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I went to Stony Brook (after 2 years community college) with a social science major but my classes were heavily math/science influenced. I was impressed with that. That doesn't make it better but it was useful in my career which had nothing to do with my major. I think I got a good education and I graduated with zero debt.
I received my undergraduate degree from Stony Brook, also. I transferred, but not from a community college. My mother was terminally ill, and I had been attending Clark University in Massachusetts. Psychology English double major.
This was the early 1980s. It was not as math/science oriented as it is now, but it was headed that way. As a transfer, I needed to spend two years at SBU, regardless of the amount of credits I had.
Compared to CU, Stony Brook was very beaurocratic, with a plethora of arbitrary rules. Coming from a private, student centered college, this was mildly "soul crushing".
However, once I accepted it, I received a superior education taught by passionate, diverse and published professors. They were assessable and encouraging. I did an internship, I contributed to a text book. The education was superb. HOWEVER, socially, for a freshman entering as a teen, it may have been overwhelming.
This is not unique to Stony Brook. It's a large state university thing. Plus, sports at SUNY, are unimportant. Any SUNY. They are almost scorned. Even now.
I had two very different, very good, undergrad college experiences.
For me, money was not at issue. When I came home to be with my mother in her last days, my father would have sent me to any local college or university. The only well regarded and prestigious Long Island university at the time was SBU. Hofstra is respectable now.
At the end of the day, all of the SUNY "Flagships" are a great bang for your buck.
Stony Brook has an excellent reputation. It opens doors.
But then all four SUNY flagships do. If you are a NYS resident, and your parents earn less than $170 (there abouts), you really cannot go wrong with SUNY - not all states can say the same.
I live in OH now, and there are many good state schools. One of the better states. Nothing beats NY for middle class students on a budget, though.
From my outsider's perspective, I would rank SUNY Buffalo #1 followed by SUNY Stony Brook. Both schools are members of the American Association of Universities (AAU), a organization comprised of the leading 71 public and private research colleges and universities in North America. There are 69 members from the US and 2 members from Canada. Membership is by invitation only. Buffalo was invited in 1989, and Stony Brook accepted its invitation in 2001.
From my outsider's perspective, I would rank SUNY Buffalo #1 followed by SUNY Stony Brook. Both schools are members of the American Association of Universities (AAU), a organization comprised of the leading 71 public and private research colleges and universities in North America. There are 69 members from the US and 2 members from Canada. Membership is by invitation only. Buffalo was invited in 1989, and Stony Brook accepted its invitation in 2001.
^^ It’s funny because I came to this thread to give a little shout out to SUNY Poly; highly underrated because, frankly, most people have never heard of it. My daughter started out at Stony Brook, but didn’t like it became it is such a huge school (20,000+ undergrad students, if I recall), so she went the other extreme by transferring to Poly (2200 undergrad students) and loves it. Lesson being: rankings and name recognition really don’t mean all that much if the school isn’t a good fit for the student.
The University at Buffalo considers itself as the flagship of the four SUNY University Centers. As a University at Buffalo graduate, here is my rundown of the SUNY university centers as I understand it:
University Centers:
Buffalo (USNWR #106, National), total enrollment 28,601
Stony Brook (#92, National) total enrollment 24,594
Albany (USNWR #131, National), total enrollment 17,500
Binghamton (USNWR #89, National), total enrollment 14,746
My take: UB is the largest, but Binghamton is the highest rated. IMO opinion they are all pretty close and certain centers offer better programs than others. Buffalo has well regarded medical, dental, architecture, and engineering programs. In the 1970s and 1980s the English Literature department at Buffalo had some poetry superstars. I know as recently UB's ranking has ranged from 90 to 106, so I think the USNWR rankings should probably taken with a grain of salt.
Buffalo's north campus is dreadful, particularly in the wintertime. The entire academic spine is a study in Brutalist architecture, and it looks like a prison. When it is snowing, it can be a miserable place to be.
