# Undergraduate Colleges of Stony Brook University

> university

**Wikidata**: [Q18158984](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18158984)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undergraduate_Colleges_of_Stony_Brook_University)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/undergraduate-colleges-of-stony-brook-university

## Summary
The Undergraduate Colleges of Stony Brook University are a cluster of six themed residential-learning communities created in 2004 to give every first-year student a small-college experience inside a large public research university. Each college pairs shared housing with a custom first-year seminar and academic advising tied to broad themes such as science, leadership, or the arts.

## Key Facts
- Founded in September 2004 as part of Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York.
- Comprises six undergraduate colleges: Arts, Culture & Humanities; Business; Leadership & Service; Science & Society; Information & Technology Studies; and the University Scholars College.
- Every first-year student is assigned to one college regardless of major; residence halls are organized by college.
- Each college requires a 1-credit first-year seminar and provides dedicated academic advisers.
- Official website: https://ucolleges.stonybrook.edu/
- Wikimedia Commons image: UGC_Banner.jpg (uploaded from enwiki revision 825399623).

## FAQs
### Q: Do I have to live in the college I’m assigned to?
A: Yes. First-year students live with classmates from their assigned college in designated residence halls to reinforce the learning community.

### Q: Can I change my undergraduate college?
A: No. Assignment is permanent for the first year; after that students move to other housing and the college affiliation ends.

### Q: Does my college choice affect my major?
A: No. Colleges are thematic communities, not academic departments; any major can belong to any college.

### Q: Are the colleges only for honors students?
A: No. Every first-year student—honors or not—is placed in one of the six colleges.

## Why It Matters
Stony Brook enrolls more than 17,000 undergraduates, a scale that can feel impersonal. The Undergraduate Colleges were designed in 2004 to solve that problem by carving out 400-student micro-communities inside the larger university. By linking residence life with a shared first-year seminar and advising, the model increases retention, eases the transition from high school, and exposes students to interdisciplinary themes outside their majors. National studies show that students in such programs report stronger senses of belonging and higher participation in campus activities—metrics Stony Brook tracks annually. For a public institution charged with educating large numbers of first-generation and low-income students, the colleges serve as an equity tool: every student, not just honors or scholarship recipients, receives the network of a small college at no extra cost.

## Notable For
- First large-scale residential college system introduced on Long Island.
- Only SUNY campus where 100% of first-year students belong to a themed college.
- Houses the University Scholars College, the gateway for all Stony Brook Scholars Program participants.
- Uses peer mentors—sophomores hired and trained by each college—to run the first-year seminars.

## Body
### Structure and Assignment
Stony Brook’s six Undergraduate Colleges divide the entire first-year class into roughly equal cohorts of about 400 students each. Assignment is random with respect to major but balanced for gender and geographic diversity. Once assigned, students live in the same residential quad and enroll in the college’s 1-credit seminar during their first semester.

### The First-Year Seminar
Each college designs its own seminar around its theme. Examples include “Art in New York” (Arts, Culture & Humanities), “Ethics of Emerging Technologies” (Information & Technology Studies), and “Leadership in Action” (Leadership & Service). Classes are capped at 20 students and are graded pass/fail to encourage intellectual risk-taking.

### Advising and Support
College advisers occupy offices inside the residence halls, offering walk-in hours at night. They coordinate tutoring, mental-health referrals, and registration assistance, eliminating the need for first-year students to navigate the larger university bureaucracy alone.

### Assessment
Since 2004 Stony Brook’s Office of Institutional Research has tracked retention and GPA by college. Public reports show first-to-second-year retention rates consistently above 90 % for college participants, compared with 86 % campus-wide before 2004.