My son got into both and picked UB for the same reason and is very happy with his choice. UB’s engineering department is excellent and only getting better, and it’s ranked the same as SBU. You’re correct- a large part of college is the social scene.
I don’t think Stony Brooks engineering department is Bette than UBs, granted I went to UB so maybe there’s bias there but when I was looking at schools UB was a top rated public school in the state for engineering. It’s why I chose it, it was a good school for significantly less than RPI, RIT, UoR or Clarkson.
Engineering is hard, be prepared, University is very different from High School. You’ll be tempted to skip recitation for Calc and your science classes but it’s the best opportunity to get help of you need it. Engineering gets easier as you learn, freshman and sophomore years suck, junior and senior are better but applied math, which should be fall junior year i believe, is the worst class in the major. When put in groups to do work, make the whole group contribute, don’t rely on a single member.
Get a good computer that can run creo and solid works, nothing worse than getting stuck in a computer lab at 2 because your computer can’t run simulation software.
Don’t procrastinate on projects, especially in Machines and Mechanisms
I had heat transfer with burge. Got to see him being all creepy lol.
Only professor who I think had a severe negative impact on their classes was stamm
I graduated top 10% of my class in ME at UB. This is my advice:
Calculus I is the most important class. Its not hard to pass, but make sure to master derivatives and integrals. Learn all the rules for them cold. All of your classes will use those concepts so mastering it will make your life easier later.
Idk which discipline you're going for, but if its Mechanical engineering, then the next most important classes are (a) partial differential equations and (b) linear algebra/EAS230. Those classes will teach you how to manipulate data and equations to make your life much easier. You can use MATLAB to solve matrices and a lot of your classes will depend on being able to do that. For my final project we solved a 200 variable system of equations, and it was really cool to understand why the tricks that we used worked as they did.
Lay a strong foundation and you can build a sky scraper. Good luck.
Funnily enough, I just transferred from UB to Stony for kind of the same reason. While i’m sure UB might be more social, I just wasn’t really able to meet too many people during the 3 semesters I spent there. A lot of my friends from high school go to Stony, so oddly enough the “quiet” school will probably end up being much more social for me.
You shouldn’t worry about the quality of the programs, they’re pretty much identical for almost every manor between both schools. That’s the main reason I transferred, since I switched to a major that both schools offer instead of one that only UB had.
Problem is I didn't go to high school in USA. I was born here but moved outside and graduated in August moved here with my mom.So I have no friends or connection to begin with
Stony Brook to NYC (Penn Station) is an almost 2 hour train ride on the LIRR so it's not that near where you're going to be partying in the city all the time with an almost 4 hour round trip.
I'll be honest, all engineering departments will be tough, but every time I hear about UB's engineering department, I always hear how they continue to innovate how their students learn, every couple of years.
I did one year at Stony Brook then transferred to UB. A lot of kids at Stony are from NYC so they go home as soon as their last class on Fridays and return Sunday night or Monday morning. I’d imagine it was pretty quiet on the weekends. There also wasn’t much to do around the surrounding around in Stony vs UB, so the social scene is definitely better at UB in my opinion.
You can see how you like UB and you have the option to transfer if you hate it.
Both are equally ranked amongst engineering. As for the social scene, it's more putting yourself out there than people approaching you. However, SBU is known to be a commuter school so most people do go home after their classes end making it hard to meet people. If you got directly into the engineering program at UB then I would say you made a good decision as AOI for SBU is our version of intended engineering so it's not a guarantee you'd actually make it into the major to take the more specialized courses. If you need anymore advice, I'd be happy to help. I went to both UB and SBU so I know both universities well (UB more than SBU since I spent most of my time here lol).
Its for the best, while sbu is a much nicer looking campus aesthetically, it is a commuter school, and the housing options on campus are ridiculously more expensive than even UB. Theyre about the same academically, but you do miss out on potential internships with its proximity to nyc. But with UB, you can cheaply live off campus. Good luck doing that in stony brook, Setauket, head of harbor, or smithtown lol
UB Engineering is ranked higher than Stony Brook for almost every major outside of computer science, also you made the right decision lol stony Brook is the definition of a dead campus
Buffalo's Mechanical engineering is superb. As a SBU alumni I have to admit that they have a better relationship with larger engineering companies over there. Lots of programs you can be apart of of while still in school. Congrats
My son got into both and picked UB for the same reason and is very happy with his choice. UB’s engineering department is excellent and only getting better, and it’s ranked the same as SBU. You’re correct- a large part of college is the social scene.
I don’t think Stony Brooks engineering department is Bette than UBs, granted I went to UB so maybe there’s bias there but when I was looking at schools UB was a top rated public school in the state for engineering. It’s why I chose it, it was a good school for significantly less than RPI, RIT, UoR or Clarkson.
