<p>My guidance counselor and parents strongly advise me to apply to Binghamton. They think it is the ideal backup/safety for me. My guidance counselor recommends that all of his above average students apply to Binghamton as a finanncial feasible school for us in-staters. I think it is a waste of time to apply. My dlimena is that I have no interest in the school or the location. I would rather go to another state school as a safety. Of course, these schools are out of state.</p>
<p>If your parents are willing to pay the out-of-state fees, then by all means forget Binghamton and apply to those schools you want to go to. The out-of-state fees alone at those schools can run double of the total cost for Binghamton. The price is something to consider.</p>
<p>Other than that, IMHO, Binghamton offers little in the way of school pride and spirit and does not provide students with any "total" college experience, most likely due to two things: the lack of a viable athletic program and insufficient funding by the state. The campus is sterile and institutional and the students are there to get as good an education as they can, devote some off hours to a pub-crawl social life in a depressed town, and then leave as soon as they can, never to return. The alumni giving rate is at 13%, among the lowest in the nation. Also most incoming freshmen who can afford to, plan to transfer out at the earliest possible opportunity, usually to the better schools that either denied or waitlisted them earlier. Cornell is a usual beneficiary of these transfers, BTW. </p>
<p>In any event, hopeful1, if your parents are willing to pay the out-of-state fees and tuition, by all means avoid Binghamton. As you yourself said, it will be a waste of time to apply. You're the one going to college, not your parents or guidance counselor, after all.</p>
<p>Good luck with your other choices.</p>
<p>Thanks collegeparent. I need to find other safeties as a fallback as opposed to placating parents and counselor for the sake of being "practical".</p>