Reasons I chose Binghamton over stony brook
-Stony Brook is stronger in the health sciences, engineering and hard science and I didn't want to major in those. Binghamton is more well rounded academically.
-Even if I did listen to my parents and major in STEM, I didn't think the vibe at stony brook would be right for me. It is a huge school. There are so many foreign students there and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to a school where I couldn't even communicate with like 1/3 of the people there (Jokes on me because I somehow ended up with classes full of turks at bing).
-If I wanted to go to stony brook I would have to live at home and commute. My parents refused to pay thousands of dollars a year for me to live 15-20 minutes away. If I went to binghamton I would be able to live in a dorm, walk to campus, participate in activities without having to drive on nichols road and then spending forever looking for parking, taking a bus ect.
-I was really drawn to the nature preserve and I like the hilly landscape. I thought I would have a chance to explore nature, go on hikes as well as participate in winter activities like skiing. I also liked that the cost of living was cheaper in binghamton.
-So many people from my high school went to Stony brook. I really didn't the people that went there and I was afraid that the social scene at Stony Brook was just going to be high school part II. I wanted to branch out and meet new people. I kind of regret thinking that because binghamton has the same high school part II vibe where everyone knows each other from HS and has cliques set up.
I actually almost transferred out of Binghamton to Albany after like 2 months. Reasons I stayed at binghamton over Albany
-Albany's Campus is even uglier than binghamtons. Also both the city and the campus are less safe than binghamton.
-I didn't think the academics there were that great. Albany doesn't have the best reputation sadly, it is known by many as a "party school". A lot of the classes were large lecture halls. The academic standards are lower at Albany too. Now there are plenty of really smart people there but there are also people who have no business at a 4 year school.
-I also didn't want to live in the crappy alumni quad where all the transfers were relegated to.