Binghamton University, otherwise known as the home to extremely intelligent students who had the grades to go to America's top schools, but didn't have or want to spend the money to go to them. Thousands of freshmen step onto the campus in August, with a loads of excitement for college, but for some reason, there's also a wind of negativity. Because of this, many conversations that are sparked during the first weeks of Freshman Year are about all of the other schools that students got into, but didn't attend.
But, it wasn't just the incoming freshman who were a bit disappointed by their final decision. It bled into conversations with upperclassmen, frat boys, and even faculty. No matter where you were, there was always an undercurrent of unhappiness with the school, and it just didn't make sense. If someone is unhappy with their college of choice, they usually transfer, so why was such a large portion of the campus not completely loving their college experience?
Why was there even such a lasting dislike? We aren't a top party destination, but we definitely throw down a lot more than many other schools. On any given night, there are numerous frat parties to attend, a bunch of different bars to choose from, and if you are looking for a more intimate party, plenty of downtown houses and apartments that are hosting. Yes, Binghamton is cold and snowy for a few months, but when it is warm out, there are plenty of opportunities to get active and join a team or hang out on campus. Since when has the cold even bothered a bunch of partying college kids anyway? At least here we won't get the freshman fifteen AND sunburn.
After being at Binghamton for a full year, I think I understand why the prejudice against it continues.
Since the moment we walked in as freshmen, we made our first friends by talking about how much we didn't like Binghamton as much as other schools. So now, when a guy tries to talk to us at a frat party or we make a new friend in our chem lab, the topic of conversation that has never failed us, is talking about Binghamton. While many schools bond over their athletics, we bond over how hard our work is, how shitty our bars are, and how much we hate walking to class underneath such a gloomy sky.
The reason that so many of us do this, is because we've actually grown to love it. Even though everyone complains so much, a majority of us would never even think about transferring, because that would make us leave behind the people that make Binghamton so much brighter, and the memories that made us come back to the same shitty bars time and time again. So for all of the incoming freshmen, just know that hating Binghamton is just a rite of passage, and you will learn to simultaneously love and despise the place you will spend the next four years.
