a connected vibe. All comments are so appreciated, thank you.
If she’s waitlisted at Bing, and not at SB, I would go for SB.
Thank you for your input. She’s been accepted at Bing for Spring 2020, waitlisted for Fall. She is a young entrant, so starting in Spring is not a problem. The reputations of both schools have evolved over the years, so I really appreciate hearing all the comments.
Binghamton is usually better for the humanities, while SBU is well known for STEM. I also heard Bing has a reputation of kids being rich and snobby, but that’s just something I heard and probably not true.
In the old days Binghamton was thought of as the better school but not anymore. Stony brook has more national name recognition and is far superior in the sciences. A lot of kids from Long Island only pick Binghamton because they want to live away from home or because of the better humanaties programs at Bing.
@seriously99 What did she pick? To me both are known as flagships of the SUNy system