SUNY Old Westbury Acceptance Rate, GPA, and Admission Requirements

Old Westbury requires a Supplemental Essay as part of its application, but the school's own guidance explicitly states that if you've already submitted the SUNY Application or Common Application personal essay, you do not need to submit an additional essay - the existing one satisfies the requirement. This is a genuinely time-saving structural detail many applicants miss, assuming "supplemental essay required" always means writing something new and school-specific. Before drafting a fresh essay for Old Westbury specifically, confirm which application platform you're using and whether your existing essay (roughly 250 words if using the Autobiographical Essay route) already covers this requirement, since duplicating effort here is a common and entirely avoidable time sink.

Unlike many SUNY campuses where standardized test scores or GPA alone drive admission decisions, Old Westbury explicitly requires at least one letter of recommendation from a school counselor or teacher as part of the standard application - a requirement not universal across the SUNY system. Because strong recommendation letters take time for teachers and counselors to write thoughtfully (especially during peak application season when they're fielding requests from many students simultaneously), request your recommender early in your senior year rather than assuming this is a quick, last-minute formality - and take advantage of Old Westbury's encouragement to submit documents electronically through Naviance, Parchment, or the SUNY Application's built-in document upload system rather than relying on paper submission, which can introduce processing delays.

Old Westbury's Honors College uses genuinely different admission mechanics depending on when you're applying: incoming freshmen are automatically evaluated for Honors College eligibility based on their standard application (roughly a 90+ high school average and approximately 1180+ combined math/reading SAT, if submitted) with no separate application required, while continuing Old Westbury students become eligible to apply prior to the start of their sophomore year specifically if they've earned a 3.5 cumulative GPA. If you didn't qualify for Honors as an incoming freshman but perform strongly in your first two semesters, actively track your cumulative GPA against that 3.5 threshold and proactively reach out to the Honors College office before sophomore year begins, since this is a real, specific second-chance pathway that isn't automatically flagged for you the way freshman evaluation is.

Old Westbury is broadly test-optional for standard undergraduate admission, but its own admissions materials explicitly carve out one specific exception: SAT/ACT scores are required for admission specifically to the Biological Sciences & Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, B.S./D.O. combined-degree program. If this pre-med pathway is your target (rather than a standard biology or pre-health major), don't assume the school's general test-optional messaging applies to you - budget for standardized testing specifically because this program has its own distinct, non-negotiable requirement layered on top of the general policy.