What Students Say
Likes
- The Campus is quite huge with multiple options for food. There are Indian restaurants/food outlets on campus as well.
- The CS Faculty, Resources, On-Campus work opportunities, off-campus housing affordability and transport services are just amazing and useful.
Dislikes
- I would say support to students who have graduated after their course and looking for work could improve from the university, also support to get LinkedIn premium, Leetcode premium, courses could also use modern technology as AI is changing the education and learning for students as well.
- I would also say the faculty should be more stricter on AI usage, plagiarism by students. Also, exams could be a bit tougher for students as almost all the exams are open-book.
- The initial support given by the university can be improved for the international students in terms of finding off-campus housing, financial support to support students in need can be improved.
Course Curriculum
8
- Of course difficulty was above medium. It has both theoretical and practical aspects.
- The regular lectures, classworks, assignments, homeworks, and discussions with professors were highly effective, also the schedule of classes was quite helpful. The negative part was lesser focus on recent advancements in technology included in the courses.
- Typically, 1-2 classes were scheduled in a day with timings from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Each class was around 1-1:30 minutes in duration.
- Average students per class was around 35-40.
- About 80% students enrolled in the course were Indian students. The total batch size was around 350 students.
Admission Experience
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I applied to 4 universities:
1) State University of New York at Binghamton - Admitted
2) Fordham University (Bronx, New York City) - Admitted
3) California State University Long Beach - Rejected
4) State University of New York at Buffalo - Rejected - All applications were made for Masters in Computer Science course. I believe SUNY Buffalo and CSU Long Beach had too many applications which is why I was rejected.
- I chose SUNY Binghamton because of the course and curriculum, faculty, cost, scholarship opportunities, research opportunities, on-campus work opportunities, cost of living in Binghamton, off-campus housing affordability, transport and resources provided by the university.
- The admission process was mainly of applying on the university portal with documents, Statement of purpose, 3 Letter of recommendations (2 professional, 1 academic), resume, English proficiency(TOEFL or Duolingo English Test - minimum score - 105).
- The admission experience was smooth with a couple of sessions from University admissions recruitment team, faculty introduction and course offering sessions led by the faculty which helped me make my decision to choose the university for my higher studies.
- I applied to Fall 2022 intake based on fees, scholarship, cost of living, course, faculty, job chances after course completion, on-campus employment, research opportunities, off-campus housing, safety and student resources.
- The admission process took approximately 2.5 months after my english test. Applied in early January 2022, Received admission around mid March 2022.
Faculty
10
- The faculty-to-student ration is approximately 1:15. This is quite low and helpful to students as faculty is highly available to answer any queries, help students when needed.
- The teaching method of faculty is quite innovative as most of them use practical approaches by giving large projects, research papers to read, presentations which help studnet gain confidence in competitive job market.
- Many faculties help out with referrals for part-time and full-time job through their network and connections.
- I admired Prof. Zerksis Umrigar and Prof. Madhusudhan Govindaraju for their commitment to student success by their unique way of teaching, class discussions, support for queries, and overall student success.
Campus Life
10
- The university has 3 campuses. Main campus, Downtown campus, and Health center campus.
- The university has mostly all major sports facilities including basketball, baseball, soccer, swimming arenas.
- The major festivals are Springhampton held in the beginning of Spring semester, and fall festival in fall semester. There is also homecoming during homecoming weekend. Major clubs hold campus survival games, outdoor activities, speed dating, health and wellness events across the semesters.
Part Time Jobs
- Almost 30% of students typically secure the Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA), or Departmental Assistant (DA) positions. The pay range is around USD 15-20 per hour. There are dining services(Sodexo), transport services, library services, res-life, facilities management positions available which pay around $15 per hour. It is comparatively easy to get the dining services on campus employment.
- Mostly all students get part time work in the first semester. It is mostly easy to get dining services part time work to get started. Mostly apply online on the portal or Handshake or go in-person and talk to managers. The other way is to get work with professors initially without pay in the first semester and help out with research and later on in the next semester you get hourly pay employment with them.
Placement
8
- Almost 60% of graduating batch secures employment within 6 months of completing the course with salary range from USD 80000 - USD 150000 in Computer Science program.
- Mostly students get jobs through their own efforts in networking, linkedin, personal reach outs and references. Some of my friends are employed at Cisco, Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Walmart.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- I found accommodation through an online platform associated to university and real estate agents. I lived off-campus. My monthly rent averaged around USD 450-500 which included personal room, furniture, TV, wifi, kitchen, electricity, water.
- The key challenge was to find housing through reliable sources to trust, safe neighborhood, ease of commute to the university, affordable cost. My accommodation is 25 mins away from the university using university transport bus.
Exams
- I gave Duolingo English Test which was required at the time. The university also accepts IELTS, TOEFL exams to prove english proficiency. GRE was waived by the university at the time.
- THe university required a detailed Statement of Purpose, 3 letter of recommendations (2 Professional, 1 Academic). A detailed Resume( CV) highlighting achievements was required.
- There was no interview needed for the process, just a couple of Q&A sessions were encouraged to attend to understand the process.
Fees
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Fees would be as below (Per semester):
1 credit = ~ US $1000
9 credits per semester = ~ US $9000
Total course credits (4 semesters - 31 credits) - Accommodation - Off campus - US $450 per month all inclusive
- Food and other expenses - US $200-$300 per month (as per lifestyle)
- Health insurance per semester - approximately US $1500
- Transport in Binghamton (Free - covered as part of fees in the university)
- Total fees charged by the university per semester (9 credits) - ~ US $ 13000
Scholarship
- Yes - Initial Dean's list scholarship of USD 1000 upon confirming admission
- The above was given to all students who confirmed admission before April month for Fall 2022 semester
- Received Teaching assistant on-campus employment which covered 1 semester tuition fees + health insurance + stipend of USD 7000 (Total USD 17000 approximately)
- Received dining services scholarship of USD 2000 spread across 2 semesters
