I heard it’s the hardest New York State school to get into but is it really that selective? Do you need to just do well on sat or have a high gpa. Which one is more likely to get me into geneseo. Thanks! 
Google the Common Data Set, section C for Geneseo.
Thank you
Stony Brook admits 39% of applicants. Binghamton admits 43%. Geneseo admits 46%. To a certain extent, proximity to the population center of NYS dictates selectivity.
Geneseo requires higher GPA/test scores, since it’s the state’s designated public honors college, but it’s also self selective (ie., students who apply there really want to go to a specific type of school) so the acceptance rate is higher. In short, if you fit the profile (27-30 ACT, 93 GPA unweighted, want a more academically-focused school) your odds are excellent.
I don’t believe NYS Ed has ever designated Geneseo or any other individual school in the SUNY system as the state’s “public honors college.” I know that the University at Albany has an “Honors College” within the wider university and some other schools may have as well. NYS Ed has always been pretty emphatic that all SUNY schools are “equal” although when it comes to resources, individual academic disciplines and relative strength of the student body (as measured by such things as GPA and standardized test scores) this is not exactly true. I agree that Geneseo, like Binghamton and Stony Brook, has a fairly self-selective applicant pool.
^I have heard of Geneseo being referred to as the State’s public honors college/LAC (in the same way as NCF) in conferences where SUNY was defining its brand, or in discussion about it being a model for a scattered state university system. It may not be the “official” definition but it’s definitely how it’s “talked about” that those representing “the SUNY brand”.
I agree with you: All SUNYs are equal and there’s a definite refusal to create flagships, including the veneration for D1 sports that may come with a flagship; all have different areas of emphasis and service. All must provide access to higher education to a broad range of students and must serve the state’s population as well as its economy. As far as I know, SUNY refuses to have a flagship but rather distributes points of strengths among all the different campuses. For example there are the 4 University Centers each with their specialty (Stem at SB, business at Albany…), an emphasis on research, and doctoral programs (each has an honors college within that framework); Suny Geneseo which is supposed to be the equivalent of a SLAC or the state’s public Honors college, ie., undergraduate-focused and more intensely academic; then the other campuses which each have a specialty, from fashion to communication to forestry to ceramics, so that there’s no campus that’s uniformly weak, all have a true point of pride.
The good quality and decent prices, the overall value and variety, have attracted the notice of many OOS applicants, BTW ;),and their OOS tuition money is not refused 
Based on the incoming class stats from 2013-2014, 98% of Geneseo’s students are from NY. Only 2% are from other states or other countries. The SUNY system overall has failed to attract Out of State students despite efforts. It appears like SUNY has given up on OOS and are now focused on bringing in international students. There is a more eager group in Asia, especially from China, who SUNY appears to be targeting because they are full pay except that administrate-speak claim “globalization”. I’d say it is for “Buckization.”. If you walk the campuses of many SUNYs, you will see large groups of students speaking their native non-English language while walking or eating in dining halls. It is my opinion that they detract markedly from college life for US residents. They reduce the overall number of students available to US residents to socialize with-because these students often have minimal English skills and choose not to interact with US residents. They often sit mute in classes. And to Geneseo’s credit, it appears to be a college that is not trying to fill full pay seats by recruiting overseas (Asia). I applaud Geneseo’s commitment to educating New Yorkers. That was the original goal of the SUNY system. The original rationale for the SUNY system was to educate NYers. If there aren’t enough to be educated then they should close some campuses, not import people from Asian countries who often can’t even speak English.
We are from NJ and SUNY schools caught our attention due to reasonable tuition even for out-of-staters (NJ state schools are priced out of line for what they offer even for instate students). From an outsider it seems NY has a unique system of quality schools in their state system. None of the huge state schools like CA or some other states have, but a more focused system of separate specialty schools.
Our son was just accepted to Geneseo as well as Stony Brook. Quite different schools I know, however he is STEM student and reputation of Stony Brook for Sciences is what we originally focused on. A college fair rep from SUNY system introduced us to Geneseo as the “Ivy of SUNY”. We did not visit yet but intend to. The type of education offered at a small LAC always seemed appealing to us but most NE LAC schools are out of our price range so Geneseo seemed a good alternative. Our thinking is that our son can go to large State school for grad studies so now is time for the more classical education of small LAC school and help round him out as a person.
We had some friends who also considered Stony Brook but were deterred by the high percentage of Asian population. The Asian population do have a reputation to keep to themselves at least for the first few years which adversely affects English speaking students experiences. This opinion also comes from a professor.
