Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York

Since its founding in 2001, Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York has gone from the brainchild of Chancellor Matthew Goldstein to one of the nation’s leading honors colleges. There are now 1,800 graduates of Macaulay who are defining success in 1,800 different and wonderful ways: as doctors and lawyers, as Rhodes Scholars and teachers, as mathematicians and writers and entrepreneurs and artists.

Macaulay offers an exceptional academic and co-curricular environment for future leaders of New York City. More than 60% are immigrants or children of immigrants, and about half are NYC public school graduates. Macaulay students enroll in one of eight CUNY senior colleges (Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, John Jay, Lehman, Queens, or Staten Island). Through the unique Macaulay advising program, each student develops a coordinated, individualized academic program that includes research, global learning, graduate and professional mentoring, community engagement, and close faculty-student collaboration. Selected for their top high school records and leadership potential, every Macaulay student receives a full-tuition scholarship, a laptop and technology support, a $7,500 study grant to pursue global learning and service opportunities, and a Cultural Passport that provides access to museums, libraries, and other treasures around New York City.

Macaulay’s graduates have continued their education in top graduate and professional programs at Harvard, Yale, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley, and the CUNY Graduate Center, to name a few.  Our students and alumni compete successfully for the most prestigious fellowships in the world including Rhodes, Fulbright, Mitchell, Truman, National Science Foundation, Goldwater, Salk, NYC Urban Fellowships, and other awards. Macaulay graduates land jobs at companies and organizations such as The New York Times, General Electric, Google, Booz Allen, Boeing, the World Bank, the U.S. Department of State, and the NYC Department of Education.

What started as an experiment has become a powerful story in public higher education: for our students, for CUNY, and for a country that looking for the next generation of educated, compassionate, and innovative leaders. Macaulay has come to exemplify educational excellence and university-wide collaboration within CUNY and has become a beacon to some of the most promising and interesting bright minds in New York.

The admission of its thirteenth class, the Class of 2017, included welcoming the first cohort of Macaulay students at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. From its first class in 2001, Macaulay has doubled in size and the academic profile of its students has never been stronger: over 5,500 students applied to be one of 500 students in the Class of 2016.

In these auspicious times, Macaulay is challenged and charged with reimagining the future of honors education. The energy and innovation of the Macaulay community will be critical to educating young people for the tough challenges they will face. Students are selected for their promise, their ability to transform the world around them and not accept what is, but to imagine what could be. The future of New York and the world is literally in their hands.