It’s fair (or even an understatement) to say that, with more than 60 majors and 80 minors to choose from and 200+ undergraduate programs, Stony Brook University offers a diverse course curriculum. And the university is just as proud to support diversity outside the classroom, too—it’s been named as a top 10 “Most Diverse U.S. University” by 24/7 Wall St./USA Today. Stony Brook is proud of its values—respect, inclusion, partnership, responsibility, and excellence—and is dedicated to instilling them in students to help create meaningful change. These are also important values to think about as you write, and to reflect in your essay.
You can get a better sense of what Stony Brook is looking for in its students by checking out its Common Data Set. There you’ll find an extensive, by-the-numbers look at its offerings, from enrollment and tuition statistics to student life and financial aid information. To learn more about the specific goals and objectives Stony Brook has set for creating a safe, inclusive, and vibrant learning community for students on campus, read through its most recent strategic plan.
What is the Stony Brook University supplemental essay prompt?
Honors Program Prompt
Please discuss why you are a good fit for your preferred University Honors Program (Honors College, University Scholars, or WISE). Applicants should keep their statement to approximately 250 words. The honors essay is a required document for Honors Program consideration.
STEM Scholars Prompt
Tell us more about yourself; in particular, how your academic, extracurricular and life experiences have influenced your desire to pursue a career in STEM. Additionally, explain how the Stony Brook Simons STEM program will help you achieve these goals. Please tell us how pursuing a Phd in STEM will help you achieve your educational and professional aspirations? Why is the advancement of historically underrepresented groups in STEM fields important?
How to write the Supplemental Essay Prompt for SUNY Stony Brook
How to Write SUNY Stony Brook Honors Program Prompt
This prompt is your classic “Why us?” essay. We recommend checking out this complete guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay and paying close attention to the “Why Cornell” and “Why Penn” examples, which are our favorites.
Here’s the short version of how to write the “Why us?” essay:
Spend 1 hr+ researching 10+ reasons why this program might be a great fit for you (ideally 3-5 of the reasons will be unique to the program and connect back to you).
Make a copy of this chart to map out your college research.
Create an outline for your essays based on either Approach 1, 2 (recommended), or 3 in the full guide above.
Write a first draft!
As you write, try to avoid these common mistakes, especially #6:
Six Common Mistakes Students Make on “Why Us?” Essays
Mistake #1: Writing about the school's size, location, reputation, weather, or ranking
Mistake #2: Simply using emotional language to demonstrate fit
Mistake #3: Screwing up the mascot, stadium, team colors, or names of any important people or places on campus
Mistake #4: Parroting the brochures or website language
Mistake #5: Describing traditions the school is well-known for
Mistake #6: Thinking of this as only a "why them" essay
Here’s an example why us written for Princeton, with analysis, to illustrate the approach:
At the WEST Society of Women Engineers Robotics workshop, I programmed a robot to dance and learned about using AI to map the ocean floor and track sharks. And next door, I tested the stress strength of a gummy worm, learning about sustainable nanomaterials for the first time. These simple, yet engaging experiments showcased intriguing hands-on experiences I am seeking at Princeton.
Princeton’s focus on independent research and its requirement of a senior thesis promise to deepen my knowledge of engineering and science.
Through the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Program and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM), I will conduct research combining expertise in "hard" materials with knowledge of "soft" materials. Under Professor Nan Yao, I hope to utilize techniques of imaging and compositional analysis to construct organ transplant biomaterial, bettering the lives of others. Observing materials in action at the Shiseido Cosmetics Factory will provide me insight that I can use to showcase my knowledge by creating a keepsake at the annual blacksmith event.
While Materials Science allows me to explore the physical world, Computer Science allows me to explore the virtual one. As a selected participant for the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program, I developed a sisterhood through navigating coding difficulties. I will create new sisterhoods with Princeton Women in Computer Science and Society of Women Engineers.
Princeton greats Olga Russakovsky and Gillat Kol inspire me to further my knowledge at Princeton. I can’t wait to follow in their footsteps. (249 words)
Tips + Analysis
Share your journey. Just like the example essay, mention workshops, projects, or cool things you've done that got you excited about your path.
Link to core values. Explain how the program aligns with what matters most to you. For example, you can discuss how your chosen path resonates with your broader goals and how you see it contributing to making a positive impact. This writer's intention to create an organ transplant biomaterial showcases their commitment to bettering lives through engineering.
