Here is a good example of the need to be very careful about the information on this site (and any site). Do your homework. Don’t let comments derail you.
First, Buffalo and not Binghamton has the more highly rated Computer Science program. For example, US News and World Report rates Buffalo’s at 63 whereas Binghamton’s is rated at 112. Now people will write in to say that the ratings are really more relevant to graduate training. Nobody knows. The ratings are simply a result of a peer assessment survey. It probably reflects the reputation of the department among faculty members of similar departments in other colleges and universities. It is probably worth spending time at both schools and exploring the departments that interest you most along with the rest of the school. Visit both Computer Science programs. look at their resources, examine their mission as it pertains to undergrads. Which campus are you more comfortable at. They are only a few hours apart by car/bus. Visit both. Walk through the Computer Science Buildings.
Second, the advice to avoid a major because it is more difficult or your GPA might not be as high as it would be with an easier major is probably the worst advice I have ever heard. I will go so far as to say that advice like that and the trend of gaming college for the sake of a better GPA instead of using college for its intended purpose (to become educated, to learn well, to master material) threatens to dumb down this generation of college students. It is an extension of a high school mentality of chasing grades instead of pursuing subject matter-and it is disgusting to see that mentality contaminate college. This country needs people who are well trained and well educated. Learning is hard work. If you haven’t put in hard work you are wasting money and the slot you are occupying at that college. We don’t need a generation choosing to be English and Education majors because they have inflated GPAs-thereby making entry to professional school more possible. Hopefully admissions officers in these professional schools will smarten up. Hopefully humanities will decide there is actually a content to be learned in those fields and so they will raise expectations for their students that include mastery of that content. But to hear someone advising a student applying to college not to pursue their interests in favor of easier A’s is simply sickening.
Of course those at Brown can just drop any course that makes them sweat a wee bit. And, they can make up their major–no need to sweat any sort of requirements beyond a made up major. Brown’s certainly a good school for someone whose major interest is maintaining a particular GPA. But if your interest is Computer Science, by all means pursue it. Why wouldn’t you?