Of SUNY's 64 campuses across New York State, the four university centers at Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook offer the most complete education in terms of advanced research and professional educations.
According to John Porter, a member of SUNY Central's Institutional Planning & Research Department, ranking the four central campuses would vary depending on a student's preferences.
"Even though SUNY central is more likely to give a non-biased view about each school, it would still be difficult to distinguish among the four," said Porter, "because every student may look for something different in each school."
Incoming SUNY students first have to meet the different admission requirements and then evaluate each school's academic profile. Other factors considered in a student's decision-making process might include preferable geographical location, available degree programs and a school's reputation.
Of the four university center campuses, UB has the largest undergraduate enrollment and offers the greatest number of academic programs. In addition, UB has earned a reputation for its high research profile among national public institutions.
According to U.S. News & World Report for the 2000-2001 school year, UB has a 68 percent acceptance rate, a 3.0 average high school GPA and a 1010 average SAT score for incoming freshmen.
UB's student profile continues to show an increase in freshmen and transfer enrollment every year, adding to its reputation.
According to Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs, UB has promoted its size and scope as one of the largest comprehensive universities in the Northeast.
"It's a real university, the students know they are coming to a place creating knowledge," said Black, "while gaining a breadth of experience from the many academic and non-academic programs."
Black believes UB is doing what is necessary to distinguish itself as a large school by promoting a student life that balances with the school's size, building a Division I collegiate athletic program, providing numerous clubs and inviting prominent speakers to campus.
Ewart Cumberbatch, a junior psychology major, transferred from SUNY-Alfred College of Technology because UB offered the two programs he was interested in studying.
"I knew that by coming to UB, I would be able to take courses in both nursing and psychology," said Cumberbatch. "And coming from such a small school, having so much exposure to programs was a major factor."
Other students chose UB on the basis of a particular program's size or reputation.
"I heard UB offered a good engineering program," said Ibrahim Kurt, a civil engineering freshman. "And the out-of-state tuition was cheaper than many other schools I looked into."
U.S. News & World Report ranked UB 77th in the country for Best Engineering Programs and Departments with Ph.D. Programs.
Nineteen percent of UB's freshmen enrolled for a degree in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - the largest percentage out of the total freshman enrollment.
Like UB, SUNY-Stony Brook's health science center helps identify it as a Type I research institution by the Carnegie Foundation and a member of the Association of American Universities.
"UB's improvement in biotechnology was key for my intended major," said Lawrence Nti, biology major. "I recently read that UB ranks fourth in research expenditures according to the New York Science Technology & Academic Research."
Albany, the first SUNY campus, is well known for its social science program and is a Type II Carnegie Research University. The school has the third largest population of the four SUNY universities.
"I applied to Albany, Buffalo and Stony Brook, but I chose Albany mainly because they had a better psychology department and it was smaller," stated Mary Culler, a junior psychology major at SUNY-Albany.
Binghamton has the smallest undergraduate population and offers the fewest number of academic programs of all the university centers. Binghamton's admission profile was higher than UB and its average 6-year graduation rate was 82 percent while UB's was only 56 percent, as reported by the U.S. News & World Report for the 2000-2001 school year.
"Binghamton has earned a reputation for being more selective than the other centers, accepting students with much higher SAT scores and the highest graduation rate in the SUNY system," stated Katharine Ellis, director of media relations at Binghamton University.
Timur Cagarli, a UB sophomore business major, is looking for a break from the large school setting. He is transferring to Binghamton next fall because he feels UB has too many large lecture classes with teachers that are never available.
"I first came to UB for its management program and because like any 18 year old, I wanted to attend a large school away from home," said Cagarli. "But now after visiting Binghamton's campus I preferred its smaller sense of community and I also want to be closer to my home in Long Island."
