<p>From what I know, Stony Brook is far stronger than Buffalo. As for partying, they’re both party schools. Some kids party, others don’t. I think many people made unfair assumptions about both schools “Kids go to Buffalo to get drunk” or “Stony campus is a ghost town on weekends.” Living in Long Island NY myself, I know tons and tons of people who attend both schools.</p>
<p>From what I see (this is observation, not fact), kids are happier at Buffalo than Stony because of this: My friends (brother’s friends) who applied to Stony were also accepted into much stronger institutions such as BC and UMichigan, but had to attend Stony due to financial issues. Those who applies to Buffalo typically made it their top choice. And so, A LOT of brilliant students end up going to Stony, such as the valedictorians from my school for the past three years (The chain was finally broken, the valedictorian this year was accepted early to UPenn). :P</p>
<p>I don’t know about Engineering, but Stony Brook has far stronger programs (including research) in the Math and Sciences. Their Honors Math program is phenomenal. Stony is a simply higher ranked school, and has a stronger reputation in education. They’re both SUNY schools, how different could their programs possibly be? Stony is the strongest SUNY after Binghamton, I’m sure future job interviewers or graduate schools would rather see Stony than Buffalo.</p>