Student Profile
Danny
- Class: Senior
- Major: Biology
- Gender: F
- High School: BHSEC
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
There are a few great things about Stony Brook. For the money cautious, it is affordable, and they LOVE to give money away, even if its a little. Though Stony Brook may not be a Boston University or Columbia, we are regaining our stance among the ivies. Each year we're getting new facilities built, our popularity start to increase and more and more people are seeing Stony Brook as a great school to go to. From the 2 years alone that I've been at Stony Brook, there has been many changes, and they're only going to get better. The administration can be a little bureaucratic, at least we got a couple of awesome teaching faculty to make up for that. The classes I've taken for my major have been great and we really have amazing professors active in research. Even in a class of 600 students, its not hard to walk up to the professor and strike up a conversation about anything, not only the class material. We're special in the sense that we encourage students to do research right from freshman year, and its not just cleaning the lab, but hands on projects that may even get published! Going to the actual layout of the University, we're pretty big, the largest SUNY. After the first week, I never bothered me how large my campus was. Especially the way we divide the freshman, into Undergraduate Colleges (separated from our Academic Colleges) based on the student interests. It made the 25,000 + student body down to just a couple hundred students who at least shared one thing in common with. Made adjusting to Stony Brook a hell of a lot easier.
Academic Life
I have classes I love, and I must admit Organic Chemistry is one of them, and mind you I'm not very good at this class. Yet I don't mind working hard and struggling for this class because it has amazing, dedicated, and funny teachers. Being a Biology major, I have to say its tough, its not easy ride here in Stony Brook, but it is worth it. A few classes will be really hard and end up hating, others are annoying yet need to be done, and some you will fall in love with. You get that at any University, so what makes up different. I really don't know, but I'll just describe a few highlights. Our core curriculum allows our students to explore all branches of academia, from sciences, to humanities, to language. We want our students to graduate well rounded. We encourage students to take minors that doesn't have to do with their major, if its purely for interests, its ok! I'm doing that with taking Spanish as my minor. Our education is about preparation, no matter where your career path may take you. And we offer a whole list of opportunities for our students, and resources to explore them.
Student Body
What we pride ourselves as it that Stony Brook is DIVERSE. And for someone who comes from NYC, Stony Brook does a pretty good job at that. We get people from everywhere and there is a place for everyone. Its hard to feel left out of campus, since there are many groups all around. Though you do see homogeneous groups of Asians (as in Chinese groups, or Indian groups, etc) which is our stereotype student body, look closer and its pretty diverse. Also these groups as not stand alone or exclusive. Often members are there for their cultural means and diverge to other groups, who are not just one ethnic background. The majority of groups on campus are diverse and range from the sorority/fraternity interactions to just randomness and no one really belongs to a specific group. I myself can be the "marching band geek" for my participation in the color guard, but also just hang out with a large group of friends with different majors and interests. It really varies and its hard not to find a place to "fit in"
The Best Things
Our traditions, such as Wolfstock, Earthstock, Roth Pond Regetta, Strawberry Fest, Spirit Week, and others I can't remember right now
The Worst Things
Sometimes I feel like I'm studying forever!
