I am heavily involved in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS for short). We are a community service based honor society that sends out invitations to freshmen or sophomores that have achieved a GPA above 3.4. NSCS is very active on campus and recognized nationally – for the past two years our Stony Brook chapter has been recognized as one of the strongest chapters in the nation. Although there is a nominal fee to join, as a member you receive discounts to many of our affiliate companies and are eligible for thousands of dollars in scholarship money. We hold a few signature events each semester that are open to the campus community. One of my personal favorites is Autumn Ecstasy, a charity ball we hold each November. Like all universites, Stony Brook has many traditions. One of my favorite Stony Brook traditions is EARTHSTOCK, a celebration of Earth Day. During this event the academic mall is always full of student organizations and local organizations that support the environment. Last year I bought this cute box of note cards. However, they weren’t just ordinary note cards they were eco-friendly paper made up of 50% elephant dung! I am really looking forward to walking around all the tables in the Spring semester. In addition, every year around 2PM we have our famous rubber duck races. In the weeks prior to Earthstock everyone can adopt a duck for $1 at the Dean of Students Office. Everyone who adopts duck gets an official adoption certificate which entitles you to love and provide for your rubber ducky. The ducks are released from the top of “stony brook”, the waterfall that runs from administration down to the Wang Center. Honestly, the image of 500+ red ducks racing down “stony brook” is one of my favorite annual memories and makes me to happy. Later in the Spring semester, the entire Stony Brook community celebrates Strawberry Fest , which is a festival that honors Long Island’s seasonal fruit, strawberries. Local vendors set up various stations that have foods that all have some strawberry component. Some of the items from last year include grilled chicken with quinoa and strawberry salsa, strawberry fields’ salad and strawberry strudel! Tickets are available for purchase at any of the campus dining facilities for only $8.45 and can be purchased using meal points. My absolute favorite Stony Brook tradition is Roth Regatta, a boat race across Roth Pond. The trick is the boat can only be made with the following materials cardboard, duct tape, rope, paint, wax and Elmer’s glue. People fall into pond, boats crash, its madness! But entirely awesome at the same time.

The most popular groups are ethnic based groups. There are also a lot of charity groups like the red cross and other smaller ones. In my building many people leave their doors open. Athletic events are semi popular. Around Homecoming everyone gets excited for the game. There are lots of things going on--parties, events, speakers/lectures. Frats and sororities are kind of important but I'd rather ignore them. There are some things to do off campus as well such as go to the movies or the mall.

Dances, concerts, community service... everything is available

For every interest that someone can have, there is a group to join, but if you want to start your own new group you need at least five people who are interested in starting it with you. But that shouldn't be too hard. Becoming active on campus was one of the most important things to me when I got to Stony Brook. Many of my peers just stayed in their rooms all day playing video games and I knew I just didn't want to be that kind of person. I wanted to be the kind of person who tried out many different activities in order to find my niche(s). I am passionate about a lot of different organizations on campus. I am on E-Board for the ballroom dance team as their treasurer. I came to Stony Brook knowing they had a ballroom dance team and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. At orientation, the orientation leaders know the people to talk to about joining any organization you want to, just let them know what you're interested in and they will surely point you in the right direction.That's takes up a lot of my time but that doesn't mean there isn't time for other organizations. I am a member of Students Empowered Against Sexual Assault (SEASA) which works to educate students on what sexual assault is and how to prevent it on our campus. I am also a member of the undergraduate literary magazine, Spoke the Thunder, where I help vote written and artistic pieces in to the magazine and work on the production staff to layout the magazine. As a journalism major, I knew it would be important to join a publication on campus. I decided to join the Statesman because they are the oldest on campus publication with a good reputation. Stony Brook pride at sports games is so intense. I love going to basketball and football games because everyone wears red and students get to sit in the red zone where they chant for the whole game. If you come to Stony Brook with no pride, go to a sports game and that should get you pumped about our school. There is always some kind of lecture going on at night usually with some knowledgeable speaker. Or there are activities run by organizations happening all the time, usually at night and on weekends and often have free food, which is a major bonus but usually the food disappears quickly. Since the weekends tend to get boring, I decided to get an off campus job, which sets me up with hours on the weekends and Fridays when I don't have class. I recommend getting a job either on campus or off campus, if you have a car, but don't overwhelm yourself. I waited until sophomore year to get a job, and now I can't imagine life here without one.

