Stony Brook University has been moving towards a system in which thousands of students have been cut out of fields that they are passionate about, particularly CEAS (College of Engineering & Applied Sciences), such as mechanical engineering (MEC) & computer science (CSE) & electrical/computer engineering  (ESE/CME). Many of these students are just as able & willing to do the hard work & succeed in said majors as those who are already in the these degree programs. Instead, they are forced to enroll in degrees that are not fulfilling, which increases the chances of the students dropping out, having to return to college later on or transferring to other schools to enroll in their preferred major.

Under the current system, many students are submitted to what is known as an AOI (Area of Interest) admissions criteria, even when they have the best grades & they have demonstrated via personal experience that they are capable of being admitted to the major & should not be filtered through the AOI system. Financial Aid is also not given to students in AOI which creates a system that contradicts Stony Brook University's prime achievement of being one of the best universities for social mobility. Who benefits from this system? It is disproportionately those who are wealthier (many of whom are from foreign countries.) We already have seen examples of wealthy parents bribing their children into schools, despite their kids not working for it. Nobody should be shocked if the same is happening at Stony Brook University, given the artificial lowering of seats in the most popular & best paying majors in CEAS. On the contrary, working class students that have the grades are often pushed into AOI which creates a system of stress for students & increases the likelihood of not getting into a major that they would succeed in. 

Not only that, the AOI system and stringent admissions requirements for CEAS majors hinder college students that discover the best majors for them throughout college, with one year requirements being a requirement for some of them. 

Not only that, the school & the state have the resources to provide an expansion of its CEAS majors & give everyone a chance at their majors. But what can be done about it?

• Lower admissions standards for all CEAS majors: The most popular (most enrolled in) SUNY school University at Buffalo has much lower standards for applying into engineering majors compare to Stony Brook University. While SBU requires a 3.2 GPA, no repeated classes & no very shaky chances for admission, to get into their mechanical engineering program, UB only requires a 2.8 to get into their mechanical engineering program & usually admits applicants to their mechanical engineering program. Not only that they have conditional admission in which financial aid still covers your degree, but they school still gives you a change to prove yourself. Not only that, UB has a higher ranked mechanical engineering program than SBU
• Faster approve requests to add new majors at SBU: SBU does not have majors such as aerospace engineering, industrial engineering & environmental engineering, all of which students should be able to to have the choice to enroll in. Not only will this diversify the major choices, but it will also free up space in the already existing majors, no longer boxing in students with as few of majors as there exist. Plus, it encourages academic freedom as students and especially professors can have a larger say in how the school is run.
• Expand new hires for currently existing & new majors: Not only should more research professors be hired, but new professors with only masters degrees (the ones that can only teach), class TAs for majors should be hired. Not only this, but CEAS tutoring which currently only employs one undergraduate per CEAS major should be expanded to include faculty, TAs, graduate & undergraduate students & tutors for free to ensure that students are able to have the opportunity to learn outside & to get faster & more immediate help outside of class, as well as getting vital homework help which currently cannot be provided since the tutors are all undergraduates. Expanded tutoring services have been shown to to benefit students by ensuring that their academic issues with classes are met,  meaning better grades & higher retention of knowledge than if tutoring services either do not exist or are very limited. 

To conclude, Stony Brook Univesity would benefit from expanding CEAS major admission, given that many worthy students are cut out of their desired majors & hence not given the chance to shine in their desired majors. AOI is a broken system that contributes to the problems of socioeconomic inequalities & contradicts Stony Brook University's stated commitment to socioeconomic mobility. Approval for majors in CEAS needs to be a lot quicker to both ensure academic freedom & democratic participation in the academic system & to allow for students to be able to allow students to otherwise study a major that in our current status is not available at Stony Brook University. Lastly, SBU needs to allow departments in CEAS to hire more faculty (including non research & TAs), & to have tutoring services that are available for free to all CEAS students which are staffed by faculty, graduate & undergraduate students & hired tutors that deliver high quality services & little wait time for students needing help on HW assignments & to study for tests.