The University Scholars Program is a vibrant community of high-achieving students at Stony Brook. The program allows students to make connections with our world-class faculty, participate in numerous activities and obtain leadership and research opportunities on campus. The purpose is to create a community of learners focused around our three pillars of leadership, scholarship and service.
A four-year program, University Scholars is made up of some of the university’s most active student and community leaders. Freshmen residing on-campus have the option of living with other Scholars in their Quad and enrolling in a Scholars-only section of their first-year seminar course to help foster a greater sense of community.
All Scholars are eligible to attend special symposia and field trips, obtain special academic advising throughout their career at Stony Brook, participate in the Scholars Council, partake in a variety of outreach activities and have priority registration for classes. Scholars in the program are typically involved in outreach initiatives on campus and in the community-at-large and are frequently the recipients of prestigious awards such as the SUNY Chancellor’s Awards, Undergraduate Recognition Awards and Provost’s Awards for academic excellence. About ten percent of Scholars participate in the Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URECA) celebration every year.
Admission to Stony Brook's three largest programs for scholars (The Honors College, University Scholars and WISE) is highly competitive, and based on a variety of factors including high school academic record, strength of curriculum, standardized test scores, honors and awards, extracurricular achievements, leadership skills, unique individual talents, and life experiences that make students a good fit for their preferred program. Successful applicants to University Scholars (the middle 50th percentile ranges) have historically had 95-99 high school GPAs, 1390-1520 SAT composite scores, and 31-35 ACT composite scores. Test scores are optional for University Scholars consideration.
Admitted first year students will be notified of admission to the University before they are reviewed for honors consideration.