PLEASE HELP! SUNY Binghamton vs Kansas U (PhD Economics)

[zooropa]

Hey everyone, I REALLY need help deciding where to go for my PhD Economics!

I've been accepted into SUNY Binghamton and the University of Kansas.

Which is better? From what i've gathered from my research online, both are ranked poorly. So which is the lesser of two evils?

I would be VERY grateful to the community here if it could help me out with this. I'm at a complete loss and I need to finalize my decision asap!

Thanks a lot!

[sabomnim]

I cant speak for their economics program, nor do I know anything about the location of University of Kansas, but I can tell you the actually city of Binghamton is depressing. I live here now (leaving asap after graduating)

the city itself is run down and depressed. they just suffered a devastating flood (and had another devastating one 5 years prior) so it is constantly recovering from these damages. There is very minimal to do for a graduate student and not much more even if u drive an hour in any direction.

its ranked 6th cloudiest and 2nd fattest in the country!

dont let this make your decision, as whichever program fits you best is the one you should take, but from experience the city is not the most enjoyable

[zooropa]

thanks for the info sabomnim!

i've heard Lawrence's a pretty dull place to live as well, so I don't know what to make of this now

[OldGrad2012]

Hey, the city of Binghampton cannot be worse than Pullman because it is a suburban area. Pullman is a rural area so I guess there is more thing to do in Binghampton than Pullman. There is also not much to do in Pullman and you have to drive about 5.5 hours to see a big metropolitan city. I heard there is extreme snow and thunder in Pullman. I do not know about Binghampton.

[Olga Childs]

Binghampton isn't that far away from New York City, you sort of live next to civilisation and stuff. And Kansas is Kansas. One can complain about flooding, but have you seen the Wizard of Oz? they got tornadoes in Kansas.

I mean, seriously -- more can probably be suggested if we knew where you were from (eg urban vs rural, liberal vs conservative etc) but for most people, all else being equal, choosing New York --anywhere in the state of New York actually -- over Kansas, would not be very difficult ))

and a PhD, that can take years... are you seriously considering spending YEARS in Kansas, not actually being FROM Kansas or anywhere similar? I don't know.

UPDATE -- I now saw that you are from Pakistan and presumably just contemplating moving to the States for the first time?. Trust me, you DONT want to spend years in Kansas. Actually you don't want to spend any time in Kansas, probably, if you can help it. While the state of New York, and SUNY, are generally pretty diversified and multicultural, you will be much more comfortable there.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Olga Childs

[zooropa]

Thanks Olga Childs!

I have indeed chosen SUNY Binghamton, but that was based on the fact that it has a much more research-active Economics department compared to Kansas U.

But I'm glad to know that Binghamton appears to be the better place to live as well!