but that is the thing, see, these schools always try to identify relatively far places as easy access. Stony Brook for example tries to emphasize their closeness to NYC, but the truth is, it is an hour away by car, longer depending on where in the city you want to go and if there is traffic. SUNY upstate for example tried to claim they are close to NYC, Boston and tons of other areas, but they would say things like within 5 hours from many major cities, that is cool and all, but that isn't close. If that is the case then just about any school can claim closeness to some other city. For example, Robert Wood Johnson can claim a hour away from NYC, 30 min from Newark, 30 min from Garden state mall and other areas in Bergen, an hour and 15 min from philadelphia and so forth.
I guess my point is, If you are Hofstra, or NY medical college and truly just outside of NYC, then that is fine, when you are in the middle of no where and over a hour away, it isn't convenient anymore other than a "planned" trip to the city. There is no spur of the moment trips possible.
The facts are, this is coming straight from the students I met yesterday and the day before. "It is dead out here" is a direct quote, "great place to live and raise family" is a direct quote. If yo u like beaches, then in the summer it isnt' to far away. If you like small town bar scene then there is a few spots to go. If you like wineries and a few similar stuff then again that is fine. If you are very social and you know some folks in the Hamtons, for which I know some people who do and therefore travel there for events/party and the scene then fine but this is No NYC, it isn't smaller cities like Boston or Philly, it isn't Richmond (VCU) or DC and people should understand that. What you are getting is quintessential suburbia. None of the upper classmen houses I saw is located in a place where you could even down the street for a pack of gum or a ham sandwich. You simply need a car as it is much more residential than commercial. (this is not necessarily a bad thing like I said, it gives you plenty of opportunity to focus, and as long as you have a car, you can get what you need, and the houses the students were living in were like full houses that families would settle in. Great stuff)
I'm not sure what you meant by sport, if that means other things like hiking or horseback riding or golf then that is possible. If it means professional sports like Yankees (hour and 10 min away (no traffic), Mets ( an hour away no traffic), islanders (almost an hour away), Giants (probably an hour and a half or an hour 45 mins away) then these things aren't exactly spur of the moment close. Stony Brook U itself is 1AA in most sports so it isn't like you are going to be watching them much.