Apply to the Fredonia Honors Program

The Fredonia Honors Program offers unique opportunities to learn, lead, and live Honors. 

At the core of the program, Honors students enjoy access to exclusive Honors-only sections of Fredonia Foundations courses, as well as unique upper-level Honors seminars that typically are not repeated! 

Honors Program completion requires students to maintain a 3.3 cumulative GPA and to complete about 15% of their undergraduate coursework in Honors. Typically, about half of these credits count toward general education and other requirements for the degree, so completing Honors doesn’t necessarily slow down your path to graduation! Indeed, with the perks below, Honors students have access to the classes they need faster and earlier than other students.

For more details, visit the Honors Program homepage.

The Fredonia Honors Program offers many perks:

• priority course registration (register for courses before seniors do)
• a one-time $1,500 Honors Scholarship (for new first-year and new transfer applicants only; distributed as $375 over four semesters) 
• the option to reside in Honors House, a suite-style residence in Grissom Hall
• access to the Honors Student Center and Lounge 
• notation on your academic transcript of completion of Honors
• exclusive courses on contemporary topics & technologies 
  • The Biology of Sci-Fi // Black Lives Matter // Pandemic Health // Digital Storytelling // Non-Western Innovations in Western Music 
• access to exclusive social, leadership, and academic events

With Honors,

• you will learn with like-minded students
• you may live with high-achieving peers in Honors House (optional)
• and you can lead groups, program projects, or workshops affiliated with Honors or other campus entities--and even potentially earn academic credit for doing so!

All applicants must complete the brief Honors application form, which includes submission of a multimedia response to a prompt. 

• Students accepted to SUNY Fredonia with a cumulative GPA of 92 (graduating high school seniors) or 3.3 (transfer students) will receive an automatic invitation to apply. 
• Transfer students admitted to an honors program at their current institution may email proof of Honors status to Honors.Program@fredonia.edu and skip the application.
• All students interested in Honors may choose to apply whether or not an invitation is sent.  

Sometimes the invitation with the application can be routed to your spam folder, so check there or contact us if you need help. 

The Honors Program welcomes applications from first-year and transfer students who demonstrate potential for academic excellence.

First-year applicants who have maintained a high school GPA of 92 or above will receive an invitation to apply for Honors. 

Transfer applicants with a 3.3 cumulative GPA and at least 15 credits may also be invited to apply for Honors. Transfer students who belong to an Honors program or Honors college at their current institution will be eligible for automatic admittance to the program once they complete the Honors application. If you belong to a current Honors program or college, when you submit your application, please attach a screenshot of your current Honors affiliation in place of the response to the prompt.

Current students at Fredonia with a 3.3 cumulative GPA and at least 15 credits may apply but will not be eligible for the Honors Scholarship.

Honors also recognizes that sometimes a GPA does not capture your potential. If your academic record does not meet these criteria, you may still apply. Be sure to answer the question in the application telling us what your GPA can't capture about who you are, what you have achieved, and why we'd be missing out if we relied only on standardized measures like GPA.

For full consideration for eligibility for the Honors Scholarship, applicants are encouraged to apply by the suggested deadline. Applications will continue to be considered so long as scholarships are available, but please note that scholarships ran out earlier than expected in 2022, so apply as soon as possible!

Yes! Roughly 25-30% of the Honors Program have one or two majors in Music and are able to graduate on time with thoughtful planning. Of the five required Honors courses, students may complete at least two that overlap with Music core classes and applied-learning experiences.

All first-year Honors Music majors may be enrolled in their first semester (Fall only) in MUS 115-HR: Music Appreciation--Honors. This iteration of the course counts for Honors, Fredonia Foundations, and the Musicianship Core. 

Music majors may also pursue an applied-learning experience in place of one Honors course. For example, with the agreement of Music faculty, a student may be granted the opportunity to serve as a learning assistant for a secondary instruments course or a teaching assistant for a Music Education Foundations course. See the catalog for further details.

For further resources and information for Honors students majoring in Music, see the following document with Resources & Links for Honors and Music students.

• Honors and Music: Student Resources & Links

The Fredonia Honors Program is test-optional. SAT and ACT scores are not required for admission. You may share them if you wish.

Sometimes a GPA does not capture your potential. If your academic record does not meet these criteria, you may still apply. Be sure to answer the question in the application telling us what your GPA can't capture about who you are, what you have achieved, and why we'd be missing out if we relied only on standardized measures like GPA.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. For full consideration for eligibility for the Honors Scholarship, applicants are encouraged to apply by the suggested deadline of Friday, February 17, 2023 (by 11:59 p.m.). Applications will continue to be considered so long as scholarships are available, but please note that scholarships ran out earlier than expected in 2022, so apply as soon as possible!

School of Music and VANM students: Please apply by this deadline even if you are awaiting an audition or results from an audition; it is better to notify the program you are turning down a scholarship awarded then forfeit the opportunity of applying for one.  

Yes, we can help with all of these requests! Just reach out to Honors.Program@fredonia.edu for help.

Submissions will be assessed based on the following:

• quality, thoughtfulness and originality of the response to the prompt;
• self-awareness or self reflection: a sense of who the author is or what they have faced, achieved, and/or overcome;
• a growth mindset: an ability or willingness to develop and to move beyond current circumstances; 
• creative or innovative use of language, the chosen medium, or platform; and
• proper use--or artful violation--of the conventions of the chosen medium.

If you received an Honors Scholarship but you no longer plan to attend SUNY Fredonia, please send a brief email to Honors.Program@fredonia.edu as soon as your plans change.