+1. Plus- mug night at Uncle Tony's! |
An hour and fifty minutes by train, just over an hour by car. Still a lot closer than Binghamton. Stony Brook also has some cute north shore towns nearby (Port Jeffereon, for one, as well as the village of Stony Brook itself, and East Setauket). Both campuses are ugly. If you want solid academics, go to Stony Brook. If you want more of a college town go to Binghamton, altough it falls pretty short in that area, too. |
| op here, thank you!! Great info. We will go visit to see what he thinks. He is a nerdy jewish kid. Into model un, band, theater, tennis and track. He is thinking biology, genetics maybe, maybe premed. I am going to guess he will not be a big party kid but who knows. He wants access to a big city and research/intern opportunities. He is very laid back and is a good student but nothing amazing. 3.7 UW. Looking for a serious school but not cut throat. |
| I went to high school in NY and a lot of the academically strong middle class students wound up at Geneseo. So much so that I would visit and all my high school friends that went there lived together and stayed together and didn’t really branch out making other friends. The suites were basically different high school clusters. I think the social scene is strongly influenced by how many kids coming in already know each other. |
| IS SB similar to Hofstra? |
| I went to high school in Eastern LI and recently, I’ve seen a lot of the top 15 graduates choosing Stony Brook, including the valedictorian a few years ago. Almost always, they want to study science or engineering. Also, Stony Brook U has a significant Jewish population. |
How about Purchase? |
PP with MA/PhD from Binghamton. Nerdy jewish kid describes about 30-40% of Binghamton University's population. I was a nerdy jewish kid with a BS from Va Tech, and was thinking it might be a good place to meet a nice jewish girl. The only problem with that is nearly 100% of the jewish population is from NYC and suburbs. Binghamton fits what he is looking for: there are always people going to NYC. |
| Binghamton is a good college, but the town is a real dump. |
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I went to Binghamton, though some years ago, and had a great experience. I can’t speak to the other two SUNYs but my overall experience with the school system broadly, and my professors and classmates at Binghamton specifically, was positive. Like some PPs have said, many of my peers at Binghamton got into to top privates and other excellent publics but opted for Binghamton because of cost and, for some, being closer to family in NY.
Will say that at least at the time I went, an overwhelming majority of students were from NY and as an out-of-stater it was sometimes hard to break in socially (though I ultimately did make some dear friends). Many kids knew each other from home and were long-time friends. Also, Binghamton, though in a very pretty part of NY, could be cold, overcast, and snowy/rainy, which I didn’t love. |