Binghamton University--SUNY | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Pam

Class: Junior
Major: English
Gender: F

High School: Francis Lewis High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The best thing about Binghamton is the people you meet. They're going to be the people you remember when you're old and gray. One thing I'd change is how easily we fall into our own ethnic groups. Because it's rare, it's a joy to see people of different ethnicities hanging out. I think our school is too large where I'd really like to get to know my professors on a more personal level. But I like that there's always potential to meet someone new everyday. I get different reactions on how people react when I tell them to come here. But I honestly have had such great experiences and opportunities here, so I do my best to recruit students and their parents! I spend most of my time, everywhere! I love hanging out in my room and people stopping by, especially my floormates, I visit my friends in their dorms and apartments, I study in the library where I'll always find a friend, I eat at the dorm dining halls, and I go off-campus every once in a while. I don't really think of Binghamton/Vestal as a college town. They've made it easy to take the bus and everything, but if you don't have a car, sometimes you're just turned off from going out. I think there's a huge lack of communication with Binghamton's administration. I have no idea what goes on there, and honestly, sometimes I'm not interested, so I don't make the effort to go find out. But I realize they must work hard to make a large university like this be able to function. I'm not sure how I feel about how they using funding though. For example, in my opinion (and others) using LCD screens in the dining halls wasn't the greatest use of finances. More money should be given to students who deserve it (academic achievement, financial need, etc.), to professors and faculty that work really hard, to provide an environment that's more personable to students and faculty. The biggest recent controversy was the arresting of people protesting the war on Tuesday. I think school pride is increasing. It's not as exciting as a football school, which would be awesome to be a part of, but I think it's slowly getting there. I'm personally a huge fan of sports, so I like that we're establishing ourselves in athletics. I just hope we're not sacrificing funding for essentials for athletic reputation. Maybe this isn't unusual, and maybe this is just my personal experience, but I love that Binghamton is a good balance of work and play. It's not so crazy where we're all studying all the time, but we're not a total party school either. We take academics seriously. But we also take enjoying ourselves seriously too. One experience I'll always remember is going to the observatory to go star gazing. The most frequent student complaints are classes that are a joke, teachers who don't care about us personally, dorm facilities that are sub-par (although yes, they are renovating ***inson), and there are a few more I just can't think of. In general though, the events and stuff on campus, they seem... not supported. For example, there seems to be a lot of interesting stuff going on on campus, but I have this notion that not a lot of people are going to show up, so I don't go. It's so much easier to be excited about something when other people are excited too. For example, last semester Amnesty International showed a do***entary on the Lost Boys of Sudan. They got around 60 people to show up! That's awesome... but there are what, 14,000 people on this campus? Shouldn't we all care about such social injustice issues? But I'm assuming this is not just a Binghamton problem.

Academic Life

Some professors know my name, but only if I make the effort to go see them during their office hours, which can be hard to manage (with my schedule). I've definitely gotten able to know my TAs better than my professors, but it's the professors that have all that experience to pass on, and they're also the ones who can write recommendations. I bet they're really cool people and awesome to get to know, but it's just really difficult. My favorite class was my Intro to World Politics class. It opened my eyes to see the world from different perspectives. I know it was my favorite because I enjoyed going to it at 8:30 in the morning. Least favorite: Geoolgy. I hated going to that class. It was the bane of my existence that semester. Students here are pretty studious... although it is easy to slack off. Class participation varies according to the professor's openness as well as the class topic. At least in my experience, Binghamton students do have intellectual conversations outside of class. I like to tie in what I'm learning in class with real life. Students aren't that competitive, but maybe that's because I'm an English Major. The most unique class I've taken is Horror Fiction and Film. I don't spend time with professors outside of class, although that would be cool. I think Binghamton's academic requirements are reasonable. I think this is true of anywhere, but whether or not Binghamton is geared toward getting a job or learning for its own sake is up to the student and their academic pursuits. For me, it's been learning for its own sake, which is a hard place to be when others are geared for jobs.

Student Body

Binghamton holds witness to a lot of different encounters with different racial, religious and socio-economic groups. The variety of campus groups and events are reflective of this. As to what kind of student would feel out of place, I would say anyone's really susceptible to that, it's a matter of getting out there. I would love to see more different students interact. I think since my freshman year I've tried to do this, but it can be frustrating since different groups of people can be so different, sometimes it just seems easier to hang out with people who are like you. I wish it wasn't so hard sometimes to hold kinship with people of other ethnicities.