2027 Honors Application

Honors Program Application

You must complete this application, including well-crafted responses, to the two prompts below. These prompts will become visible once you fill in the data fields. SAT/ACT test scores are not required, but you may submit them if you choose to the Admissions Office.

Accepted first-year and accepted transfer students are welcome to apply. Accepted first-year students are eligible to apply for Honors if they have maintained a high school GPA of 92 or above. Accepted transfer students with a 3.3 cumulative GPA and at least 15 credits are also eligible to apply. Transfer students who are members of honors programs or colleges at their current institution are automatically eligible for acceptance, whether or not scholarships are still available for distribution.

If your academic record does not meet these criteria, you may still apply! You will have an opportunity within the application to address your academic history.

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

Applications for admission with scholarship will be reviewed after the deadline, which is 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, February 27, 2027.

*If you are applying to a program that requires an audition or portfolio review, please know that if you want to be considered for admission to the Honors Program with scholarship, you must complete this application by the February 27, 2027, deadline, which may fall before you receive your audition or portfolio decision.

Email Address (new students: use your application email; current students: use your Fredonia email)

First Name

Preferred Name

Last Name

Birthdate

Parent/Guardian Email Address

Major

Student Type

Freshman

Transfer

High School/Prior College

Cumulative High School GPA or Cumulative Transfer GPA

Are you a member of an Honors Program or Honors College at your current institution?

Yes

Please submit Honors College/Honors Program membership or participation proof. This can be in the form of a transcript that shows Honors Distinction or a letter from your current Honors Program Director.

By submitting this proof that you are a member of an Honors College or Program, you will not have to submit the essay portion of this application.

Please know that if your academic record does not meet the Honors criteria (92 GPA for graduating high school seniors: 3.3 GPA for transfer students), we still welcome your application! Please tell us briefly what your grades can't capture about who you are, what you have achieved, and why we'd be missing out if we relied only on GPA and standardized tests. (This is a separate question from the multimedia prompt.)

If relevant, please indicate the approximate number of credits you have earned from pre-college programs like AP, Dual Enrollment, International Baccalaureate, or other college-level courses. (Your answer will not affect your eligibility.)

Fredonia Honors Program Prompts
There are two sets of prompts to complete. Everyone must complete the same prompt in Part 1. In Part 2, you will have your choice of prompts. All work must be original to the student, meet length criteria (whether minimums or maximums) and be well edited and free of mechanical errors.

Prompt 1:

In fewer than 200 words (data or images do not count toward word count), do the following:   

1. Review in depth the Fredonia Honors Program website  and visit @fredoniahonors on Instagram (if you use social media). Then, craft three specific detailed questions or concerns tailored to who you are and what you want to achieve in college. These should be questions whose answers would help you understand how participating in the Honors Program can help you to learn, lead, and live more effectively.

2. Tell us why you chose these questions.

Note: The use of AI or other tools and research sources is permitted for gathering data about the program, but you are held accountable for checking the accuracy of the information and for specifying which tools, including AI, and resources were used and, if so, which platforms. If you opt not to use AI or research sources, please state that.

Prompt 2:

To learn more about you, we invite you to answer one of the following prompts. The form of your response may be written (min. 750 words, framed in any professional or creative genre), multimedia (e.g., video, podcast, slides presentation), or aesthetic/innovative content (e.g., an original artwork or musical composition accompanied by an artist’s statement, an entrepreneurial solution or pitch deck accompanied by a brief explanation - 150 to 200 words). Use of AI is disallowed for response to this prompt in any format.

1.  The author Kurt Vonnegut once asked, “What are people for?” At a moment when “Stop hiring humans” is a prominent advertisement, when the challenges and potentials of AI loom large, and when mental health has risen to a global conversation, we may well ask ourselves What are people for? We want to hear your answer—whether it’s a doomsday scenario, a silver lining, or the artful soliloquy you envision—and write—for the bot that might replace us both. 

2. A July 2026 editorial in the New York Times (“A Great University Undermines Its Mission”) reviews evidence of “a steep decline” in entering college students’ academic preparation” and attributes some of the change to colleges’ no longer requiring the submission of standardized test scores, such as the SAT or ACT. What would you propose to do for college admissions? How might reinstating standardized tests help colleges stop “admitting unprepared students while rejecting many who could thrive here”? Or how might you reframe the “emergency,” perhaps by redefining what the nature of college-level work ought to be and why? (Your response could take the form of a counter-editorial or a video news report, etc. It need not be a five-paragraph essay.)

3. During a guest talk at SUNY Fredonia, multiple students asked the guest speakers about burnout. The speakers, all of who graduated 15-20 years ago, felt strongly that college was when they had the most time in their lives to achieve their creative dreams. What do you think? Use your voice and lived experience to help faculty, staff, and alumni understand what it is actually like to be a student today and what may be causing burnout as well as what helps and motivates you to manage burnout.

*You should be able to submit your file--whether a traditional Word or PDF file or multimedia one--via this platform. For extra assurance, you may also submit your file as an attachment or via a link to honors.program@fredonia.edu. (If you choose to share a link, please make sure to give viewing permission to honors.program@fredonia.edu.)

Acknowledgment of Any Sources and/or AI Platforms:
The use of additional sources is optional. If you use sources, please note them--we'd love to know where you draw ideas from. The use of AI platforms is permitted only for research for the first prompt; disclosure of the specific platform(s) used is required. Please note that any application that uses AI without acknowledgment or for a broader scope of work will be rejected as will any application that is plagiarized in part or in whole.

I certify the accuracy of all materials submitted on this form and that all work is my own.

Yes

Contact Information:
For any questions or concerns regarding your application, please write to honors.program@fredonia.edu.

Office of Admissions

Maytum Hall, 6th Floor280 Central Ave.State University of New York at FredoniaFredonia, NY 14063

2027 Honors Application

Office of Admissions

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