Out of State Students

bizymom
Sun, 16 Dec 2007 11:26:19 +0000

[quote]
I’m having difficulty understanding the difference between SUNY Binghampton and Albany vs New Paltz, Geneseo etc. They are all called SUNY’s. In Mass. there are big state universities…and small state colleges /quote

They are all called “SUNY” but Binghamton, Albany, Stony Brook and Buffalo are University Centers. Geneseo and New Paltz are SUNY colleges. (there is also a SUNY college in Buffalo, as well as the University Center). Perhaps to emphasize a difference, some of the universities try to emphasize that in the name they popularly use – eg, Binghamton uses the name Binghamton University.

The Univeristy centers are larger than the colleges and have more extensive graduate programs. But within each category there is a range in sizes – Binghamton is the smallest of the University centers, but still about twice the size of Geneseo or New Paltz. Binghamton is the most selective of the university centers, Geneseo the most selective of the colleges – so people who just look at selectivity often look at both, but the are very different. When my older child was at info session for Geneseo, someone asked the admissions officer to compare themselves to Binghamton – she rolled her eyes and said, we are a liberal arts college, they are a university.

If you are looking as an out of stater, I can imagine there might be a difference between the university centers and colleges as to how well known they are out side of NY – but you’d probably know that better than I would.