<p>i decided to attend stony brook for the fall semester..BIG MISTAKE! in only here for a semester b/c im transferring to geneseo in the spring...i came into this school with an open mind and a good attitude... stony brook is just a very depressing school...most of the people here are depressed and it shows..most people who attend either live close by, came here for financial reasons or didnt get into that ivy league school they were dying for.otherwise i dont know why anyone would ever come here..walk around the busy campus on a Wednesday afternoon and you'll notice a lot of sad faces looking down on the ground...50% of the students are commuters....about 10,000 people dorm here.the quality of life here is terrible..also this place is a ghost town on the weekend...80% of the people go home!! take a tour here or come to open house and they will lie to you and say the weekends aren't dead......the princeton review seems to agree with me...they ranked stony brook the most depressed school in the United States...the administration and staff members constantly deny that fact saying that princeton review is hardly accurate and not based on scientific data..thats completely untrue...they base their data on actual students....think twice about coming here..im giving you a heads up...you will be miserable!</p>
<p>I have to agree, I came into the school with a good atitude, I CHOSE to come here...I didn't go here because I was left with no other option...(like a lot of the students)....</p>
<p>I just don't thrive in the cold, impersonal environment...to each his own.</p>
<p>Don't let anyone stop you from visiting a school you have your eye on...you could always be surprised, just don't say we didn't warn you.</p>
<p>I agree with you 100% on everything you've said ._.</p>
<p>Wow. Prospective students, the people above aren't the only viewpoint. I love it here, and I'm hardly the only one--I know plenty of other people who are happy. There're still things to gripe about, but what school doesn't deserve some complaints? There's plenty to like, and just because some people aren't getting what they hoped for doesn't mean the school sucks.</p>
<p>Most of the people here are depressed? I have no idea who you're spending time with. Most people I know are stressed with midterms and heavy workloads, but midterms are crappy wherever you are. Suck it up.</p>
<p>Quality of life is terrible? What the hell are you doing with yourself to occupy your time? Have you tried getting involved in a club or sport, going to events, getting out once in a while?</p>
<p>Weekends are dead? Garbage. Sure, some people go home on the weekend, and some people go into the city. But if you stay on campus, there's plenty to do if you <em>look for it</em>. Go to a damn party, hang out with your friends, see something at Staller, go to a movie, get trashed, climb a tree, climb Javits, get laid, get laid on top of Javits, whatever. All those options are out there if you take responsibility for finding the things that will make you happy.</p>
<p>I'm still up because I've got tons of work to do and lots of social life to make time for too (and lots of internet to procrastinate with... :P ). It honestly barely seems like I go to the same school bran10 and Entity are describing.</p>
<p>From the people that I have spoken personally with, they love SB. They think that the only type of people that vote SB for those terrible rankings are just one out of a huge bunch...</p>
<p>I was just giving my experience....and just like you love it here, it's not going to be the same for everyone. I don't want to discourage the potential students. Most of my gripes are ACADEMICALLY....</p>
<p>if you prefer most of your tests at night, difficulty getting a close relationship with the professor due to the huge # of students wanting that same close relationship (for a good LOR), huge classes (my biggest is 600 students), very demanding coursework (which takes a toll on your GPA), this is the school for you.</p>
<p>I think it depends on what you aim to get out of college. Some people prefer to focus on academics and have a social life and other focus on their social life and have an academic life. This is a world known research university with a great reputation. The only item I see as a negative is yes the look of the dorms from the outside appears somewhat sterile....alot of state universities have a similiar look.</p>
<p>Entity, I can see your points much more than the others listed in this thread... I responded to bran10's issues because you didn't really list any specific ones in your first post.</p>
<p>Yeah, if you're a bio, chem, biochem, or psych major there is a big problem with the classes being too big and impersonal. Not a problem unique to Stony Brook, but big schools aren't for everyone. I'm a bio major, and I have close relationships with some professors, but it took time, and someone who needs more personal attention might become frustrated with the class sizes.</p>
<p>Depending on what you're taking this semester, it will probably get better--some of the upper division classes are still big, but many of them are small enough to let you get to know the profs.</p>
<p>Most of the people here are depressed? I have no idea who you're spending time with. Most people I know are stressed with midterms and heavy workloads, but midterms are crappy wherever you are. Suck it up.</p>
<p>bran10 said when he goes around campus, he sees the people walking around they look depressed. Didn't say his friends were depressed. He also didn't say the midterms were hard and it depressed him so telling him to suck it up is presumptuous and insulting.</p>
<p>Quality of life is terrible? What the hell are you doing with yourself to occupy your time? Have you tried getting involved in a club or sport, going to events, getting out once in a while?</p>
<p>Why the hell do you sound so angry? And if you say you aren't angry, you sure as "hell" sound angry. He's just giving his take on it, doesn't mean has to be the same as yours. Sounds as though you're arguing against this kid just because he doesn't share your same damn views. </p>
<p>Weekends are dead? Garbage. Sure, some people go home on the weekend, and some people go into the city. But if you stay on campus, there's plenty to do if you <em>look for it</em>. Go to a damn party, hang out with your friends, see something at Staller, go to a movie, get trashed, climb a tree, climb Javits, get laid, get laid on top of Javits, whatever. All those options are out there if you take responsibility for finding the things that will make you happy.</p>
<p>The weekends are pretty empty. You go out onto the academic mall, go to the various food places around campus, and they all have less people in them than usual. Like A LOT less.
