Stony Brook VS Buffalo

[kayo]

Hello there-

I got interviews from stonybrook and buffalo in Nov.
I know both schools have great facilities, programs and cheap tuitions for in-state but seriously, what are their advantages and disadvantages specifically?

Specially Buffalo..
I know some people who have been in Suny buffalo
and they all say
"oh, u dont wanna live there. It's too COLD!!! It SNOWS!!!
NO BUSINESS going on there so if your partner has to live there,
he won't get any jobs!" (He's in construction engineering by the way)

Thanks!

 

[abogler612]

i'm a 3ed year student at stony brook and if i had to do it over again i would have chose buffalo for a couple of reasons

1) sooo much cheeper to live (i pay $1250 for a decent one bedroom with utilites, would run you 500-600 in buffalo) car insurance is arround 25-40% less then long island rates also.
2) your not going to see the outside too much so the weather should not be a factor
3) i have spoken to some of the residents here at stony brook who went to buffalo for dental school, they claim that buffalo was not very competative, while at stony brook over the last couple of years classes have gotten very competative
4) not too much to do around stony brook besides going to the movies- the city is a 2 hour train ride away

best of luck to you

 

[gryffindor]

3) i have spoken to some of the residents here at stony brook who went to buffalo for dental school, they claim that buffalo was not very competative, while at stony brook over the last couple of years classes have gotten very competative

Buffalo was plenty competitive if you actually care to keep your rank in the single digitis. If you just want to graduate and get out then you wouldn't care if your class was competitive or not since you just have to keep up with your work and pass. But that goes for any dental school.

I think one advantage Buffalo has is that the class size is more than double that of Stonybrook.

 

[S Files]

Buffalo was plenty competitive if you actually care to keep your rank in the single digitis. If you just want to graduate and get out then you wouldn't care if your class was competitive or not since you just have to keep up with your work and pass. But that goes for any dental school.

I think one advantage Buffalo has is that the class size is more than double that of Stonybrook.

i'd agree, colleagues have told me UB is competitive. either way, stony brook or UB both solid choices. i think location is a factor, not a huge factor, but you can have a social life in dent school. but even then NYC is 2 hrs away from stony. buffalo is not THAT bad. plus toronto's awesome and is 2 hrs away.
griffin, what's the size of UB's class? it's interesting you mention a larger class size being an advantage. from my interactions with students and academics, i think most people agree that small class size is an advantage and more conducive to learning. when it comes to class rank however i do see what you mean, perhaps larger class size is better in that regard. in any case small/large class argument is usually said in the context of say a NYU, where the class size is mammoth (no small group learning, getting lost in the shuffle, stuff slipping thru the cracks, etc). i dunno UB could be 60 vs. stony brook's 30. lastly stony brook doesn't rank its students, that has its good and bad points depending on who you talk to.

 

[kayo]

I think I need competitive classmates which any school pretty much has.
I appreciate your replies because I don't personally know anybody from these schools.
I forgot to ask you some other things..

Is it possible to transfer from Sbrook/Buffalo to Buffalot/Sbrook??
Do you have asian students in Buffalo?

I am an asian myself and I know Sbrook has many asian students but what about Buffalo? If you happen to be one of them, how do you feel living there?

Thank you!!🙂

 

[Papavich]

Being a third year at Buffalo, I'd have to say here over Stony Brook. This is in spite of having two feet of snow on Oct. 13th and having half my class still lacking power almost a week later. I'm also slightly biased 'cause Stony Brook managed to lose my application when I applied and wanted a new fee. 🙁

The class size is large, but not huge, runnin on about 85 now for our class. There's a few comptetitive people that are gunnin for Ortho when they get out, but if you're not one of those, the class as a whole tends to be pretty laid back. Alot of the proffesor's are great, especially in the preclinical classes, which are what really matter. They really want to make sure you learn the hand skills and the feel of what its like to be up in the clinic. On the other hand, for every class where you have something that you are learning that could have an importance in dentistry (i.e. Operative, Oral Mucosal Disease, Occlusion), you have a class that seems almost a way of the proffesor presenting his research that is still experimental and not of too much clinical importance (refraining from naming classes). I'm not sure, but I have a feeling most schools are like that; a mix of important, pertinient information mixed in with a decent helping of wasting time.

