macaulay honors essay prompts

Macaulay Honors Program?!

Anyone who has been accepted to the CUNY Macaulay Honors Program, would you mind telling me your stats and how you like the program? Also which cuny school did you get accepted to? Thanks!

I got into Macaulay Baruch. High A high school grades, meh SAT score, 6 5’s and a 4 on AP exams, some extra circulars. This was one of my dream schools when I applied, but now I hate it. I decided that I wanted to transfer out by the middle of my first semester. (Now in the process of sending my forms to Cornell for a GT)

A lot of their advertising is at best a massive stretch of the truth and despite doing well in all my classes I’ve had a miserable, isolating, frustrating experience so far. My advisor is basically useless and has only hindered rather than helped me. The required Macaulay events were an absolute waste of time because of how poorly planned they were. Despite having “priority registration” your schedule still gets affected by the limited space in the required Macaulay classes AND if your school has policies that restrict who has priority for certain courses, that overrides the Macaulay priority, so if you want the class you have to wait weeks after the entire school registered just to see if your schedule works. There are very few honors courses and the only two I’ve been in so far have been jokes. The rest of the normal courses vary widely in quality, but are generally hindered by a significant number of bad students. The “Information Technology Fellows” (ITFs) who were advertised as tech experts who are there to help with laptop issues are actually just grad students in fields completely unrelated to technology who only show up once or twice in the entire semester to show us basic, stupid things like how to use wordpress or prezzi… The students are so spread out that I basically never see anyone outside of classes and I know basically no Macaulay students from other campuses. Although this barely matters, because the “honors students” aren’t even that smart/motivated. There are a few people like me and then a whole bunch of typical college students who BS’d their way through the SATs and joined enough clubs to get in, but don’t really care about anything intellectual.

As far as degree recognition goes, I don’t know how good or bad it is generally, but my Dad works for a financial firm in the city in a position where the he has to help with some of the recruiting. His company didn’t even know about Macaulay until he told them about it and even then, the recruitment event they set up with Macaulay was only to recruit for hard to fill tech positions. When he asked why, they told him that they get enough applicants from the Ivy League schools for other business related jobs that they don’t need any more from Macaulay.

Then there were some outright lies they told in their advertising: We were supposed to get Macbook Pros, but starting in our year they changed over to the cheaper, less powerful Macbook Air, which many students complain, rightfully so, isn’t powerful enough to do anything more than basic functions. (The argument could be made that they are “free,” but they aren’t really free considering I could have gone to another public university and bought myself a better laptop all for less than it is costing me to live in NYC.) Plus when people asked about the decision, they gave a BS answer that anyone who could do a google search could determine to be factually incorrect.

Also, they don’t even always pay full tuition: I have a friend from a fairly low income family. He told me that Macaulay uses money you get from any government grants first before paying out tuition, which means he gets less for other needs like housing. He’s living like an hour and a half away from school because it was much cheaper than living in Baruch’s terrible dorms.

The list goes on for ways Macaulay/Baruch has disappointed me enough to make me leave it. There are some great parts about Macaulay that I’m going to miss for sure: They host some optional events that were rather interesting and a lot of the people at the Macaulay building itself were very nice, but those just aren’t good enough to salvage this sinking ship.

It may or may not be the right option for you, but do some REAL research before you make any decisions. I was lured in by their really clever marketing and the promise of “free” and now I’m paying for it. Find out as much info you can, from students, and not just students who have volunteered to go to Macaulay events to tell you how great it is.

Macaulay Honors College @ CSI SAT:1270 (Math and Reading only) didn’t take ACT 4 on AP Exams (Bio, Phys, US History) Rank 17 out of 949 (not sure if this helps…)

Can’t tell you much about the program itself because i am an incoming freshmen.

So far, unlike the experience Darthelmet had, the faculty and staff are very helpful. My advisor helped me settle my schedule within two days and even when I wanted to change the time slot of one class to another time, she did it for me within ten minutes. She also replied to my emails right away.

Also, my advisor told us that the tuition part is fully covered by Macaulay, we only need to pay the other fees such as lab materials (for science classes) and some minor fees which for me adds up to about $100-$200.