And yes, if you LOOK for things to do, there are things to do. But we're comparing Stony to other schools here, and you have to try so much harder to "look" for things to do than other places. Everyone in Stony is desperate to the point where they go around, scrounging for things to do, and then they claim "there are so many things to do on campus!" I visited Hopkins not too long ago, and let me tell you, even the social scene is 10x better. The people there are just more intelligent, amiable, and easier to approach.</p>
<p>P.S. No matter how happy people say they are, there's a reason Stony is considered one of the most depressed schools in America. They say all this crap to make it seem as though Stony is just as good or just as happy as any other school. Princeton Review probably interviewed several students, and the majority out of those students probably said this place sucks. Now I'm not saying this place sucks for everyone, but for many people it does. Don't listen to these people who rail on people who say Stony's depressing and **** like that :)</p>
<p>My point was that bran should suck up the fact that people aren't chipper about midterms anywhere. The work is hard, the days are short, people don't walk around grinning. Doesn't mean they're depressed. Hardly an unusual state of affairs at any college with a heavy workload, hence suck it up.</p>
<p>It annoys me when people whine about the school sucking, there being nothing to do, blah blah blah whatever when in my experience the people saying those things often aren't really taking responsibility for changing anything or making things better for themselves. </p>
<p>He's giving his take, I disagree. I gave mine. He didn't qualify every statement with "in my opinion", why should I? Rather than harp on my tone (so sorry I irked you by using the word "hell"), why not address my points? Stony Brook is not a depressing place if you get involved in things. Sure, SB isn't the right place for everyone--but there are plenty of people who are unhappy because they have unrealistic expectations and expect things to come to them on a silver platter. Maybe bran is one of those, maybe not. Maybe he's really trying and just chose the wrong school. I still have the right to be irritated that he's talking about a place I've enjoyed tremendously and care about as a last resort cesspit of depression. I don't think Stony Brook is the right place for everyone. I didn't say "come here, you'll be happy!" but bran10 went right ahead and said "you will be miserable!" to prospective students. I'm not going to put up with that--it's inaccurate and offensive.</p>
<p>I hardly consider looking at a flyer or hearing about something from a friend to be "scrounging" for things to do. That's how I find out what's going on; how is that different from any other school? I've visited friends at plenty of other places too, and "let me tell you" (how's that for presumptuous?) I haven't encountered anywhere with a social life I liked better. Different, sure. But on any given weekend there's plenty to do and plenty of people to do things with, without "scrounging". Yeah, the dining halls seem emptier on weekends. Duh--they're built to accomodate a peak crowd during the week, complete with faculty, staff and commuters! That's hardly a good way to measure whether there are people around. Yeah, the academic mall seems empty compared to during classes--people aren't hanging out there when they don't have to go to class! Why would you hang out on the weekend in an area that's almost entirely academic buildings? </p>
<p>The bottom line: What is it you want there to be on the weekends that there isn't, and why aren't making it happen yourself already?</p>
<p>Whatever. If you want to get stuck in the attitude that everywhere else is better, go ahead. Have fun hating your school, and good luck with your transfer apps. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.</p>
<p>now your putting words in my mouth...did I say anything about workload or midterms? like i said i came into this school with an open mind and good attitude..even though i really didnt want to come here in the first place... this is just a temporary school for me.... i received guaranteed admission to geneseo in the spring..oh and i def wont let the door hit me on the way out of this depressing dump...one more month!!</p>
<p>I love how you get so worked up Pseudonym.....over other people's opinion.....haha you make me laugh :)</p>
<p>You assume so many things, one of them being that I hate this school as much as bran10.</p>
<p>He's giving his take, I disagree. I gave mine. He didn't qualify every statement with "in my opinion", why should I? Rather than harp on my tone (so sorry I irked you by using the word "hell"), why not address my points?</p>
<p>He doesn't need to qualify every statement with "in my opinion," because obviously it's his opinion...unless you're taking it for fact?......either way I think you're an idiot. You're actually MAKING this into an aggressive argument rather than viewing it as just his own opinions. Kinda sad...you this bored at Stony?....hahaha oh god this is so amusing. Please Pseudonym, continue...haha</p>
<p>P.S. Nah..you don't really have the "right" to be irritated....if you let what others think about SBU bother you this much just because you love it, that's like saying someone dissing your favorite sports team...or favorite anything...you get this worked up about it?....if you do then you're pretty pathetic.....just "my opinion." (Just in case you take this for fact?)</p>
<p>I don't think this thread in general was really neccessary. I don't like the school, but I think that to "warn" other students about a school is uncalled for.</p>
<p>Maybe you all should stop the bickering and go about your ways with your own opinions. </p>
