Stony Brook university is an amazing university. It is absolutely fantastic In all aspects of learning, teaching, student life, academic related activities etc, this institution. When it comes to what makes a great University, Stony Brook University ticks all the boxes. What makes this possible is the recruitment of high qualified staff, the admittance of the best of the best students and the availabilty of equipments.

Faculty were attentive and supportive in the creative writing department. Enjoyed my time there. However, stem classes were often not well-organized, and often the students’ voices weren’t considered for some of the courses.

I enjoy the diversity of classes that you could take here that aren’t just the classic chemistry or English, such as zombiology. I found myself being able to take a bunch of classes not necessarily for my major (BS psychology) and found a love for creative writing and women’s studies through it.

Since it’s a big school, you will be on your own (such as making your own class schedule) but stony does provide a lot of resources (you just have to find them somehow 🤪). I personally like the freedom of this bc I truly get to curate my own schedule and include some fun classes. There are a lot of classes that are lecture based so you end up having two separate classes. One that’s pure lecture with 100-400 people, and one smaller 20-30 person classes where you actually get to interact with the TA and practice the material. Ofc, there are more smaller classes than these big ones and it be usually around the 20-30 people.

Even before the pandemic, there were online options so it makes the campus great cause there are so many place ahoy could study and attend ur classes at.

The campus is much bigger than you think, it could take me 30-40 mins to get from one side to the other side of the campus by walking. So many buildings tho. Good luck to anyone new tryna find there way.

Student life wise, there are a lot of clubs and event everywhere so that real cool. There events involving food, even galas. Events could be from early morning to even late night. But it could get boring at times. If you don’t have a car, it’s hard to go out of the school to go to even the mall or grocery shopping since it’s a school within a neighborhood.

The cafeteria food here also is not the best, I got sick of it instantly so I end up buying a lot of their outside food (not included for required cafeteria bills for tuition ugh) or ubereat instead. I probably spent a lot of money alone trying to get good food that I can palate.

Their dorms are… not the best. I am allergic to a lot of environmental stimulus (like dust or different grasses) and I remember getting allergy rashes from the dorms. It’s liveable, but dirty and gross, I never felt 100% clean here. But it’s nice having the dorm life where you could go outside and feel safe to walk around at night. You get the freedom (even if it’s expensive), but ofc your roommates definitely make a huge difference.

Overall, my experience of Stony Brook University was pleasant – but that’s not to say that it didn’t have flaws, either. Stony Brook University is generally a campus that tries its best to have its students be inclusive within their campus life as well as offering variety of courses that can appeal to many students out there, despite its reputation of it being mainly a STEM school. However, the campus does fall short in the “inclusive” aspects in that the campus is heavily dominated by commuter students. Because of this, there is a huge divide between the experience of a commuter student who rarely gets to experience what the campus has to offer, and the students who dorm who gets to experience all the benefits the campus has to offer. In addition, the campus does try to promote all its resources and events, but it hasn’t been efficient at getting their messages through to their students. As for classes and professors, my experience has been pleasant as a Psychology BA major with concentration in philosophy and minor in Korean studies. However, I do recognize that certain majors, such as nursing students, have to take majority of their courses in other campuses like Suffolk community college – which I feel is a huge flaw within their programs.

There are many opportunities at Stony Brook University, especially for anyone looking to work in healthcare, as the hospital is right across from the main campus. Some of the classes can be challenging, but it feels rewarding to succeed. Their computer science program is good as well, albeit difficult to get into. I liked that it was close to home and more affordable than some of the other schools I was looking at.
However, one of the downsides is that SBU is a very big school. There weren’t really any personal advisors to work with through the years, so you’d have to reach out to one in your program yourself each time.