The State University of New York Binghamton

Frankly the purpose of my review is to warn students (or their parents reading these reviews) to not come here. This is a harsh statement, but this university and it's surrounding area are just terrible and I don't know how a student could spend four years here.

Let me just preface my review by saying that I enjoyed the time spent at my undergraduate institution. I always received individual attention and my needs were met both socially and academically. I had visited Binghamton prior to my arrival there and researched the department. At the time, everything looked great. However, the reality of the university is much different than what it appears.

Once I was enrolled as a student I felt like a number. This may happen temporarily in undergrad, but as a graduate student I felt completely dismissed and I could tell that I was gaining no ground in the program. I believe this was due to lack of professor enagement and encouragement, where their own research interests trumped that of the students. It left me feeling as though I was completely on my own. I saw no choice but to make a move and do what was best for me- cut my losses and leave.

I truly believe that "making the best of Binghamton" is a pretty tough feat in general. Once I really got to discover the city I realized just how bad it was. Bar life was limited (I don't even go out much but seriously), I never went to a restaurant that blew me away, and while the mall was pretty good, I would say it's pretty standard for what should be located in an area of this size.

As for the students? Well, I did meet a few great people in my program as well as outside of it. I will admit that there are definitely some gems here. On the whole however, most students looked sad and defeated. To be honest, this is kind of to be expected- gray skies and a very industrial looking campus. The new dorms do look very nice but beware because this doesn't reflect the rest of the campus. For many of my classes I was stuffed in an old room that was in desperate need of renovation. I couldn't believe that so many of my classes were being held in there and overall, it felt insulting. My high school had better looking classrooms for it's students.

There isn't much more I can really say. Yes, there are a few gem student and professors here, but the overall package of Binghamton simply didn't meet my expectations. I'm very serious about my education goals and I felt that if I had stayed on I would have left with a piece of paper. At the graduate level, that is unacceptable.

To begin with the campus is very grim and depressing and consists mostly 1960's architecture (lots of bland and boring concrete). There is absolutely no school spirit and I found many of the students to be self absorbed and arrogant. Unfortunately life does not get any better once you get off campus, Binghamton is a giant shithole which is totally unfriendly to students. When I planned on moving to the area lots of people told me to move to the West Side of Binghamton, than god I did not follow that advise because otherwise I would have been living in the middle of ghetto.

central.
As for my degree I found it not worth the time and money. While some of the professors were excellent these were few and far between and the great majority were unhelpful and condescending. There was one class I took the first semester and too this day I have no idea what the class was really about, it seemed like education for the sake of education and yet somehow I ended up getting an A in the class. In the end I did get my masters degree but felt that it did not prepare me at all for my career. To this day I regret attending SUNY-Binghamton and wish I had stayed at my big Mid Western school.

Terrible program if you're interested in art.
Fantastic program if you want to throw a Marxist spin on everything and hang around with like-minded people. Of course if I were a tenured professor at a public university I could afford to be a Marxist, too.