Stony Brook

[Radian]

Hi there, I have been also accepted to the Materials Science and Engineering MSc program at Stony Brook. I have also other offers from University of Houston and ... but as far as I am concerned the rankings are on the Stony Brook side by a great deal.

Well, I have to admit that some of your comments made me really nervous about the surroundings there!

Since I am an international student and I plan to apply to a TOP 10 PhD program afterward, the ranking and the reputation is very important to me. I believe I can handle hell alone for 2 years since it is not that too long a period.

anyone has any comments about the program ?

[engin33r]

Car is a necessity in U.S.no matter where you are, I absolutely agree with you . I am going to buy a second hand one in first semester.

I have thought you are from Stony Brook since your profile shows Stony Brook BME department. But how do you know Prof. Liu by the way?

Professor Liu is currently teaching our Senior Design class for undergraduate seniors. He is a great guy, really friendly, and I like how he operates: he sets small goals that are feasible and helps you get there, without expecting huge big jumps. Also he is one of the few in the USA who helped secure a 6million grant for his group back in Stanford. I am sure he would be an excellent PI to work with!

*As for everyone else: The surroundings aren't the best, but keep in mind NYC is roughly 55 mins away by car, or 1.5hours by train, so I guess it makes up for it.

[mechko]

Just to clear a few things up, there's a difference between a peaceful campus and a dilapidated run down campus. Yes it's pretty quiet especially on weekend in fact it's a ghost town, but it's the worst looking campus I have seen out of maybe 100 or so. The campus was designed about 60 years ago (part of it by a prison architect) or so and it shows. there's no money spent on general upkeep or landscaping and it's incredibly drab. when it rains, mud runs rampant and renders much of the campus unwalkable. Not being a jerk but if you found it inspiring, you need to visit some more campuses. The university of phoenix online campus looks much better, smaller but better.

About rent, a lot of these guys are international students so unless you get a car you can forget about off campus housing because the campus is isolated and there's nothing around for miles. Also I'm not sure if craiglist is the solution. On campus, you're looking at 700 at least and off campus it's probably more. There are very few apartments off campus in general. Long island housing is very expensive especially towards the port jefferson direction and food prices are also very steep.

the reputation of the program is sadly out of their control. it's best subject is pure math by far and still many serious math students have never heard of it or think of it as being on the fringe of top 30 or worse. that's due to a combination of their location and overall reputation. Usually you want to find a program with good personal fit but with stony brook, I'd have to say tread carefully if you have other funded offers. It looks pretty obscure even if you look for work in nyc where it's saturated with ivys and other international brand names.

only redeeming factor is you can hop on the train and be in new york city in 2.5 hours, which is what 80% of the school does every weekend to escape their misery.

there's about 100 other complains easily but i don't want to rent

if anyone else has other funded choices other than stony brook, seriously visit before you decide. all the domestic students i know there are miserable. The international ones sadly don't know any better. Don't think of all this as an attack but just a friendly suggestion.

Ok give us some credit. We weren't designed by a prison architect. It was a military architecture firm going out of business. Javitz is designed (though not constructed) with direct impact from a 20 Kiloton nuclear warhead in mind. The Computer Science building has turret slits. I don't know about the other buildings because, sadly, I've never been to them.

Housing and food are expensive on campus. I recently found a place... ok I'll tell you after I close on it... Friends out in Port Jeff drive 15 or so minutes and pay $400-500 as opposed 740 on campus. You can do cheaper, but there are cockroaches.

Also, you can be in NYC in 1hr 40 minutes (assuming you're not counting waiting time at SB station). I haven't actually had much time to go there because of work. Lots of it.

All in all, I question my decision to be here, but I'm not that picky. I'll easily survive because the other grad students here are amazing. Probably would be true of most any place, but I like my set.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT NO ONE WILL TELL YOU ABOUT IS THE WIND!!!!!!!!!!!! IT TEARS AT YOUR SOUL!

enjoy.