Stony Brook, NY
Tuition (in-state)
$17,810 ($5,870)
Admission Difficulty
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Reviews 1617 total reviews with an average rating of 3.4

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3 College Sophomore

Computers: The WiFi goes in and out, and the school websites go down occasionally

3 College Sophomore

Academics: Academics are very challenging. It is an extremely competitive school. You have to put a lot of time and effort into the math and science majors. It is not for someone who wants an easy degree. You can go to different school and get a higher GPA easily.

5 College Sophomore

Diversity: There are so may different types of people here. There is something for everyone

3 College Sophomore

Greek Life: Greeks are know solely for the parties. Frats spike drinks with drugs.

4 College Sophomore

Off-Campus Dining: There are a lot of different options.

3 College Sophomore

Drug Safety: There are a lot of party opportunities. Frat and Sorority houses are located off campus. Not everyone drinks, you can find a lot of people who do not.

4 College Sophomore

Local Atmosphere: There are a lot of beaches in the area! There is also a shuttle to the Southampton Campus. The Smith Haven mall is located 15 minutes away, with university bus and public bus transportation available.

3 College Sophomore

Majors: A strong GPA is needed in order to get into the Biology major program.

2 College Sophomore

Majors: The program is very confusing to follow. The advisers are hard to meet with, and advisers contradict what other advisers say. The classes are difficult to get in to, and you do not start to take core classes until the second year. There are many pre- requisites to get through in order to start taking core major credits, and the classes fill up almost instantly. The classes are also not offered every semester. The program is a strong program, and is difficult. With all the difficulties and obstacles, it will prepare you for post- baccalaureate studies well. It is not for people who do not want to work 24/7 on their studies. It requires a massive amount of time devoted to studying in order to get A's.

2 College Junior

Greek Life: There are greek communities on campus but no one really pays too much attention.

1 person found this useful Report
3 College Junior

Nightlife: Rides are difficult to get outside of the Union, people get left behind sometimes.

3 College Junior

Off-Campus Dining: Things are a bit far, just chain places. If you want more variety you have to head out of town or visit Smithaven

1 person found this useful Report
3 College Junior

Parking: South P is big for commuters, but people have to take buses. Anywhere else on campus you definitely need a parking permit or they will get you for a ticket.

4 College Sophomore

Transportation: Free on campus buses and on the weekends we get free bus service to walmart, target, pathmark, and the mall. Taxi's on the other hand are assholes. there is no set price to or from any distance, they charge by person.

1 College Sophomore

Scholarships: This is just my experience but the financial aid dept has a lot of work to do. I have a high need status but I'm currently not receiving any aid. I'm paying it all with loans right now. Stony Brook has no problem helping you apply and get loans, but is extremely stingy with scholarships.

4 College Sophomore

Off-Campus Housing: Pretty good if you can find a house/ apt worth the time.

3 College Sophomore

Local Atmosphere: Just eh. there's a movie theater and the Smithaven Mall which most students go to during weekends, or work there during the school year.

3 College Sophomore

Drug Safety: Police are pretty strict about smoking weed, and aren't afraid to arrest someone. peer pressure isn't an issue usually. people understand if you don't want to drink and will not force you too.

3 College Sophomore

Campus Housing: Most people who live on campus end up resenting dorms and try to move off campus ASAP. Roosevelt Quad is considered the ghetto unless you get into Yang. Kelly Quad has balconies and a new building, Lauterber. Tabler is the artsy community, best open grassy spaces in the middle of the quad! H-Quad and Mendelsohn Quads are kinda far away from most academic buildings and are corridor style.

1 person found this useful Report
3 College Sophomore

Off-Campus Dining: TONS of chinese delivery places, plenty of pizza places, even some knockoff mexican food. All decently cheap and ALL of them offer usually a 10% student discount for showing your ID.

5 College Sophomore

Majors: Broad range of majors and departments!

4 College Sophomore

Majors: I came from California and am working towards a degree in Marine Bio. Stony Brook and Long Island as a whole have some of the best opportunities for research, internships, volunteer work, and general study in the whole nation. I'm able to study whats interesting to me, and pair it with a pre-vet track.

4 College Sophomore

Academics: We are known for being one of the best pre-med schools/ biomedical engineering/ science ANYTHING colleges in the nation. But.... with that comes insanely hard general requirement classes to weed out the students that won't make it in their field. A lot of competition that can be scary at times, and most professors are foreign and difficult to understand. That being said... it is still one of the best schools and you will recieve a fantastic education here if you put in even mediocre effort.

1 person found this useful Report
3 College Sophomore

Athletics: Football games can be big if it's Homecoming but usually after that the attendance dies down again. Men's basketball is crazy fun and the student govt usually gives out free shirts to try and increase attendance. No one goes to women's sporting events though. And our club teams ROCK! Rugby is one of the best in NY, Ice Hockey was ranked 6th in the nation this year, our club soccer has a big following, and we even have a quidditch team :)

3 College Sophomore



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Overall ExperienceWhat's This?

Barbara Ross
Hopewell Junction, NY
Business Management
View all previous student authors

Stony Brook is definitely the kind of place where you really need to put in the effort to make friends and actively participate in the social scene. If you keep to yourself during your first semester, you may be wishing you were back home or even consider transferring. However, by the second semester when you start going out more, you will be much happier now. There are so many ways to meet people and get involved on campus, and that is really the trick to being happy. Even if your classes are really stressful, you can always work on your homework with classmates—something that definitely makes it less stressful. Finding a balance between academia and a social life is not hard to do, but it isn’t easy either. It is very easy to get lost in the shuffle sometimes. The campus is absolutely dead on the weekends, since most people live locally and go home. Stony Brook is widely known as a commuter school for that reason. Attending Stony Brook will hold true the cliché that college is what you make of it.

The classes themselves also vary. Some will overload you with work, and others will have you excited to learn. Even if you hear a certain class is an easy A, don’t take it unless you have some interest in the topic. It will come back to haunt you when it’s a week before your midterm and you realize you have to read seven chapters on a topic that doesn’t pique your curiosity. Overall, Stony Brook is great academically for everything, especially biology, chemistry, pre-med studies, psychology, and engineering. The social scene is not very active in comparison with most other colleges, but there is one, you just have to look for it.


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