PS: I was also invited for an interview and I think my performance on it definitely helped with getting accepted

Hey, I’m replying because this is pretty high in the google search rankings and I don’t want that first comment to be the most informative one here. I’m sure that person has valid complaints about their experience with the macaulay program–but I’d like to share my own experiences and some other things you or other people viewing these threads may find useful. It’s also important to note that there is significant variation between experiences based on which campus you attend (ie. Brooklyn vs. Staten Island vs. Queens vs. City vs. Baruch vs. John Jay, etc…):

I am a senior, class of '16 student at Macaulay City College. By and large, my college experience has been pretty damn great. In my opinion, the greatest strengths macaulay has over other schools for highly motivated, high performing students are:

"Big fish in small pond"
Student population makeup
New York City
Low cost: This encompasses all aid and perks given to students, which tends to vary from year to year, campus to campus, and even applicant to applicant. (For instance, in my year at City College, two semesters of free dorming (Fall/Spring) were given to all accepted students in the macaulay program. At Hunter college, they give two free years of dorming to every accepted student–this may change, though, so make sure to ask if you’re planning to apply).

One thing going to Macaulay has allowed me and many of my friends is financial independence, and a debt-free future. All other options I had when choosing between colleges would have put me many thousands of dollars in debt by graduation time. In the end I was choosing between the University of Virginia (~$34k/yr. after financial aid, which could have changed each year) and Macaulay City as my final two contenders for colleges that accepted me. That price for UVA does not even take into account housing costs. Even a respectable public school like SUNY Binghamton would have ran me ~$22k/yr. after financial aid for tuition plus additional housing costs if I chose to go. There really was only one choice for a debt-free education. That outcome really cannot be overstated enough–being debt-free allows me to pursue a wealth of options with my life without having to worry about making hefty payments for years (likely decades for most people) in order to pay off that debt. My parents were paying off their student loans through their 40s.

Moreover, Macaulay provides ~$7500 of funding for academic pursuits (usually study abroad programs) to each student. There are some restrictions on accessing that funding, but it is still a great boon. With my own fund, I have studied abroad twice already to two different continents and plan to go to a third this coming winter 2016. Yes, some of my own money was necessary to cover incidental costs and other pursuits during these trips, but the housing, program fees, tuition, and travel was all covered by Macaulay. According to nafsa.org ,

“The number of students studying abroad represents just about 1 percent of all U.S. students enrolled at institutions of higher education in the United States and under 10 percent of U.S. graduates.”

Something like 80-90% of my friends in my year and the year below me have gone abroad or are planning to this year.

“Big fish in a small pond”: Let me explain what this expression means-when you are a macaulay honors scholar studying in the CUNY system, you are what I call a big fish in a small pond. You got high grades in high school, you did well on the SATs (compared to joe schmoe), you were involved in many extracurriculars, and you probably know how to write an essay. Well guess what, I’ve got some good news: you are ahead of 75% of your fellow CUNY students. Want some even better news? Out of the remaining 25%, a fair portion of them probably don’t consider applying for scholarships, internships, etc. because they (probably) don’t have the same high-achieving disposition as you. This means that you have an enormous advantage when applying for any CUNY-wide application, whether it be for scholarships, grants, internships, fellowships, etc… There are several programs that run at City College (as well as the other CUNY’s) which are prestigious in the right circles and offer mentorship and monthly stipends. I applied and got into one of these such programs, and the stipends I get are enough to COVER my rent and give me extra spending money. I pay my landlord over $700 each month. I have several friends who are in similar programs and make similar money. If you take advantage of your position at CUNY, you can get some great support from Macaulay, CUNY, and your home campus through any number of different programs. You just need to research these things and apply. (That being said, applying to things is an art in itself. Be sure to master this as best you can.)
Student population makeup: Now, some may argue with me about this being a strength of macaulay, but I will go ahead and put it anyway. The student population makeup of Macaulay is very unique compared to highly ranked colleges. I forget the exact statistic but I believe something like over 60% of macaulay students are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Due to the large financial aid, many students are from lower or middle class income families. This is in stark contrast to the predominantly white, upper/middle-class makeups of most of the highly ranked colleges.

Moreover, the CUNY student population is extraordinarily diverse. I think (but I may be wrong here) some of our college campuses have ranked 1st in most diverse student populations according to several studies/reports out on the web. You will see people from every race, class, gender, age, country, ability-level etc… While your classmates may not necessarily always be the brightest students who can always pass and do well on exams/papers, there will be many times when you will learn from the new perspectives you encounter and find yourself surprised by people you didn’t expect much from. You will be immersed with what I believe is a more socially conscious and diverse population of students than your peers of comparable academic ability at other institutions.

