Strong College Applications: Guiding Students through the Process

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1 SUNY COMPANION The State University of New York (SUNY) is one of New York s public university systems. The system includes colleges across the state including university centers which grant doctorates, university colleges, technology colleges, and community colleges. The system includes schools with as few as 1,500 undergraduates and as many as 19,000. SUNY offers over one thousand different majors. For questions/help: SUNY Recruitment Response Center: ; questions to asksuny@suny.edu SUNY Center for Student Recruitment (NYC): General Application Notes: The application is available online at A paper version is available but is not recommended by SUNY. See for a list of colleges that accept the SUNY application. Most use the SUNY centralized version. Students may save a partially completed application and return later to edit it. Once submitted, students can still go back and add schools. Students can also call the SUNY hotline to add schools over the phone. Application cost is $50 per college. Payment may be made by credit card, electronic check, a mailed check, money order or fee waiver. Some community colleges offer a free application at their individual college website. Application Timeline: Application filing dates: SUNY colleges use rolling admissions (except EA and ED); Dec 1 is the recommended deadline for the best chance of admission. Generally, the more competitive the college/program, the earlier it will fill up. Processing time: It can take a few weeks or a few months to receive confirmation of admission. Some colleges offer same-day admissions opportunities (students come to a scheduled interview with all application components). Application Overview Some colleges require certain supplemental documents, such as essays and recommendation letters. SUNY asks that transcripts and other documents be sent directly to the colleges. GED students must have GED scores sent from the Albany office. Early Action: Several colleges offer Early Action (nonbinding students applies early, finds out early, but has until May to decide); deadline Nov 15. Early Decision: Several colleges offer Early Decision (binding students apply early to only one school via ED, find out early and, if accepted, have promised to attend that college); deadline Nov 15.

2 If a student is interested in applying for EOP, they should check off Yes here. When a student checks off Yes, the EOP Eligibility Wizard comes up in a popup window (see next page). Live Chat: SUNY offers Live Chat on the right side of their online application. By clicking, students can connect to live help in the SUNY admissions office. Student Support Services: Students are encouraged to answer this question honestly. Their answer will not impact their application positively or negatively. FAQs On the right side, the FAQs box will contain clarifying information for each screen.

3 Applying for EOP: Once a student answers all of the questions on the wizard, he or she will receive a message saying whether they may be eligible. EOP applicants may use either the SUNY application or the Common Application, though SUNY recommends using the SUNY application. To change EOP status, call SUNY Recruitment Response Center (RRC) or individual colleges. If SUNY has already sent on the information to the colleges, student will have to call each college. Students should not apply EOP if they are clearly not financially eligible. The EOP process is much longer and slower. By the time students are determined ineligible and returned to the regular admissions pool, the college may have closed its regular admissions process. Most EOP programs require students to complete additional forms which are distributed after students apply.

4 Skip Logic: This page starts with only the first question showing. If students answer No to the citizenship question, the other questions will pop up.

5 SUNY is a NYS public university system. As such, they provide a discounted tuition to NYS residents. Students should be prepared to prove their residency upon enrollment at a SUNY school. Like most colleges, SUNY asks students to disclose felony convictions. Students only have to cite felonies for which they were incarcerated as adults.

6 In order to apply for EOP, students must answer the Family Income Range and Size of Household questions.

7 If you re having trouble finding your school, try entering in only part of the name and choosing it from the list.

8 Most baccalaureate programs require SAT or ACT scores from students. Only U Buffalo, Stony Brook, and Binghamton require them directly from the testing agency.

9 Campus Selections: Online, students can select as many campuses as they like. On the paper applications, students can only select six campuses. Students applying EOP should check off Yes on each campus selection.

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11 More About Fee Waivers: EOP-eligible students may apply to up to four colleges for free. Fee waivers are available in the forms portion of the counselor section on the SUNY website. The student, parent, and counselor must sign the fee waiver. Students who are financially and academically eligible for EOP should check Financial Fee Waiver. Students who are applying for an Economic Hardship fee waiver should also check Financial Fee Waiver. A student who applies to EOP but is later deemed ineligible could be billed for each application. We recommend including a fee waiver with the application or sending a fee waiver with the bill. For more information on the qualifications for EOP or Financial Hardship Fee Waivers, there are links on this page.

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13 SUNY EOP Supplement Page: 12 SUNY colleges with EOP programs will be using a centralized system to process EOP supplemental information through SUNY Albany. The screen above will appear if a student chooses to apply to any of these 12 colleges EOP programs. Students applying to any of the other SUNY colleges not in the group of 12 will have to take additional steps after submitting their application. Their EOP eligibility and application will be processed separately by each college and supplements or follow-ups will be sent separately. Students applying to Fulton Montgomery and Oneonta will need to fill out the page above and submit an additional essay.

14 Only students applying for Early Decision/Early Action will need a Parent/Guardian Signature.

15 Portal Home: Once students set up their account on SUNY.edu, they can access this portal. Students can see their saved application, SUNY Online Academic Record (SOAR), and they can access any supplemental applications. Once students have submitted their application, they can track the status in the Application Details section. SUNY Supplemental Applications Students have the opportunity to share information about gaps or blemishes in their academic record in the personal statement section of the supplemental applications. Once a student submits one SUNY Common Supplement, all other required SUNY Common Supplements are populated with the student s information.

16 SUNY Online Academic Record (SOAR): SOAR is a web-based tool that allows students to submit their transcript information as well as their admission test scores electronically. In order to submit information into SOAR, students must set up a SUNY Portal account. They can do this at any point; potentially, high school freshmen could begin to put information into SOAR to break up the arduous task. SOAR replaces the student s official transcript in the admissions process. Students will need to provide an official transcript once they begin the enrollment process at a specific school. While completing SOAR, students should refer to their high school transcript for the most accurate information. Students should type their information exactly as it appears on their transcript.

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18 Depending on your answer, an additional question may appear allowing you to enter an SAT or ACT score or date.