I’m a senior in high school and I got accepted to both Binghamton university and University at buffalo. Originally, Binghamton was my dream school. I really love it and I think it’s an awesome campus with an awesome reputation. I toured UB too but I didn’t like it as much. A ton of people from my high school go there and it has a commuter feel to it. I got into honors at UB and I got a 2500 per year scholarship there however, and I feel like I can get a High gpa there. I did not get into Binghamton’s scholars program and I didn’t get money there, but I will still graduate without debt. Both options are completely affordable to me, but I would save $10k by going to buffalo and I think I would have a higher gpa there. However, I feel a lot more at home at binfhamton. The only thing that feels off about it is that there are tons of long islanders and partied s. I am from rochester btw, and I’m an industrial engineering major. I’m not a huge partner but I know Binghamton has late nite Binghamton and fun clubs, I just wish it had a more populous city like buffalo. The last point is that my boyfriend committed to UB. We are super close and I feel like I would feel more comfortable at college with him and it would be a huge pain being so far from him. However idk if it’s best to pick a college for a significant other. I always thought it was going to be bing and it seems like a great fit, but with honors, a scholarship, my boyfriend, the distance from home, and the lighter workload I am starting to think these are signs I should go to buffalo. Thoughts?
Buffalo has a strong engineering program and it will be easier achieving high grades amongst your peers at Buffalo than at Binghamton Watson Engineering. Your competition amongst the students at Watson will be more intense and it will be more difficult to achieve top grades—However engineering is difficult at any accredited research University, so Buffalo won’t be a cakewalk by any imagination. The fact that you are from Rochester I think you will feel more comfortable amongst the upstate students who predominate the student population at Buffalo. You also say you prefer the populous city of Buffalo to Binghamton. Plus it cost less due to scholarship; you have all the perks of being on honors which will enhance your education. So these are all factors for selecting Buffalo. However IMO the fact that you will have your boyfriend there could be a factor for choosing Binghamton. You don’t want to get tied down and spend so much time with him at the expense of meeting new friends and getting out of your comfort zone by meeting new people in a new environment. And will he be so understanding if you can’t see him as much due to your being in one of the most rigorous undergraduate programs—industrial engineering and honors? Which will require more studying and less free time than ever before. It would help if he is also in a rigorous program at Buffalo. Bottom line: If you can set boundaries and time parameters with your boyfriend, I think Buffalo is the best fit for you. Best of luck with your decision.
It’s a good choice to have. Based on your goals and preferences I would choose Bing. But UB would not be a mistake in any way.
Binghamton is much more committed to a quality undergraduate education. I would chose Binghamton in a heartbeat
Did you actually tour the engineering departments at both colleges or did you only do the general tour?
We thought the UB engineering tour was fantastic, but the general campus tour was just ok. We didn’t tour Bing, but friends who have felt the engineering dept felt run down. Bing also has fewer engineering choices than UB does, in case you decided to stay in engineering but switch specialties (that was an important option for my daughter)
UB has the best engineering program of all the SUNYs. UB has an entire engineering complex. Bing has one old engineering building. Buffalo as a city, is far superior to Binghamton. UB is a member of AAU, along with 51 other very elite universities - this is important. Take a look - https://www.aau.edu/who-we-are/our-members
I agree with @trackmbe3 “The fact that you are from Rochester I think you will feel more comfortable amongst the upstate students who predominate the student population at Buffalo.”
Buffalo seems a better fit for you.
@trackmbe3 thank you for the advice. I get the feeling Binghamton has so many long islanders and it’s very intimidating for some reason which is kind of funny. It would introduce me to different types of people though, and many people from my high school go to UB. As for my boyfriend, he is in the industrial engineering program as well but not honors.
@karlee2510 Binghamton has a lot of Long Islanders, but so does Buffalo. The difference is that Buffalo’s freshman class size is about 4,000, almost double the size of Binghamton’s, so you will notice the Long Islanders more based on the smaller class size and overall smaller student population at Binghamton. IMO some, but not all, of the Long Island crowd can be kind of cliquey. But I imagine upstaters at Buffalo can be cliquey too. There will be plenty of students from all around the state at Buffalo even though the majority will be from upstate. So I wouldn’t worry about not being able to meet new people at Buffalo. Bottom line: You really need to visit each school one more time and see how you feel at both schools. Fit and comfort are important. And talk to as many other students as you can, especially those who are in engineering at both schools. Admissions office should be able to help you get in touch with students in those fields of study. Even though Binghamton engineering is a solid program, I agree with what @Stem2017 and @mom2twogirls about Buffalo having better facilities (engineering and non-engineering facilities) and more choices for engineering courses. You should double check this to confirm. However, one benefit of choosing Watson Binghamton is that if it doesn’t work out there you will have less difficulty transferring into Buffalo engineering. But if you choose Buffalo it will be much more difficult to transfer into Watson.