I understand Geneseo started as a teaching college and has been trying to re-invent itself as a small selective yet public LAC. Recent stats for acceptance seem to show they are now (2014) going in opposite direction which is a bit of a disappointment since it was school we had high hopes for and was on the top of our list. If due to the need to increase enrollment, perhaps Geneseo should focus more on marketing to attract the kind of student who would love to attend this style of school but cannot afford the Cornells, Villanovas, Vassars or BCs of this region. If they do this, they may find they have no trouble attracting enough NY high achieving students to expand their ranks. Our experiences with college application process for our previous child shows the “need blind” policies of many LAC are not truthful and if you do not fit the demographics or the need of a department, etc, do not expect much in financial aid.
Isn’t Geneseo’s student:faculty ratio 19:1? They may be “small” in comparison to the larger University Centers, but but they don’t have the single digit:1 ratio that those NE LAC schools that are out of your price range (and mine) have.
i wouldn’t feel comfortable in a class with only 8 or 9 other students, no place to hide.
Class size is not the determining factor for us unless you are talking about lectures with 200 or 300 students which is not uncommon in large state schools and popular core classes. Yes this kind of class size would be a negative.
But class size of 30 to 1 as compared to 9 to 1 is a deterrent in opposite direction. Ask any educator and they will tell you the dynamic of teaching a class of 8 or 9 is not as fruitful as a class of 30.
The ratio of single digits to 1, which you refer to in small LAC does not usually translate into a 9 student class size as far as I am aware.
actually, there’s a dynamic to a class of 8-12, another dynamic up to 16 or so, then up to 24. Above that it’s harder to individualize, have actual discussions with give-and-take among students, just practically speaking if you’re using the “table” model you’re limited to 12-16.
However you’re right, a 1:9 ratio should be doubled to have an idea of the average freshman class, and added 1/3 for the typical Freshman seminar/freshman comp class (ie., if the ratio held, most classes at SBC were likely about 16-20 for freshmen, except freshman seminars which would have been about 12.) At a large university, a 1:24 ratio means most freshman classes are above 40 with a significant percentage in a large lecture hall, not that the average class has 24 students (I sometimes see directionals lauding their “1:19” ratio and sadly know they deceive some of their public into thinking that they’ll basically have classes smaller than in HS.)
@Swipps88, may I ask what STEM field of study interests your son?
Geneseo does appear to be a good choice for physics and geology STEM majors, particularly as it compares with other SUNY schools.
According to the American Institute of Physics, in 2013, Geneseo conferred more B.S. Physics degrees (N = 42) than Stonybrook (N = 39). Given their respective sizes, that’s a considerable distinction.
According to the National Task Force on Undergraduate Physics, “sustained leadership over the years” is one reason SUNY Geneseo was selected for a case study of thriving physics programs. According to the report:
“The physics department at SUNY Geneseo was founded by Robert Sells (of Weidner and Sells textbook fame).
From the beginning, the department enjoyed a focus on establishing and maintaining an energetic undergraduate physics program. The succeeding chairs have worked hard to maintain that focus and have helped Geneseo
establish itself as one of the premier undergraduate programs in the SUNY system.”
At Geneseo, Tesla House is a living-learning community for physics, geology, and science-minded education majors.
The Integrated Science Center is an impressive, relatively new (i.e., 2008) academic building, particularly for a school the size of Geneseo.
I was accepted to Geneseo yesterday! In my letter, it stated that this year they only accepted a freshman class of 900, and that 9000 students applied. Unless my simple math is worse than I thought, that is an acceptance rate of 10%, unbelievably low for a SUNY and MUCH lower than previous years. I don’t know if there are any other factors regarding the acceptance rate that I am not aware of, but everywhere I looked online stated that the 2015 acceptance rate was still 30-45 percent (it varied depending on sources). I’ll leave my stats below for you to compare, but I warn you they are not extremely impressive, which makes me doubt the 10% acceptance rate.
4.0 Weighted GPA
1860 SAT
7th of 121
5 APS, 3 College Courses (dual enrollment)
NHS, Honors Program
10 seasons of varsity sports
2 Jobs during the school year
Recommendation letter from AP Chem teacher and Geneseo Alumni (probably helped a lot)
Well-written descriptive essay, though I copped-out for the “My Favorite Place” essay choice, and used themes of nostalgia and family values.
Not everyone who is admitted ends up attending. Typically, Geneseo admits four or five students for every one that ends up attending. If this year’s entering class is only 900, that is a reversal of the recent enrollment increase.
Congratulations on your acceptance. Are you going to go to Geneseo?
Thats funny, I got in with much much sh*tter grade.
Like geneseo was super duper reach for me. I just applied to test my chances, and I got in to the business program.
Wait how sh*tty? And also did you apply early decision?