To address this post from over ten years ago: I understand where you're coming from with the last paragraph, but it's a bit harsh. If anything, UB North is more comparable to an office park than a prison. The Brutalism mention is definitely accurate. The layout of the campus also facilitates wind gusts, and my long-standing hypothesis is that wind speed at UB is on the whole 5 MPH higher than the surrounding area...but there are a couple areas of campus that are particularly notorious for wind, like the pathway that approaches the Natural Sciences building from the west/southwest. You can show up to campus on a completely calm day and marvel at the strong winds you're suddenly encountering on that walkway. I was just at UB a couple days ago and will be heading there shortly to read a book and chill. The pandemic put me in the habit of heading to its then-deserted campus regularly, and I now divide my time between Barnes & Noble and UB, heh.
Last edited by Matt Marcinkiewicz; 01-11-2024 at 11:01 AM..
I received my undergraduate degree from Stony Brook, also. I transferred, but not from a community college. My mother was terminally ill, and I had been attending Clark University in Massachusetts. Psychology English double major.
This was the early 1980s. It was not as math/science oriented as it is now, but it was headed that way. As a transfer, I needed to spend two years at SBU, regardless of the amount of credits I had.
Compared to CU, Stony Brook was very beaurocratic, with a plethora of arbitrary rules. Coming from a private, student centered college, this was mildly "soul crushing".
However, once I accepted it, I received a superior education taught by passionate, diverse and published professors. They were assessable and encouraging. I did an internship, I contributed to a text book. The education was superb. HOWEVER, socially, for a freshman entering as a teen, it may have been overwhelming.
This is not unique to Stony Brook. It's a large state university thing. Plus, sports at SUNY, are unimportant. Any SUNY. They are almost scorned. Even now.
I had two very different, very good, undergrad college experiences.
For me, money was not at issue. When I came home to be with my mother in her last days, my father would have sent me to any local college or university. The only well regarded and prestigious Long Island university at the time was SBU. Hofstra is respectable now.
At the end of the day, all of the SUNY "Flagships" are a great bang for your buck.
Stony Brook has an excellent reputation. It opens doors.
But then all four SUNY flagships do. If you are a NYS resident, and your parents earn less than $170 (there abouts), you really cannot go wrong with SUNY - not all states can say the same.
I live in OH now, and there are many good state schools. One of the better states. Nothing beats NY for middle class students on a budget, though.
Re: sports, UB competes in the MAC, a mid-tier D-1 conference, for football and basketball. The men's program for my favorite sport, soccer, was unfortunately discontinued in a cost-cutting move several years ago. One of the best players in the NFL over the past decade, Khalil Mack, went to UB. As a former UB student and someone who still hangs around campus regularly, I'd agree the 'sports culture' isn't particularly strong relative to other large state schools, but sports are not scorned. Buffalo as a whole is a huge sports town, but the locals are almost unanimous in their preference for pro sports to college athletics
From my outsider's perspective, I would rank SUNY Buffalo #1 followed by SUNY Stony Brook. Both schools are members of the American Association of Universities (AAU), a organization comprised of the leading 71 public and private research colleges and universities in North America. There are 69 members from the US and 2 members from Canada. Membership is by invitation only. Buffalo was invited in 1989, and Stony Brook accepted its invitation in 2001.
Current NY Governor Hochul is a native of the Buffalo area, and she's expressed ambitious plans to get UB out of that 65 spot in the research funding rankings and into the very uppermost echelon.
^^ It’s funny because I came to this thread to give a little shout out to SUNY Poly; highly underrated because, frankly, most people have never heard of it. My daughter started out at Stony Brook, but didn’t like it became it is such a huge school (20,000+ undergrad students, if I recall), so she went the other extreme by transferring to Poly (2200 undergrad students) and loves it. Lesson being: rankings and name recognition really don’t mean all that much if the school isn’t a good fit for the student.