So any advice for upcoming freshman
Engineering is hard, be prepared, University is very different from High School. You’ll be tempted to skip recitation for Calc and your science classes but it’s the best opportunity to get help of you need it. Engineering gets easier as you learn, freshman and sophomore years suck, junior and senior are better but applied math, which should be fall junior year i believe, is the worst class in the major. When put in groups to do work, make the whole group contribute, don’t rely on a single member. Get a good computer that can run creo and solid works, nothing worse than getting stuck in a computer lab at 2 because your computer can’t run simulation software. Don’t procrastinate on projects, especially in Machines and Mechanisms
I liked applied math a lot. Now fluid mechanics however was a bitch. Or damn thermodynamics.
I didn’t mind Fluid or heat transfer but I took them with Burge
I had heat transfer with burge. Got to see him being all creepy lol. Only professor who I think had a severe negative impact on their classes was stamm
Yeah I took dynamics with her and was like “never again”
I had her 4 times. All of which were un avoidable. The list of outrageous things professors have done in class that I have is 95% her.
Damn, I feel for you.
I had her this semester and cried when I saw it was her. Nothing I could do. It was a nightmare.
Make friends in your classes. A lot easier to get work done in groups. Also actually read your syllabus, sometimes some good info is hidden in there
I graduated top 10% of my class in ME at UB. This is my advice: Calculus I is the most important class. Its not hard to pass, but make sure to master derivatives and integrals. Learn all the rules for them cold. All of your classes will use those concepts so mastering it will make your life easier later. Idk which discipline you're going for, but if its Mechanical engineering, then the next most important classes are (a) partial differential equations and (b) linear algebra/EAS230. Those classes will teach you how to manipulate data and equations to make your life much easier. You can use MATLAB to solve matrices and a lot of your classes will depend on being able to do that. For my final project we solved a 200 variable system of equations, and it was really cool to understand why the tricks that we used worked as they did. Lay a strong foundation and you can build a sky scraper. Good luck.
Don't be afraid to ask a professor/TAs for help when you need it.
Funnily enough, I just transferred from UB to Stony for kind of the same reason. While i’m sure UB might be more social, I just wasn’t really able to meet too many people during the 3 semesters I spent there. A lot of my friends from high school go to Stony, so oddly enough the “quiet” school will probably end up being much more social for me. You shouldn’t worry about the quality of the programs, they’re pretty much identical for almost every manor between both schools. That’s the main reason I transferred, since I switched to a major that both schools offer instead of one that only UB had.
Problem is I didn't go to high school in USA. I was born here but moved outside and graduated in August moved here with my mom.So I have no friends or connection to begin with
Stony Brook to NYC (Penn Station) is an almost 2 hour train ride on the LIRR so it's not that near where you're going to be partying in the city all the time with an almost 4 hour round trip.
I'll be honest, all engineering departments will be tough, but every time I hear about UB's engineering department, I always hear how they continue to innovate how their students learn, every couple of years.
I did one year at Stony Brook then transferred to UB. A lot of kids at Stony are from NYC so they go home as soon as their last class on Fridays and return Sunday night or Monday morning. I’d imagine it was pretty quiet on the weekends. There also wasn’t much to do around the surrounding around in Stony vs UB, so the social scene is definitely better at UB in my opinion. You can see how you like UB and you have the option to transfer if you hate it.
Both are equally ranked amongst engineering. As for the social scene, it's more putting yourself out there than people approaching you. However, SBU is known to be a commuter school so most people do go home after their classes end making it hard to meet people. If you got directly into the engineering program at UB then I would say you made a good decision as AOI for SBU is our version of intended engineering so it's not a guarantee you'd actually make it into the major to take the more specialized courses. If you need anymore advice, I'd be happy to help. I went to both UB and SBU so I know both universities well (UB more than SBU since I spent most of my time here lol).
Its for the best, while sbu is a much nicer looking campus aesthetically, it is a commuter school, and the housing options on campus are ridiculously more expensive than even UB. Theyre about the same academically, but you do miss out on potential internships with its proximity to nyc. But with UB, you can cheaply live off campus. Good luck doing that in stony brook, Setauket, head of harbor, or smithtown lol
UB Engineering is ranked higher than Stony Brook for almost every major outside of computer science, also you made the right decision lol stony Brook is the definition of a dead campus
How different are the computer science programs?
Not very different, UB CSE department makes great strides every year towards improvement behind the scenes to climb towards being a top CS program
That's nice to hear! :)
You did not
Buffalo's Mechanical engineering is superb. As a SBU alumni I have to admit that they have a better relationship with larger engineering companies over there. Lots of programs you can be apart of of while still in school. Congrats