Why don't New York's SUNY schools get any respect?

OP, you’re such a CUNY!

OP - SUNY decided to educate the state's students and not build 1 premier very costly to fund state university. For universities they incorporated the old Buffalo and built Albany, Stony Brook, Binghamton. Binghamton was designed specifically to be a small academically rigorous school. The land grant university of New York State is Cornell, in fact. Half of Cornell is a "state" university.

The nationally prestigious state universities are all bigger, some are much much older, like Michigan, Berkeley, University of Virginia, and often they are THE land grant university in the state.

I think SUNY schools get a lot a respect by the way, even some of the state colleges, too. Not to mention CUNY which is highly effective creating upward mobility, and respected as well.

I meant they don't get respect at the level of say UCAL schools or the other schools mentioned in R2-- they have limited name recognition outside of New York state.

Your response at R2 sounds valid.

Virginia is the outlier, but I suspect it's because their state schools are all old and were build back when VA was a playah, so to speak.. But they have UVA, Wm & Mary and VA Tech-- impressive for a state that size.

US News ratings are easily gamed and pointless---that's why clever safety schools like Emory do well. The status of schools, including ivies,U of Chicago, Stanford, etc. really depend on the field. The SUNYs do well in many fields. UNC, btw, is well past its prime. A friend left because he couldn't get a raise despite bringing in a lot of grant money.

For quality undergraduate education, the system of SUNY universities and state colleges was at the top of the nation for several decades. The state olleges all had small classes, brilliant and prestigiously diplomaed professors, and the SUNY professors salary were very high, nationally. NYS poured a fortune into created that diversity and quantity of campuses. California did it 2x - UCAL system and CalState system.

I believe the shift now is to up the quality of the community colleges because thats what the residents can afford, and use them even more as feeder colleges to the state colleges and universities. The state needs to churn out Bachelors to stay viable.

Do you now how the Soviet Union grew so strong in its first decades? They built TONS of engineering schools and produced a huge quantity of engineers and science and tech specialists. It was a deliberate plan. Russia didn't have educated workers. Just the aristocracy and the serfs. The USSR had to have an educated worker class quickly.

I think that was a similar goal in places like NYS and California too - crank out as many skilled workers as possible.

You say "was" R6. What happened?

And R5-- there's gaming no doubt, but when Binghampton winds up being ranked #87, it's hard to say it's up there.

I mean Rutgers, The Colorado School of Mines and the University of Delaware are all ahead of it.

Kids from my high school who couldn't get into Ithaca or Hartford went to Delaware.

^^And while Emory is no Harvard, it seems to be in about the right place at #21. You could argue it five or ten spots down maybe, but like a lot of schools it's gotten a lot harder to get into then even ten years ago.

Do you really think USNWR is THE legitimate or only source of the quality of a school?

I dont live in NY anymore but I am under the impression the funding didn't keep up so some of the state schools have slid while others have risen.

Binghamton is NEVER going to ranked as a national university because it is NOT a research university, I already explained that to you. Its purpose was to be for the brainiacs and pre law and pre meds who weren't going to the elite private colleges. Back in the 80's it wasn't easy to get into and had very high test scores. I dont know the situation now.

Rutgers IS the land grant university of NJ. Of course its going to have some strong programs. Its also very old.

1766, bitches. 250 years old. Begun before there was a United States.

[quote] Do you really think USNWR is THE legitimate or only source of the quality of a school?

Kind of. I mean it is the one source everyone goes to even though I'm sure other pubs have tried putting their own versions out.

But reading between the lines of your post, it seems that they focus on in state students rather than trying to bring in kids from out of state the way UM or UCAL schools do, and that likely hurts them both in terms of national reputation (nobody outside NY knows anyone whose kids go there) and USNWR rankings.

New York is the second biggest state?

Cornell is NYS's land grant college.

My bad R14-- it's actually #4 in population-- Florida is also ahead of it.

Yeah, R16 .i was surprised when Florida overtook NY.

I just searched and Binghamton is 15 nationally for "best value", on Forbes list. Thats saying something. Its a high quality school for NYS kids.

What list are you looking at R18?

