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Hey there. I was at SBU for a year but am transferring to Tisch at NYU this fall. The young scholars program is great, but as you might know, SBU is what you'd call a "math and science school," so in order to go for the media arts there, it's really what YOU make of it. As in, you have to take full advantage of what your courses offer, and while this might seem obvious to you, it might be a little hard at first being in an environment that's not very artsy at all. SBU does have a great cinema/film studies program and as a matter of fact, they're holding a festival sometime soon I think. But you might need a lot of focus and motivation at times, because often it might appear that everyone around you is a bio or compsci major.

While I'm transferring to Tisch because of SBU's lack of dramatic writing facilities, it's really up to you as an individual to make use of what is available to you; you have to be assertive and basically squeeze out the kind of media education you want for yourself, because that direction is definitely not as popular or acknowledged as a science or say, psychology at SBU. However, there IS a film/media arts community there that I believe to be pretty closeknit and they do hold festivals (as mentioned earlier). So there is plenty of potential for you, as long as you realize and act on it. I tend to like a more urban and diverse environment and SBU didn't have it, but for you that might not matter in your studies. I'm just very picky like that.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask (ghs1030@yahoo.com). Good luck!

Grace

OH! I almost forgot. I wish someone had told me this when I was new there...

Try not to buy textbooks from the SBU bookstore (in the library)!!! They rip you off like no tomorrow. Opt for Stony Books, which is across the street from the LIRR station. Everyone knows they have much better deals.

And come time for selling BACK books at the end of semesters, never, EVER sell them back to the SBU bookstore OR even to Stony Books. Both places will rip you off. When they say "Get up to 50% back!" they really mean barely 5%. A friend of mine got back $5 for a $100+ chemistry book. Either sell them directly to another student or online (textbookx, etc...you can use google).

And use www.stonybrooksucks.com as a guide to which professors suck and which don't. You need that guide, dearly. You will worship that guide. You will regret it if you don't.

Okay I think that's it. =)