Help!!! picking between undergrad SUNY stonybrook or Binghamton???

[vincikai]

So for those who is familiar to both SUNY Binghamton and Stonybrook please give me some advice ASAP

This is about comparing undergraduate biochemistry and premed program between SUNY Stonybrook and Binghamton.
Ah…long stony short I have just transferred to Binghamton last semester from CUNY City college, and I as am quite disappointed to find out maybe Binghamton may just not have the best premed (science) program. In a nutshell, for a science major in Bing no matter what science course you take it is only to be offered in the morning 8:00~8:30am, and the science professors I have met so far in Bing don't really impress me as much as from City college. My guess is the based on the geography it is far harder to find well qualified professor in Binghamton area than NYC. Of course I will have the same schedule for the spring 2007 semester 8:00 am from Mon to Fri and I will be having even poorer science Profs than I do now. Now I have a choice to transfer again to stony for spring 2007, but the trouble is, I have never visit stony before and I don't have a clue if stony is better or worst then Bing in any respective. So for those who is familiar to both SUNY Binghamton and Stonybrook please give me some advice ASAP. Especially on the biochemistry science and premed office … thank you

O btw I live in Queens, and I still have 4.0 GPA in Bing for now. so i am not freaking out because of my new GPA.
my major complain is I dont feel I have learned as much as I have expected from Bing, and i fear i might never will.

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[Robizzle]

This is about comparing undergraduate biochemistry and premed program between SUNY Stonybrook and Binghamton.
Ah…long stony short I have just transferred to Binghamton last semester from CUNY City college, and I as am quite disappointed to find out maybe Binghamton may just not have the best premed (science) program. In a nutshell, for a science major in Bing no matter what science course you take it is only to be offered in the morning 8:00~8:30am, and the science professors I have met so far in Bing don't really impress me as much as from City college. My guess is the based on the geography it is far harder to find well qualified professor in Binghamton area than NYC. Of course I will have the same schedule for the spring 2007 semester 8:00 am from Mon to Fri and I will be having even poorer science Profs than I do now. Now I have a choice to transfer again to stony for spring 2007, but the trouble is, I have never visit stony before and I don't have a clue if stony is better or worst then Bing in any respective. So for those who is familiar to both SUNY Binghamton and Stonybrook please give me some advice ASAP. Especially on the biochemistry science and premed office … thank you

O btw I live in Queens, and I still have 4.0 GPA in Bing for now. so i am not freaking out because of my new GPA.
my major complain is I dont feel I have learned as much as I have expected from Bing, and i fear i might never will.

hi i'm from queens and have friends both at stony and bing and can tell you bout lifestyle, not premed stuff. stony is a lonely place... very quiet and in the middle of nowhere (but i heard bing is also). so lonely, in fact, that i call it lonelybrook. all the students leave for the weekends because most of the kids, like you, are from queens. getting good grades would probably be the same no matter where you go. as far as how could professors are, i wouldn't even take that into consideration. just learn what u need to know, get the grades, and get the hell out of there. if you can do fine on your own, then you do not need a good professor to guide u.

when u prep for the MCAT you'll probably have forgotten most of the stuff u learned in the first place and need to refresh on everything anyway.

and from the msg that im gettin while at interviews, it seems that none of the crap u learn in undergrad is really gonna matter for med school anyway. they're gonna start everyone off at square 1 again. they'll just get to square X a million times faster.


btw i highly doubt many ppl on SDN will be from bing/stony and be able to tell you anything.. i haven't met any yet.

 

[Funky]

i'm an alumni from bing and there are only a handful of good science professors. Most of them like many large colleges are communicatively inept. Aside from 830 am orgo, i dont remember taking any classes before 940. But i was an econ major so i wouldnt know much about how the class schedules are. If you want to declare BChem then good luck, it's one of the hardest majors in the whole college. You have your work cut out for you and you have really no time to slack off.

my advice to you is if you want to go to med school, just tough it out for the next 3 years. I don't really think the pre med programs are really THAT different between stony and bing. If you do transfer, there's always that risk of some classes not transferring creditwise because stony and bing have different credit systems (stony classes have 3 credits each, bing has 4). Just keep up the good work (4.0 gpa) and do well on the mcat. I cant see why you can't get into a very good med school if you can accomplish those two things.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Well now, I still go to Binghamton and I love it here. The city sucks, the weather sucks and the best thing about it is probably the Walmart but it's still great. I've never had a problem with the science departments. The Biology professors are fantastic as are most of the Chem and Psych professors (Physics...will always suck). And you are wrong about all the science courses being offered at 8:30; it's only Organic Chemistry really. Have you actually LOOKED through the BUSI system? As for your pre-medical shpiel, LOOK FOR YOUR OPPORTUNITIES. There are plenty of activities in Binghamton; I've found enough to keep me busy.

