The State University of New York Binghamton

Where to begin..... This school is absolutely horrible in every way. I like my friends, but I'm pretty sure I could've gone somewhere else and still made friends. Very few Professors care about their students. I've had a couple that did, but it is literally 2. MANY classes are completely taught by TAs, who teach because it means they'll have free tuition. They also don't care about their students. That's right, a 23 year old can be allowed to give you every grade in a class and fail you just because they don't like you.

This happens most often in the Math Department. If you must come here, pick a major that only requires the bare minimum of math (2 100 level courses). I've had one good teacher in the Math Department (yes, I took 4 upper level classes, and was not ever taught by a Professor). The other 3 would have been jokes, had they not been in control of my grades. Why isn't the ability to speak English a REQUIREMENT to teach here?

The food here is horrible. I know they say that college food is generally bad, but I was shocked and appalled when I found out how bad it is here. If you get a sub from the sub place, you probably don't want chicken on it. I bit into some chicken, expecting to see white meat, or maybe even dark meat, it was red. The only red meat I've seen in a chicken is its internal organs. GROSS!!! And really, good luck ordering a sub, anyway. Those people have no idea what they're doing, and it's not even a complicated job. I was in a dining hall once, and I heard one of the Sodexo reps giving a lecture on the foods cooked in the dining halls. They actually admitted to selling low quality food on campus, their excuse being that in these times, good quality is more expensive. I don't know about you, but I'll pay more to make sure that the green items in the salad bar aren't brown.

The social life here isn't that bad. There are a lot of minority groups, and they all stick together. They're so cliquey that they glare at anyone in a different group. I feel akward walking around the engineering building, like I don't belong there. The people who aren't cliquey make up the population of a small school. Don't expect to be able to talk to all 13,000 students and you'll be fine. Also, almost every student here is obsessed with "hooking up", so if you want to meet the love of your life in college, look elsewhere.

The city has some unsafe neighborhoods because they haven't had a lot of jobs in Binghamton for about 30 years. If you get out of your car and walk around in a bad neighborhood, then get mugged, it's your fault for walking in a bad neighborhood!!! Just stay near the vestal parkway and the south side of binghamton. Those neighborhoods are very safe.

Now let's talk about housing... The university has some new dorms, Mountainview, and is also in the process of tearing down Newing and Dickonsin and building new buildings in their places. That's great. The ones that have been built already are beautiful. Remember what I said about the minority groups being cliquey? You'll probably live with people in those groups. Good luck. At one point, the school even screwed me over completely by giving me an international student who was only here for a semester, even though I've been in America my whole life. He stole from me, never showered, and never let me sleep. Why wasn't he paired up with another international student? Because everything about BU is terrible.

Now to talk about sports! Did you know that the bear cats used to be called the colonials? They changed the name about 15 years ago because it was "offensive". I have yet to meet anyone who is offended by that word. Anyway... We have no football team. Trust me, there is room and money for a stadium. The D1 basketball team is the biggest thing we have going. Apparently, many of the team members are criminals (you can look this up if you don't believe me). I've been told that this is true for many schools, but the point is, why does binghamton heavily advertise such a big problem? Yay, we're D1 now!!! Just ignore our players' records!!! The campus is ugly, and the buses are often too late or too early. Welcome to Binghamton University, where you'll hate every moment, guaranteed!

2nd Year Male -- Class 2011

Surrounding City: A+, Faculty Accessibility: F

People think this is a great school. Compared to what? Other SUNYs? This is the "Crown Jewel" of the Dollar Store. If you can afford it, go elsewhere. If you can't, make the best of it, but make no mistake: this is a 3rd institution judged 1st rate by people who wouldn't know quality if it bit them in the ass.

4th Year Female -- Class 2009

Useful Schoolwork: C, Faculty Accessibility: F

Going to Binghamton University was THE BIGGEST MISTAKE I have ever made in my life and probably will ever make. Binghamton was my LAST choice but of course just like everyone, I am here because it is a "cheap and excellent education." Sure its affordable but excellent, i beg to differ. Last semester I had the stupidest english teacher ever! Notice how I refer to him as a teacher, he didn't even have his damn doctorate! I saw my writing skills go down the drain and I had to actually lower my skills so he could easily comprehend my writing. I am appalled that a school with "excellent education" would hire such a complete imbecile.

Never does a day go by without feeling completely gloomy and down. Walking through the campus one cannot help but feel this way. The architecture is old, disgusting, and uninviting.

Speaking of disgusting and uninviting, I've never tasted such gross food in my entire life and I am not surprised that Sodexo also distributes food to correctional facilities. The food is horrible quality and I honestly think that they put some sort of laxatives in it because I feel sick to my stomach every time I eat it.

And as for social life. It sucks. All everyone cares about is getting piss drunk and getting action. Everyone has such sticks up their asses and only cares about themselves. Boredom is my new favorite word BECAUSE THERE IS NOTHING TO FUCKING DO HERE! Going off of campus is risking your life because the town is infiltrated with fucking hicks and creepy people that could probably rape you. I try to avoid going off campus as much as possible except the occasional trip to the shitty mall and hick-filled walmart.

If you are thinking about coming here...SAVE YOURSELF! I cannot even wait to transfer out of this shithole and I regret not going to one of my top schools.

1st Year Female -- Class 2012

Scholastic Success: B, Faculty Accessibility: F