As for rent, I'm from the Boston, Southern NH region, and the rent here is MILES better than anything I've experienced going to undergrad. I've got a room in a house that I'm sharing with a fourth year student, and I pay 350 rent. After heat, electric, DSL, and satellite tv, im still under 450 every month which is unbelievably reasonable. The nightlife here can be great at times, and its only a quick hop on the subway to the downtown district (there's a subway station on campus). SOME neighborhoods around the south campus that the dental school is at can be sketchy at times, but that varies almost block to block.

I'm sure no matter where you go, you'll have days where you'll either hate it or love it. I'm sure that if I wrote this maybe a week from now, you'd be reading a different response. But considering that we just had a blizzard before holloween, and I'm in the middle of midterms, AND am dealing with a wacky patient family but can still find good stuff to say says something in itself, doesn't it? (I don't know if that last line makes sense at all)

Oh, my class has like nine asians in it too, and most seem happy.

 

[gryffindor]

i'd agree, colleagues have told me UB is competitive. either way, stony brook or UB both solid choices. i think location is a factor, not a huge factor, but you can have a social life in dent school. but even then NYC is 2 hrs away from stony. buffalo is not THAT bad. plus toronto's awesome and is 2 hrs away.
griffin, what's the size of UB's class? it's interesting you mention a larger class size being an advantage. from my interactions with students and academics, i think most people agree that small class size is an advantage and more conducive to learning. when it comes to class rank however i do see what you mean, perhaps larger class size is better in that regard. in any case small/large class argument is usually said in the context of say a NYU, where the class size is mammoth (no small group learning, getting lost in the shuffle, stuff slipping thru the cracks, etc). i dunno UB could be 60 vs. stony brook's 30. lastly stony brook doesn't rank its students, that has its good and bad points depending on who you talk to.

Someone mentioned Buffalo tries to keep its classes around 85. I wasn't thinking about learning environments or class ranks. I was thinking a larger class is better from a social standpoint. There are more people around so you are more likely to find people like yourself that you really bond with.

Some of my closest friends were Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese. My lab partner was Korean. We were a diverse class. People of all color & races come to study at the University. If you want the truth, then yes, some of the Asians were "cliqueish" but everyone was able to interact with their classmates socially. Many times you are forced to break out of your clique and interact in class because of all the mandatory groups the school sets up.

Yes, the economy does blow in Buffalo. But your partner won't know for sure unless he actually looks for a job, you can't just make generalizations.

It is uncommon to transfer into Buffalo. They may accept 1 or 2 transfer students into the start of the second year class, but that's it. I don't even think Stonybrook allowed for transfers.

 

[kayo]

I don't really care about the cost of living because I live in the city and the tuition at these suny schools is waaay cheaper than, let's say NYU. No complain.

Regarding on the class size, I guess 85 will give me more diversity so it's more preferable for me.

Some of you guys mentioned that I won't see outside so the weather doesn't matter..how do you mean I won't see outiside!?
Don't you go shopping or going out for fun? Sounds really scary!

 

[ncalcate]

I don't really care about the cost of living because I live in the city and the tuition at these suny schools is waaay cheaper than, let's say NYU. No complain.

Regarding on the class size, I guess 85 will give me more diversity so it's more preferable for me.

Some of you guys mentioned that I won't see outside so the weather doesn't matter..how do you mean I won't see outiside!?
Don't you go shopping or going out for fun? Sounds really scary!

As a current UB dental student, I can attest that everything posted so far is accurate concerning Buffalo.

However, I will stress that, in general, the economy here in Buffalo is tough for white collar workers. I know of several dental and medical students who have spouses/significant others who had real difficulty finding meaningful and reasonable-paying jobs. So if I had a significant other/spouse coming with me, this would definitely be a factor.

Also, there are many individuals of Asian origin at the school. So you would feel right at home. In fact, the Dalai Lama came to UB a couple of weeks ago, and one of the reasons he did so was because of the large percentage of Asian students who attend UB (undergrad and graduate schools combined).

Regarding not seeing outside, you'll be so busy studying and doing labwork that sometimes you don't see what is going on outside for hours at a time. I expect that this is the same at all dental schools.

Good luck in your decision.

 

[license2drill]

It's a win win situation either way, both are fantastic schools.

 

[kayo]

I want to appreciate all your replies to my questions🙂

I think both schools are good schools. I will be happy attending to either school IF I get accepted.
The only factor I should really consider is the situation my partner would face in Buffalo/SBrook. I am expecting to stay at school just like other students so maybe it does not matter which cities have more fun places to go.

Thanks!

kayo