On the list at the link below, which seems to be recent. Binghamton (no "p") is ranked #43 on the "Best Value" list

(Though it's between UPenn and Colgate, which is good company to be in)

I went to Binghamton for a bit in the mid 80s, I was actually a CUNY transfer. There was no way given the way the school was built at the time that becoming a major player in sports could've been a consideration. I believe tuition only at the time was something like $3000 a semester. Good faculty and decent resources but as whole there wasn't much character. However since it was the best in-state I went. I think the SUNY order at the time was Binghamton, Albany, Buffalo.

I went back to CUNY where for my liberal arts electives I was being taught by a pulitzer prize winner and a number of other esteemed professors who actually showed up and taught their classes (no TAs). Tuition at the time was $625 a semester. I walked out with my liberal arts degree with absolutely no debt - I had grad school for that.

Things may have changed obviously and likely will continue to do so. In my father's time NYU was where you went if you couldn't get into CCNY (CUNY City College today) , now if you are from NY, good luck getting an acceptance.

Tangent: CUNY was a force in sports at one time except for that little bitty point shaving scandal. The bans they imposed on those kids and the sports program in general was unforgivable: this was integrated team of city kids, no scholarships, and I think many of them ended banned for life. I think the CCNY was banned from competing in Div 1. Still only team tp win NCAA and NIT in the same year.

Also, it's Binghamton. If you ever visit the area you'll understand how it could never be the more prestigious Hampton.

Hmm, maybe I fell on an old list. Anyway, that "best value" is a weird factor because I think it means return on investment, not initial price.

In my opinion, the "best value" is the best school you get into that gives you a full scholarship. Thus its often the need blind elites, if you can get in and are not a rich boy.

If Grinnell college gives some kid a full scholarship but he has his heart set on UCLA, it would be DUMB to go to UCLA if it means taking out loans for tuition.

SUNY Purchase has a great reputation. The arts is quite like a conservatory.

New York will have to settle for Syracuse if you want a school decent in sports.

I always thought Binghamton had a low profile for those outside of NY state, but it was very hard to get into. I think it may also because it's a safety school for all the bright kids in the tri-state area - so I don't know if matriculation rates are considered, but I would think that may be partially the reason. High acceptance rate because of so many applications - they had 30,000 apps for 2,600 openings but a 40% acceptance rate.

Anyone who has ever lived in NY knows that SUNY-Binghamton is very competitive and respected.

The CUNYs also get no respect, but Brooklyn College has a stunning, Ivy-like campus and a great creative writing program. Some of the adjuncts at Hunter in particular are highly esteemed, including Pulitzer short listed playwright Branden Jacobs Jenkins.

City College campus on Convent Avenue is a major collegicgothic. architectural achievement. Serious money sunk into that. Bronx Community College is Stanford White grandiose built for NYU Campus it used to be.

Edward Durell Stone's SUNY Albany is certainly..... certainly.... something!

R22- I attended SUNY Purchase in the mid-late 70's, shortly after the school was completed. I was in the Theatre program there and it was an amazing facility but sadly had very sketchy professors- all high/drunk all the time…we referred to the school as Poorchoice……I am not sure if they cleaned up their act since then but back in the day it was a nightmare- cheap as shit if you were a NY state resident though..

SUNY Geneseo grad here, 1980's. It is a very different school today. The colleges were mainly set up for teachers, but that has changed a lot since I went there. The schools are relatively cheap and usually very rural in nice towns. It's a great option for NY State kids, a quality education and very affordable. Geneseo was an idyllic college experience set at the foot of a small town with nice turn of the century architecture, no car necessary. However it sucked to be gay there back then. I used to wish I went to Albany.

SUNY New Paltz is well respected too and frequently compared with Binghamton. It's a smaller school with a more artsy/boho vibe.

I work in higher ed, and agree that the US NEWS rankings are largely BS really, and skewed toward research institutions as someone above noted, but the rankings are used as a college search short-cut by people who don't know better.

SUNY Geneseo is as highly respected as Binghamton - perhaps more so now - but those two are generally regarded as the most academically rigorous of the SUNY schools. SUNY Albany's rep has, I think, declined over the last decade or so.

SUNY schools are inferior. Everyone knows that NYU is the epitome of educational opportunity in the state.

OP true no out of staters for undergrad at Albany but YES for grad schools. And MANY foreign students undergrad and grad for Albany.

UC Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia are on a completely different level than New York SUNY. Those are considered public Ivies.

NY SUNY is more on par with Cal State Hayward or Cal State Long Beach.

"Everyone knows that NYU is the epitome of educational opportunity in the state."

LOL! NYU is another overrated, overpriced private.