<p>With respect to transferring, just remember, the grass is always greener on the other side.</p>
<p>I find this thread to be very helpful and informative.</p>
<p>I find this information helpful; I would like my kid to go to SB, but she has many of the same criticisms I find here. If someone wants to start a thread listing why SB is the perfect college for them, that would be great!</p>
<p>stony brook sucks</p>
<p>See, you can't say in one hand that you came in with an open attitude, but then found nothing to do. The OP can make up any statistics he or she wants about the campus and his or her perceptions; but in reality, this campus has come a long way in the last few years. I'm not saying Stony Brook is faultless; no campus is perfect. You'll find people at every single campus in the country who are hating their experience and want to get out of there. And that's fine; you're free to leave. If it's not for you, then find your fit elsewhere, and that's okay. That's what transferring is all about. There are campuses out there with more thriving student life programs than ours; and there are campuses out there that are far worse.</p>
<p>Stony Brook has a history -- a fifty-year history -- of being a "suitcase campus." It's hard to break that perception. But the people who feed that are (a) not Stony Brook students, or (b) students who have no interest in getting involved on campus. If you don't want to get involved and get active and do things, then you forfeit the right to complain that there's "nothing to do."</p>
<p>No, we are not 50% commuter. We're nearly 2/3 residential, and NINETY PERCENT of our freshmen live on campus this year. Yes; we tripled a lot this year; because students, whether some of the posters in this thread want you to believe it or not, really do want to be here.</p>
<p>Entity - it's a nitpicky detail, but what class is 600 students? Our largest lecture hall holds just over 500.</p>
<p>If you're going to make up statistics, you might want to be careful when the real stuff comes out.</p>
<p>All I can say is that you need to visit the campus and talk to students who are doing the kinds of things that you're going to be doing. If I'm going to take my two-year-old to Disney World, I'm going to listen to other people who have taken their two-year-olds to Disney World. If I'm going to buy a Honda CR-V, I'm going to listen to other parents of toddlers who have driven a CR-V. If I'm from New Jersey and I'm going to be a journalism major in college who's living on campus, I'm going to call the journalism department and ask them to put me in touch with a student from New Jersey to see if I can find someone who's speaking my language.</p>
<p>Again -- I'm not saying we're perfect. As an administrator, I have my own concerns, both academic and otherwise. And because we're a big, public research university, we are NOT A FIT FOR EVERYONE. We're just not. And we can't claim that we are.</p>
<p>Realistically... if things were really that bad on campus, would 90% of our freshmen have returned this year? That said -- even at that rate, which is higher than the national average -- you're still talking about around 200 students who felt that Stony Brook was not the place for them; that's a lot of unhappy people. And that's fine; like I said, we can't be everything to everyone.</p>
<p>I'm also saying that students need to make their college decisions based on their own personal experiences, not the experiences of faceless strangers on the internet.</p>
<p>-Chris</p>
<p>The class is PSY 103, in Javits 100...the first day of class (when people actually showed up to the lectures), it was VERY close to 600, obviously that's a ballpark estimate but it's definetly from, maybe the very lowest 480 to the maximum 580.</p>
<p>My orgo class is around 300 enrolled</p>
<p>Physics 121 was about the same amount as orgo..appx 300</p>
<p>I am actually IN the classroom, and I see the clickers responses tally up to 280-300 on full days. Those aren't exact numbers, but they definetly aren't far off.</p>
<p>The professors usually rotate, which IMO is not cool, I had no idea any school did that before coming here.</p>
<p>The thing is, the school tries to make up for the huge lectures by overloading you with recitations, which is understandable, but IMO things can do done better. Especially since the recitations are mostly taught by foreigners I can't understand.</p>
<p>Just some numbers for prospective students to look at when applying.</p>
<p>A solution to all of this? Stop admitting so many students...in the process Stony Brook will become a more selective school and life on campus won't be a rat-race.</p>
<p>Spark, maybe you should learn basic reading and reasoning skills before responding :) Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the injection of some actual stats, Chris. A nitpick to your nitpick, though--BIO 201 has nearly 800 people in it (check SOLAR if you don't believe me!). The main lecture is in Javits 100 and there's an overflow room in Javits 102 with a simulcast of the lecture and an audio hookup so people can ask questions when a TA comes around with a mic. I'm pretty sure this is the first time something like that's been done for the duration of a semester, though; my PHY 131 class had an overflow room, but a much smaller one and only for a couple of weeks until the end of the add-drop period. The BIO 201 thing has been working decently well--I've only been in the overflow room a couple of times, but people there <em>can</em> ask questions and interact with the TAs during the class, so it seems to have been a respectable solution to extremely high demand for a required course in the bio major.</p>
<p>Everything else you wrote though, I agree with :-P</p>