Pretty cool…I just counted 18 Long Island high school 2017 valedictorians picking Stony Brook to enroll in the fall. This is by far the most that I can remember and far surpassing any other colleges from this valedictorian group…any thoughts?
Smart kids realized that they don’t have to drop $150 grand for an education that they could get for $1.50 in late charges at Stony Brook’s library.
Interesting. For 20 years, they have told us we don’t have a valedictorian in our HS, but there’s a photo of some kid I have never heard of, despite S17 having gone to school here since pre-k and there being only one HS and one middle school.
My thoughts - one of these valedictorians is going to the same school S17 will be attending.
Many of the kids going to Stony Brook are from middle class areas. My guess is they didn’t get enough money in the merit chase and the FA wars and didn’t get into an Ivy that would meet need. Some of the kids going to Ivies and Ivy lights are from the wealthier areas of the island and might need less merit to afford the costs.
Well whether it was financial regarding not getting enough merit/need aid from privates/Ivy or whether they did not see the benefit of spending $200K to $300K for four years of college…they still chose Stony Brook overwhelmingly over any other public state school. So assuming that these valedictorians who could’ve picked any instate school with a full ride or any other very good instate or OOS schools with very generous aid they still picked Stony Brook.
@techmom99 Oh by the way, my daughter is going to Stony Brook and we are not middle class and we live in a wealthier part of the island 
Congrats on your D’s admission to SBU. It is an excellent school and you are right to be proud of her.
I don’t know if my musings are on target. You asked for thoughts and I shared mine based on what I have observed in almost 10 years of getting kids ready for college. It might very well be that at least some of the kids who opted for SBU or the couple of other SUNY’s on the list chose it despite having a free or almost free ride at another prestigious school. I also noticed that some of the vals had majors that might be positioning them for pre-med and they may have chosen SBU to try to get into the med school at state prices or to save up money for med/grad school somewhere else.
I also live in a wealthier part of the island and consider myself middle class, though we don’t qualify for Excelsior. Stony Brook is my H’s alma mater and he would have been thrilled if any of the kids went there but none was interested. I agree that Stony Brook and all SUNY’s, for that matter. provide an excellent education at a reasonable price. All of my children have attended SUNY’s. My S17 is going to Fredonia and I was a tad surprised to see a val going there but she is majoring in voice and performance and the school is known for that. My son is pursuing a performing arts major as well.
I went back and tallied the valedictorians who picked a SUNY…Stony Brook 18 kids, Binghamton 3 kids, Fredonia 1 kid and Oswego 1 kid. It is the huge disparity in choice of SUNYs that I was surprised at in addition to Stony Brook being the highest pick among all the colleges whether private or public.
Good for Stony! The Excelsior Scholarship will make the SUNYs even more popular.
@borgdoctor the two best SUNY schools are Bing and Stony Brook. Of course more kids on Long Island will pick Stony Brook since it is closer. Valedictorians upstate probably have the situation, only Binghamton is more popular. Also I am sure you know this, but SUNY schools are now free tuition for the middle class, which is why they had a soaring amount of qualified applicants this year. I would be interested in how many valedictorians went to Stony Brook in the last 5 years compared to this year.
We had eleven in 2015, fourteen last year, eighteen this year.
Chris
None of the kids I know who are going to SUNY’s in the fall, including my own son, qualify for Excelsior. There might be one guy at work, but if he qualifies, it’s only because his wife doesn’t work.