Side note: As far as academic ability goes, CUNY is a very mixed bag. The admissions policy is pretty lax by our standards, but remember that the CUNY schools are also very very cheap. I have had CUNY classmates that I would say are much smarter and more put-together than some of the people I know in the Macaulay program, but I have also had some CUNY classmates that did not even know how to write a 5-paragraph essay or do long division. For the most part, as you progress through your major, there are weeding-out core classes that keep the low-performing students out of your classes, and I can say pretty confidently that every student I see in my 4th year major classes is as good as or better than me in that subject.

New York City: This one pretty much speaks for itself. Spending my college years in New York City has been an absolute blast. There’s an endless amount of options for entertainment, learning, and just going out to explore. I’ve gone to countless bars and apartment parties, spent some nights out at the club, gone to music festivals (Mad Decent Block Party, Electric zoo, etc…), made visits to wacky social events you’d only find in NYC (huge pillow fight in the middle of the city, no-pants subway ride day, etc…), and just had stupid amounts of fun while I was here. The convenience of the subway is awesome (no DD for parties or bars), there’s always food close-by, the city is absolutely gorgeous for Christmas each year, and if you’re looking for something you can probably find it in NYC. Plus, it’s pretty accessible to travel to most major cities by bus from one of the big transit stations. There’s no place quite like NYC.

Now I’d like to address some of the negative points brought up by Darthelmet. Disclaimer: As I said before, your experience will differ greatly depending on what campus you go to, and I really don’t know that many people from Baruch so a lot of what he brings up may be symptoms of that school specifically.

The MacBook Air thing–I have to say, people from his year did get the sticky end of the stick. This happened and is a totally valid problem to have with Macaulay. The students were told one thing and given another. It probably had to do with meeting budget restrictions, but that’s just my guess. Anyway, it sucks and shouldn’t have happened. (Before and since then, students have been properly informed of what type of laptop they will be receiving).

Honors Courses–I can only comment on the ones I’ve taken at City College. They were some of my harder courses, but overall stimulating and fine. I took Philosophy and World Civilizations. To be honest most students are just looking to get through them without participating much because they are required rather than in any major. These are different from the required seminars that everybody in Macaulay are required to take–these are a bit of a mixed bag. Your curriculum and the difficulty of the course is pretty much 100% dependent on which professor you take. I had pretty good experiences with all of my professors, but some of my friends did not. It’s pretty much a game of chance but try and ask the upperclassmen who to take if you come! It’ll probably save you a lot of headaches.

Registration–I personally have never had any problems regarding priority registration. We get first pick after seniors for certain classes. (None of my friends have ever expressed any problems regarding this either). Darthelmet’s experience with this, to my knowledge, is not common–but I also don’t know may people from Baruch so it may be worse there.

ITFs–I’m pretty neutral on this. They didn’t really add anything to my experience nor take anything away. Your experience with them is pretty dependent on who you get, but then again this was never really something I or anyone I know looked forward to when applying to macaulay. I didn’t even hear of them until my first day of class.

Degree Recognition–There isn’t much for companies based outside of NYC. Certain companies with recruiting pipelines already arranged at Macaulay will pay more attention to you, but that’s mostly it. This isn’t to be understated, however, as I know many of my friends got internships in their freshmen and sophomore years through these connections, which then allowed them to get better internships and fellowships later on. Graduate schools pretty much know Macaulay by now, so do not worry about that if you plan on going for a PhD or Masters (but then again, the prestige of your undergraduate institution does not matter very much for most of these programs). A close friend of mine in my major got into at least 3 Ivy league institutions he applied to for graduate school (probably more, I just can’t remember). The one he attends now is commonly ranked in the top 5 of all institutions across many graduate programs (and undergraduate programs).

