Stony Brook, I love you..... but I'm not sure why

For some strange reason I've grown a really strong fondness/preference towards SUNY Stony Brook and I honestly don't know anything more about it than I do about most of the others schools I'm interested in. I know that it is considered a major research university, Top 25 (according to US News), they co-manage Brookhaven labs, and that they are well-known for their inter-disciplinary work between physics and mathematics (I'm especially interested in their new Simon's Center for Geometry and Physics).

Has anyone else become tirelessly fascinated with one of the programs they were looking at and you weren't even sure why?

I'd like to visit the campus and learn more about the school, but in the mean time, would anyone like to comment on their experience with the university? Good things? Bad things? How did you like the location, facilities, faculty? Really anything will be helpful because I really feel like I don't know anything about it and I'd like to get a more realistic mental image of the university.

On a slightly unrelated note, is this or is this not some of the coolest architecture you've ever seen?

Stony Brook University Hospital

I kinda felt this way about UT Austin. I'm not really sure why. But I didn't get in there so it's not really an issue now.

iv kinda done this with Cornell. I have practically already picked out a place to live there. Yet i have no idea why im so facinated with it over other programs that i know just as little about.

subliminal advertising maybe ?

I'm this way about UCSB.

I dunno, just seems like most my life I've gotten used to just choosing my life through namebrands. Well, UCSB is name brand too, but only to people who are knowledgeable about physics grad schools...

But the fact that it's right by the beach, offers a top notch education, is a top notch party school, AND it evades the label of "ivies/stanford/caltech/mit/duke/chicago" seems awesome to me.

I really really want to go there

Sorry to dig up an old topic, but did you end up going to Stony Brook? I am considering apply there as an undergrad transfer student, though I don't know much about the long island area.

Nah!, He ended up in Hawaii.
You should check the profiles page for more information. And search a little bit before asking.

And SB is awesome, anyway. Go and apply.

Thank you for the reply sphy, I will be applying for the upcoming Spring 2012 semester. I apologize I should have mentioned that I did a search through the forums for any information regarding Stony Brook, and for the most part it was people listing their graduate acceptance/declined status. I have been reading a lot about SB and the surrounding area online, I was just looking additional perspectives. Thank you though, it does sound like an awesome school.