True, it isn't very pre-med oriented no matter what other people will tell you. The pre-medical advisor...is just one person and not always available. There's a huge lack of competition among the pre-medders (at least none that I have noticed). You really need to try to make the best of the situation though. There are some great things to do here that few people know about due to the fact that it isn't so cut throat. However, if you really aren't happy here I'd say leave. It's more important to be satisfied with the school you attend.

Also, please don't base your opinion of Binghamton U on the Geography professors.

 

[rpkall]

I've heard that Binghamton is an excellent school (the best SUNY for undergrad?).

Stony Brook has the "better" med school attached to it, but I'm at Upstate and I have to say I'm way happier here now than I would have been at Stony. Binghamton feeds a lot of students to Upstate Med, and both have good programs in premed/med respectively. Plus, cost of living is WAYYYYY cheaper upstate than LI.

Just my 2 cents. 😉

 

[Funky]

the best thing about it is probably the Walmart

hahahaha sad because it's so true

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

I've heard that Binghamton is an excellent school (the best SUNY for undergrad?).

Stony Brook has the "better" med school attached to it, but I'm at Upstate and I have to say I'm way happier here now than I would have been at Stony. Binghamton feeds a lot of students to Upstate Med, and both have good programs in premed/med respectively. Plus, cost of living is WAYYYYY cheaper upstate than LI.

Just my 2 cents. 😉

It is alot cheaper to live up here but 99% of the students I know would rather get syph than stay here for life ;-)

Edit: well maybe syph is too strong... Binghamton seems like an OK place to raise a family. However I did that Gear Up program and didn't get a great impression of the schools around the area. The hospitals are good and Oakdale mall is decent (a ONE FLOORED MALL? Who does that?). And there is always the rich part of Bing: Riverside? Those housing along the route to Lourdes Hospital are flipping nice.

 

[Funky]

It is alot cheaper to live up here but 99% of the students I know would rather get syph than stay here for life ;-)

who would want to be a townie for life anyway?

 

[rpkall]

ahahah 😉

Nice.

I do think it depends on where you're at in life when you come up here. If you're a non-traditional student, a little older with a family (or thinking about it), settling down upstate is quite compelling (cheap housing, decent life in the burbs or in the country, good schools, can save a lot of money by not living in NYC or Boston, etc).

But if you're younger, looking for a lot of NYC/Bostonish things to do here... yeah, you might be a bit disappointed. Syracuse is a little better than Bing for socializing, though.

Of course, LI has NYC, but it's quite a hike from Stony Brook--and if you're not from LI--family down there, familiar places and people all around--I'm not sure how charming and warm a place it is for a newcomer.

 

[secants]

Wow I'm in the opposite situation you are in. I'm currently attending Stony Brook as a Freshman and was accepted into Binghamton for Spring 07' back in HS when I applied EA there. Anyway Stony Brook is indeed dead on weekends as everyone, and almost all dormer's will also go home-hence the train is PACKED on Fridays. As for the town, I can't really comment because I don't go off campus but there are some malls around and a beach that's not so far away; the only decent thing is maybe that NYC is somewhat close by.

I'm also "pre-med" and I was surprised to find that SB kids are very pre-med oriented, at least most of the freshman. Most of the science classes in my experience are taught by foreigner's with accents. Chem and Orgo chem are not graded on a curve but on an absolute curve, which means you grade is what you exactly you got on your test, although I think A- in General Chem is 85% and Orgo was something around there.

The only reason I might stay at Stony Brook is because They have a university hospital so volunteering won't be a problem there. The Pre-Med club actually does lots of useful things like pair people to shadow doctors at the Med School and pair freshman with freshman in Med School. They also have a major I like, Pharmacology, which I have to apply to but it seems like a good backup major in case I don't get into med school.

In all honesty since the two schools are both SUNY I have doubts that it won't matter where you go if you definitely plan on applying to Med School.

Also there is a fairly large international student population (mostly East Asians) and a decent South Asian presence as well. I was surprised because I came from a small HS so this was all knew for me. As for parties and social life, the fact that 50% (it's a fact) of the kids that go here commute and nearly 3/4 of the school leaves on weekends makes this place really boring on weekends. The campus is fairly large and I think the academic setting is decently competitive.

If you have any more questions, ask away. If I didn't get into the pharmacology major, I was thinking about Economics which is why I was thinking it might be better to get a BA in Eco from Bing then Stony Brook but I'm still undecided.