Hands up if you’re annoyed by the irritating groups of incoming freshmen treading around campus, rudely invading sections of the University that are meant to be quiet, like Bartle library. Concerned mothers and fathers ask the guides ridiculously obvious questions, then elbow their children as if to say, “Did you hear that, Samantha? This is a library.” I swear I overheard one mom ask, “Can my child come here to print his papers?” How dare you ask such a question. Binghamton University is an institution that emphasizes independence and self-reliance. There will be no handout of paper or ink.
You don’t need a tour guide to tell you when Science III was built or who the first president of Binghamton University was; that kind of information does not determine whether you will choose to attend the school in the fall. For that purpose, this article will do.
Incoming freshmen, also known as prospective students or simply pre-frosh, happen to visit only when Binghamton is surrounded by sunshine and flowers, as if it were a screenshot out of National Geographic’s list of best places to vacation. The University should not be portrayed as a school filled with renewal, bliss and happiness. This could not have been any further from the truth.
Disney World tour guides will try their best to make your visit to the resort as magical as possible; this should not be the goal of the college guides. College is an immensely important decision to make in anyone’s life and it should never be tampered with by tour guides who aim to drastically exaggerate how great the respective college is.
Binghamton University was nothing like the image that the advertisements and orientation speakers portrayed. I, personally, did not realize that the college was a “party school” until I arrived here and experienced it for myself the first week. There is nothing wrong with attending so-called “party schools” as long as academics are still stressed and students do not throw up every day of the week.
Of course, no tour guide will ever tell you this piece of information because parents usually attend orientation and tours with their son or daughter. Just because it is not explicitly said does not mean it does not exist. Be smart in your college decisions and try not to be one of the (relatively) few students who realized they made a mistake in picking schools and end up transferring. It is a waste of time and it is always better to make the right choice the first time around.
Binghamton University, overall, is a great school. I am not speaking about rankings, graduate school attendants or sports, although the school is excellent in all of those aspects. I am speaking about the wide range of people that attend Binghamton; there is so much diversity that it simply cannot be filed under some umbrella name like “party school” or “nerdy school.” It truly is in a category of its own, and I hope you all make the right decision and find the best fit for yourself.