Last sentence is very true. I got into Cornell and initially planned to enroll there, but then I visited campus on a snowy, blustery winter day, with the crowded campus eerily quiet, and I realized I may well be miserable there. I'm a person who can vacillate between sociable and reclusive depending on the circumstances I find myself in, and I realized Cornell was likely to accentuate the latter tendencies. So I stayed home and went to UB, where half my friends were going.
^^ It’s funny because I came to this thread to give a little shout out to SUNY Poly; highly underrated because, frankly, most people have never heard of it. My daughter started out at Stony Brook, but didn’t like it became it is such a huge school (20,000+ undergrad students, if I recall), so she went the other extreme by transferring to Poly (2200 undergrad students) and loves it. Lesson being: rankings and name recognition really don’t mean all that much if the school isn’t a good fit for the student.
Stony Brook grad here. Had I started SBU at 17, I would have been overwhelmed and lost.
Stony Brook is not a "warm and fuzzy school". I am happy that she found a good fit at Poly, and you are right, people do forget that Poly exists.
Last sentence is very true. I got into Cornell and initially planned to enroll there, but then I visited campus on a snowy, blustery winter day, with the crowded campus eerily quiet, and I realized I may well be miserable there. I'm a person who can vacillate between sociable and reclusive depending on the circumstances I find myself in, and I realized Cornell was likely to accentuate the latter tendencies. So I stayed home and went to UB, where half my friends were going.
Out of High School, I was accepted to Cornell. I turned it down for the same reasons, It was creepy and oppressive. It's something one needs to experience,
It appears your governor is "copying" the University of California system, where the two flagships, UC Berkeley and UCLA, are world-class, all-purpose institutions followed by a secondary level of research-heavy liberal arts universities. I imagine the third level will be composed of niche universities, each of different size and specialty, pursuing academic excellence.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Marcinkiewicz
Current NY Governor Hochul is a native of the Buffalo area, and she's expressed ambitious plans to get UB out of that 65 spot in the research funding rankings and into the very uppermost echelon.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a plan to revitalize the State University of New York system as part of the 2022 State of the State - and make it the best statewide system of public higher education in our nation. This transformative plan will secure SUNY's place as a globally recognized higher education institution, expand SUNY's global reach as a leader in research and innovation, support students and set them on the path to economic success, and focus on equity so that students can thrive no matter their background.
...
To help achieve these goals, Governor Hochul's plan to expand SUNY's reach begins with making the institution into a global and national leader on research and innovation:
Transform Stony Brook and Buffalo into global research institutions: Stony Brook University and University at Buffalo will become the flagships for SUNY, as well as world class research institutions. These campuses will look to meet the goal of $1 billion each in primarily federal research funding by 2030. This would put these two universities in the top 20 public universities nationally in research expenditures.
Revitalize Albany and Binghamton as nation-leading research and teaching universities: University at Albany and Binghamton University will be transformed into nation leading research and teaching universities, with a goal of achieving $500 million each in annual research funding.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced the creation of a consortium to secure New York's place at the forefront of the artificial intelligence transformation. The consortium, named Empire AI, will create and launch a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence computing center in Upstate New York to be used by New York’s leading institutions to promote responsible research and development, create jobs, and unlock AI opportunities focused on public good. Governor Hochul also released a new policy to ensure agencies within state government understand how to responsibly harness the opportunity of AI technology to better serve New Yorkers.
...
Empire AI will be a consortium that includes seven founding institutions—Columbia, Cornell University, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the State University of New York (SUNY), the City University of New York (CUNY), and the Simons Foundation. By increasing collaboration between New York State’s world-class research institutions, Empire AI will allow for efficiencies of scale not able to be achieved by any single university, empower and attract top notch faculty and expand educational opportunity, and give rise to a wave of responsible innovation that will significantly strengthen our state’s economy and our national security. The University of Buffalo is under consideration as a potential site.
Bringing together AI researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and others, the initiative will be funded by over $400 million in public and private investment. This includes up to $275 million from the State in grant and other funding, and more than $125 million from the founding institutions and other private partners including the Simons Foundation and Tom Secunda.
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