| Jan - Mar | Apr - Jun | Jul - Sep | Oct - Dec |
-5.3℃ |
11.8℃ |
2.0℃ |
10.4℃ |
State University of New York - Stony Brook is a public research university started in 1957. Also known as Stony Brook University, it is one of the highly reputed public schools in the USA. This is probably one of the reasons why it’s a hot favourite among Asians, especially Indians. Of course, the more obvious reasons for Indians are also as straightforward. It’s pretty affordable (your MS here would cost you less than an MBA in India) . It’s in New York. Which is in the US. Which means it is outside of India. Which means it is ‘Foreign’. Which means it is good.
“It’s in New York”, you’ll tell yourself. Well it is, but not exactly. It’s located on the North Shore on Long Island which is around 70 kilometers from Manhattan. New York city is around 90 kms from the campus.
SUNY – Stony Brook is built across three campuses, viz: East, West and South. The campus is spread over a massive 1100 acres, and still manages to be really beautiful. There are two main libraries where more than a million volumes are available. The University Café, which is a bar, is located inside the campus, along with a few cafeterias namely Roth Café, Kelly Café and Tea House, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.
Since it’s New York, be prepared to dig deep into your pockets when looking for accommodation. You can live in one of the dorms on campus for about $6000 per year, but grad students normally live outside. Centereach, East Setauket, Port Jefferson and Selden are some of the few areas students like, where the charges are usually around 1200$ per month. Despite the heavy expenses to stay, the tuition fee is what gets a smile on everyone’s face.
Stony Brook tends to have rather extreme climatic conditions, with pretty hot summers and extremely cold winters. While it doesn’t rain too much, precipitation is evenly spread over the year. Summer temperatures go as high as 34°C, while winter temperatures are often sub-zero. The winters are extremely bad as it snows heavily. Quite often you see your car or sometimes the steps to your apartment covered with a huge of pile of snow. September and March are probably the best months where you see students wearing comfortable clothes, especially girls in shorts!
The faculty at Stony Brook University is quite knowledgeable. Most of the professors work in their respective fields and hence are aware of many new ideas and innovations. Majority of the teachers use Flash and PowerPoint, thus making the entire lecture session dynamic and live! Moreover, the professors are quite flexible and approachable. They go out of their way to help students even after the college hours.
Come on, isn’t the awfully low fee enough?That being said, the university is still nice enough to dish out a few need-based scholarships. Plus, you can always obtain Teaching Assistantships or Research Assistantships at Stony Brook. How very nice of them.
Since Stony Brook is certainly among the better universities around, getting a good, well-paying job should never really be an issue. What you should ask yourself is ‘what kind of job do I want?’, and then choose your subjects, and your academic ambitions, accordingly.
If you’re studying at Stony Brook, then the place to be when you’re free is definitely Three Village, where you find urban and upper middle class crowd. There are also two nice beaches not too far from the campus- Stony Brook Beach and West Meadow Beach. Majority of Stony students are seen partying in Port Jefferson and St. James areas. Among the list of favourite bars/restaurants/pubs include Bianco’s, Nubar, Cosmos Café, Applebee’s, The Curry Club, Viper, intrigue, and Full Moon Café.
Scott Abbey - CTO of UBS, investment banking group. John L. Hennessy - President, Stanford University. Jeff Raskin - Author and co-creator of the Macintosh at Apple Computer Inc.
While the university is excellent, don’t be fooled into thinking you’re going to be in the middle of everything that’s awesome about New York. This isn’t NYC, sunshine, and it certainly isn’t Manhattan; Stony Brook is far far away from any of that, and if that’s what you come here for, you’ll soon realize you’re in the middle of nowhere.