SUNY Binghamton?

[Anonymous]

What about Albany? That's a nice campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Binghamton and Geneseo are considered the top SUNYs. I don’t think my DD will apply to Binghamton based on how depressing it is to drive through, but she felt more positive toward Geneseo. Has your daughter considered it?

We heard that Stony Brook is the other one that is comparable to Binghamton. But it may be more stem focused, and she's more of a humanities person. Thank you for the tip about Geneseo. I will have her take a look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH went there. Strong academics, very unattractive campus in a depressed part of your upstate NY. Lots of bad weather from lake-effect in winter.

What would your DH say if your child applied or went there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH went there. Strong academics, very unattractive campus in a depressed part of your upstate NY. Lots of bad weather from lake-effect in winter.

What would your DH say if your child applied or went there?

DH would suggest it was a perfectly serviceable in-state option. He had great professors. Not sure it makes sense out of state. To be honest, the ugliness of the campus still grates on him. We live in Virginia and it wasn’t on our DC’s radar. She’s at W&M.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH went there. Strong academics, very unattractive campus in a depressed part of your upstate NY. Lots of bad weather from lake-effect in winter.

What would your DH say if your child applied or went there?

DH would suggest it was a perfectly serviceable in-state option. He had great professors. Not sure it makes sense out of state. To be honest, the ugliness of the campus still grates on him. We live in Virginia and it wasn’t on our DC’s radar. She’s at W&M.

Interesting, thank you for sharing.

[Anonymous]

My friend went there and several of my son's friends attend now. I've heard good things about the academics, but the environment (surroundings + weather) is pretty depressing, so there is quite a bit of drinking going on. That was the case in the 90s as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Binghamton and Geneseo are considered the top SUNYs. I don’t think my DD will apply to Binghamton based on how depressing it is to drive through, but she felt more positive toward Geneseo. Has your daughter considered it?

We heard that Stony Brook is the other one that is comparable to Binghamton. But it may be more stem focused, and she's more of a humanities person. Thank you for the tip about Geneseo. I will have her take a look.

Yes, Stony Brook is a great choice for a STEM person. For the humanities, look at Geneseo. One of my best friends went there are still gushed about it 20 years later. One of the smartest people I've ever known. She went to a top10 law school after Geneseo.

[Anonymous]

Binghamton and Geneseo are great schools. Keep in mind Geneseo is a much smaller school located in a town that is a fair amounts smaller than Binghamton

[Anonymous]

I went to grad school in Binghamton -- spent 7 years (MA + PhD).

Like many grad students, I became somewhat integrated in the town. When I was there, Binghamton was in an economic depression, with most local industries collapsing (mostly IBM).

As for the school, it is good, but there is was a inferiority complex compared with other schools. For example, the (then) president Lois B. DeFleur of the school talked about how she would like the school to model herself after William and Mary. -- probably it is the closest school to W & M in the country, with a liberal arts bent, though it does have an engineering school and PhD in STEM fields (mine was in earth sciences).

As a Virginia resident, it was a no brainer for DD to choose W & M over Binghamton.

Oh. and the winters are awful in the southern tier, with snow from Oct/Nov to April.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH went there. Strong academics, very unattractive campus in a depressed part of your upstate NY. Lots of bad weather from lake-effect in winter.

The weather isn't great -- gray and soggy most of the year -- but Binghamton is southeast of lake effect snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please let me know if you have any feedback or opinions about SUNY Binghamton. My DD (Jr) is considering it. We are in NY. I am encouraging her to have a list where she can be excited about all of the schools. Hoping this can be one as it would be a financial safety, as well. My perception is that it is one of the stronger publics, academically speaking. Feel free to share honest, even negative, perspectives as well, as we are so early in the process. Thank you.

It is, indeed! It's a wonderful school, very highly regarded throughout the state.

The only downside is that it is so very, very gray. Binghamton isn't a very nice city, and the campus is a bit bleak.

The surrounding area of upstate NY is pretty, if your kid is motivated to go exploring.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate it and will consider all of them.

If you were in NYS, are there any other northeastern public universities you'd consider as a safety for a high stats student? That maybe offer merit aid? UConn? UMass? (She does like cold weather, but Binghamton may be too dreary. I think we will visit in the dead winter!) Thanks for any advice you have!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate it and will consider all of them.

If you were in NYS, are there any other northeastern public universities you'd consider as a safety for a high stats student? That maybe offer merit aid? UConn? UMass? (She does like cold weather, but Binghamton may be too dreary. I think we will visit in the dead winter!) Thanks for any advice you have!

I see you got a lot of recommendations for Geneseo ... I would definitely recommend!

With high stats, why are you thinking of other states' public universities? You'd probably get better merit aid from private colleges. Sometimes, public colleges will offer in-state tuition to out-of-state kids. But depending on where you aim, you could possibly get some private colleges down close to the cost of a good public. If you tell us more about your kid, maybe we can suggest some other ideas.

(That said, I think Rutgers and URI have a lot to offer. I'm honestly not sure about UMass or UConn.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Binghamton and Geneseo are great schools. Keep in mind Geneseo is a much smaller school located in a town that is a fair amounts smaller than Binghamton

Geneseo is a beautiful, historic village and an easy drive to suburbs of Rochester with a mall etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you everyone for your responses. I appreciate it and will consider all of them.

If you were in NYS, are there any other northeastern public universities you'd consider as a safety for a high stats student? That maybe offer merit aid? UConn? UMass? (She does like cold weather, but Binghamton may be too dreary. I think we will visit in the dead winter!) Thanks for any advice you have!

I see you got a lot of recommendations for Geneseo ... I would definitely recommend!

With high stats, why are you thinking of other states' public universities? You'd probably get better merit aid from private colleges. Sometimes, public colleges will offer in-state tuition to out-of-state kids. But depending on where you aim, you could possibly get some private colleges down close to the cost of a good public. If you tell us more about your kid, maybe we can suggest some other ideas.

(That said, I think Rutgers and URI have a lot to offer. I'm honestly not sure about UMass or UConn.)

Thank you for this response and fair point! She is considering privates, too. Vassar is on her list as a target, for example. Also asking just to have a few to look into that are state schools, just to also consider that sort of experience. I got to thinking about saving money through first examining our in-state publics, but very true that doesn't necessarily follow to looking at out-of-state publics as financial safeties (I just heard this term, can you tell, lol) -- for that, privates may be a better bet. Thanks again.