Show how you’ll leverage offerings. Research specific courses, institutes, and resources offered at the college that align with your interests. Show how these opportunities resonate with your aspirations. The writer's mention of the Materials Science and Engineering Program and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials displays their knowledge of the college’s offerings and how they plan to leverage them.
Get specific. Rather than giving the college a general compliment, dive into the specifics. Name professors you're excited to learn from, programs that intrigue you, events you can't wait to attend, and any other details that make you go, "That's exactly what I'm looking for!" The writer's shoutout to professors Olga Russakovsky and Gillat Kol shows their excitement about learning from pros at Princeton.
Here’s another great example why us:
My natural curiosity prompted me to start programming nearly seven years ago, working on a wide range of ideas, from a remote-controlled robot that carried toys to my sister’s bedroom to a game about knights that I have spent over 150 hours programming, and counting.
Computer science is one of those disciplines that will creep up no matter what field you go into, which is why I value it so dearly. In this rapidly changing world, I’d be silly to think I will work in the same niche industry until I retire. This decade’s problem might be electrification in response to global warming, but the next’s might be vertical farming, and the ambiguity of these problems gives me all the more reason to continue reading on what makes the world move. The one commonality that I see in all these issues is that in some corner somewhere, there is a programmer helping, and being that helper in the bigger picture is what would give me meaning.
Helping in these bigger picture scenarios means I don’t have to dream how the world will work, because I will be making a chip of it.
I’m especially excited for Princeton’s “Advanced Computer Graphics” Module because that will not only allow me to create more stunning graphics for the small games that I code on the side but also learn important applications of computer graphics, such as SpaceX’s 3D CAD Software. Although the module “Great Moments in Computing'' seems less applicable, the history of computing seems vital in understanding the key turning points that explain why we think a certain way. And with fingers crossed, I hope to meet a computing legend, Brian Kernighan, who wrote the first “Hello, world” program. (287 words)
How to Write SUNY Stony Brook STEM Scholars Prompts
- Tell us more about yourself; in particular, how your academic, extracurricular and life experiences have influenced your desire to pursue a career in STEM. Additionally, explain how the Stony Brook Simons STEM program will help you achieve these goals.
- Please tell us how pursuing a Phd in STEM will help you achieve your educational and professional aspirations?
- Why is the advancement of historically underrepresented groups in STEM fields important?
You can think of the first prompt as essentially two essays in one: a “Why Major” + a “Why us?”—you’ll want to be judicious about using your word budget wisely to make sure to clearly articulate both the origins (both academic and extracurricular) of your STEM interests, and the ways you and Stony Brook Simons STEM program fit together well.
We’d recommend diving into our complete guide to the “Why Major'' essay, and here’s the full guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay.
Action Items:
Read the “Why Major” guide. What mini-movie moments do you envision exploring?
Reflect on what you want out of your college experience. Collect those insights using this chart. Identifying specific or niche interests and needs will help you find equally specific resources at this college and make your “we’re a perfect match” case (see more on this in the “complete guide” link above) more compelling.
Spend at least an hour researching 5-7 reasons why this school might be a great fit for you, mapping them out in the third column of the chart.
Remember: The best “Why us?” pieces don’t celebrate how “x” school is the GREATEST SCHOOL OF ALL TIME. They’re more an explanation of why you and the school are the perfect match. Make sure to connect each of your college-specific examples to your goals and interests.
Create an outline that combines your mini-movie moments for the “Why Major” top, then outline the “Why us?” portion.
The second prompt is highly future-oriented: to build your content, spend some time brainstorming what you want your life to look like 5, 10, and 20 years from now.
What are you hoping your career path looks like?
What kinds of issues and problems are you hoping to explore?
How will your degree help you impact society?
What do you find exciting about your path in STEM?
The third prompt is a variation of a “diversity” essay—for a full guide to various kinds of “diversity” prompts, head here.
In particular, you’ll want to focus on reasons that help build a case for greater diversity in STEM—ways that diversity can increase effectiveness, for example, or ways that a historical lack of diversity has potentially impacted things (e.g. how primarily studying WEIRD populations has potentially impacted the social sciences—are there parallels you can explore in STEM?).
Julia published her first “book” on the elusive Pika in elementary school and has been writing fervently ever since. She’s thrilled to unite her quirky love of grammar and master’s in psychology to help students tell their most meaningful stories. Her favorite punctuation mark is the apostrophe because, in the words of Imagine Dragons, it’s “a symbol to remind you that there’s more to see.”
Top values: Collaboration | Family | Productivity