Don’t pay full tuition–It’s true. We get paid by government subsidies, it comes with the territory. Although, I think I remember some of my friends being able to keep their Pell Grant money (I could be wrong). They also don’t pay fees, but hopefully you can get that covered with some other scholarship. (I got a scholarship for scoring very high on all of the NY State Regents Exams, which pays enough to cover these fees every semester)

Now, I don’t want to leave you with the impression that I am 100% behind macaulay and that they are the best thing since sliced bread and that my experience was all sunshine and rainbows—because none of that is true. It has its upsides and its downsides, but for me the upsides far outweighed the downsides. I’m going to end this here because I could honestly type out for pages and pages on the subject of Macaulay, but I need to sleep. If you have any questions, please PM me and (if I remember to check this account) I’ll get back to you when I see the message.

Also in case anyone was curious of my stats: SAT: (780M/700R/680W) – 2160 ACT: 32 (36M/34S/24R) I have no idea how I did so much worse on reading haha, also didn’t send this GPA: ~99.5 Weighted, ~94.5 unweighted (can’t remember exact) Ranking: 5/450 APs: 5 in World History, Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics B, Physics C Mechanics, Eng. Language 4 in Eng. Lit, 3 in Biology and U.S. Government (what can I say, I had some major senioritis for those last 3) (IB Math HL - 5) Did a bunch of jobs, clubs, sports, honors societies, & played an instrument through senior year, etc… but no leadership positions.

@Darthelmet thanks for sharing your information and cons of Macaulay! I wonder if you did transfer out of Macaulay successfully? Cornell and Macaulay are parts of my consideration.

@SomeKidHere thanks for your thorough analysis! Your stats are great and helpful. I hope you are still having a great time at City College. Good luck with your last year!

Hi there, I’m a sophomore in Macaulay. If you’re still looking for stats :

SAT: 2100, ACT: 34 I did a bunch of extracurriculars and had 4s on all of my AP exams.

I agree with some parts of @Darthelmet 's comment. Macaulay is not the ray of sunshine that they make it out to be. It’s very nice to not have to worry about student loans, but at the end of the day it’s still a CUNY. Honestly the program is great for people who need the financial aid and macbook (like me). But if I had the choice I wouldn’t have chosen Macaulay. If you have great ambition I would not suggest Macaulay.

On a side note if you do get waitlisted, write them a letter stating why you want to go and what you’ve accomplished recently. A friend of mine who had lower scores got into Macaulay at Brooklyn.

@Darthelmet @SomeKidHere @junior44 can you please help me, and tell me what my chance are of getting in?

Here are my stats Male- Indian (First Generation) New York GPA (unweighted): 95.5 GPA (weighted): 103.25 SAT(1600): 1250 Class Rank: N/A APs: 5 College Level(classes my school has offered to receive direct credits from LIU and Adelphi): 4 Honors: 6 Honor Societies: NHS(Executive Board), Science Honor Society( Public Relations Board Member), Music Honor Society (Treasurer), History Honor Society, English Honor Society. Sports: Tennis JV (9-10), Varsity(11-12), Church Volleyball Team (9-12) Community Service: 120 Hours of volunteering at a Physical Therapy office and 120 hours of teaching music to students at a local church. Other Activities: Church Youth Fellowship (was VP and President), Church Choir (was Secretary and Treasurer), Youth Choir( was joint-secretary and committee member), Church General Treasurer Assistant Awards:NYSSMA All-County Choir, NYSMMA All-State Choir,NAfME All-Eastern Honors Choir,NAfME All- National Honors Choir, and Theodore Roosevelt Public Speaking Competition (semifinalist).

Thank you for your help !!!

Can you transfer in between CUNY Macaulay campuses? Im an incoming freshman(I just got accepted) and I want to change my campus location.

More valued and prestige

@SomeKidHere , thank you very much for sharing your experience!

Hey I also plan to transfer to Cornell…can you please tell me the process if what you went through? Im afraid to ask my advisor ! Thanks!

@ Darthelmet: I wish your comments were available to me when one of my kids got sucked into the whole Macaulay thing! It was a total nightmare; they basically pocket the money coming in from other sources and you end up delaying graduation because you have to take their seminars, etc. This ends up costing you more. I have 3 more to put through college, and I assure you they will NOT be going anywhere near Macaulay; or any City University for that matter. Breaks my heart because we had schools BEGGING for my child to go to their schools; totally free everything! And that one mistake cost, and cost, and cost – not only in money, but time and aggravation for many years. That’s all they got from committing to it. Oh, and NO ONE knows what it’s supposed to be. I hope other prospective students heed the warning and really GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING, etc., if you do decide to go with it anyway.