Biggest complaint about the school: weekends. Of the 9000 or so students who live on campus, at least half do go home on weekends. This can be a pain for those who live too far to go home or who live on campus for the sole purpose of being home as little as possible. I originally went home a lot on weekends my first year, mainly because the girl I was dating still lived home, and regret it all the time. Never let a girl get in the way of your freedom men, lesson learned the hard way. (Really the point here is it's hard to be dating someone when you leave for school.) So for your first semester here, do your best to stay around on weekends. You'll find things to do that took me a year to find and you'll be happier for it. I'm on my way out of here in a few months and everyday I wish I didn't have to leave. The school can be great if you give it a chance. Many students here never made the effort to be happy and they were unhappy because of it. Also could use some more gym space. Incoming froshies, make sure to lobby for that, because calling fives on a weightlifting bench doesn't always work.

WE NEED MORE LIVE MUSIC ON CAMPUS! Or more venues where students can go to listn to music and a venue where studnets can perform.

We're a good median between academics and social life. There's always a time and place for both. There will be underage drinking, drugs and the crazy stuff of that, but its like any other campus. But its not a problem at our campus.

Stony Brook is what you make of it, and I am making the most I can, so I like it!

Nope, your good ;).

It's just as true of our school as there is of any school. I haven't seen or heard more or less than the average of any other school. I think it just came about because of the name of our school.

This is easy, social life is what you make of it. Some people are very involve and others aren't involved at all. I do a few things but for the most part i don't have a relationship with stony brook outside of academics.

Very satisfied with academic status of university, but lack of intriguing social life makes working studiously extremely strenuous (that is, no balance exists)

The best thing about stony brook is that this school is what you make of it. If you want to be a partier you easily can be, or you can study if you want to every night. I would make some classes smaller, just to get more attention. And some classes are absurdly hard for no reason ::cough cougg:: bio 203 and 205. Most of my time on campus is spent in my room. The administration is kinda distant and you only go there when you really need too. The gunaman. School pride depends on the people. The one experience ill always remember is the night i drank over h alf a bottle of 151... even if the memory is a little blurry.

Once again the student body is very diverse and so I have had experiences with numerous religions, ethnicities and various groups. All of them have been positive with me usually coming out knowing more than I did going in. It's a public school so there are no economic elite who are at college because it's what is expected of them. These students want to go to college, many of them being the first generation in their families to do so. I can't imagine any student feeling out of place at Stony Brook. There is a niche for just about anyone. I have found that this allows for a very productive learning experience. The typical dress ranges anywhere from sweatshirts and pajama pants to business casual. Most students just wear jeans and t-shirts though. Student interaction is fairly common. There are cliques but nothing drastic. If you were to walk into the dining hall and there are four tables one would probably be full of athletes stuffing three meals down at once. Another table would look normal enough, but the students would be speaking another language, one of several commonly heard on campus. There would be another table of students simultaneously eating and reading at the same time, all the while not spilling or blinking once. And let's just say the last table is the miscellaneous table, it could be anything. Most Stony Brook students are from New York and specifically from Long Island and New York City. It is a state school, so tuition is less for state residents. There is a significant amount of foreign exchange and international students though. I would say most students come from middle class and upper lower class homes. The campus does posses a fair amount of political awareness. Stony Brook has a history of being very politically active and once was dubbed "Berkeley of the East." It's tough to gauge the overall political preference of the campus but I would say it leans to the left. As with almost any college kid, students are concerned with what they will earn today, especially with how expensive New York City is and the ever-increasing cost of living on Long Island, where most are from.

kids study a lot. upper div bio classes are tuff but great. professors in bio are good, dept is great. students are competitive tho! esp the pre meds. good education quality at stony. cant complain, ive learned a lot the hard way and wudnt trade it for a pansy ass education elsewhere.

Not many professors know your name. I think my favorite class so far has been CLS215 with Professor Burrows. She is a fantastic teacher. I major in Sociology and I wish they had more clubs like the Psychology major has. I think some of the academic requirements are unnecessary. Like DEC D.

Very high level of education. Every professor is knowledgeable and approachable. I definitely wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I think that no matter what field you are in, there are amazing professors as well as not so great ones but it is up to the individual to decide.

give us a better experience and stop trying to pull sneaky tricks by increasing prices, lowering standards and sticking us with 40 dollar parking tickets when prior yeas they wer 15 bucks. we're broke students tryin to get by. all else is fair though. if u can hack it at stonybrook and pull a dece score,,,,,ur worth ur beans.