SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Public · Moderately Selective · NY

Photo: Kiran891 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads1,839

Student:faculty14:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate55.6%

6-yr grad rate66.3%

Drop-out rate13%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$9k

Out-of-state tuition$22k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity25.3%

Gender diversity53.3%

International2.2%

Identity—

Overview

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse is a specialized public college devoted entirely to the environment — forestry, environmental science, wildlife biology, landscape architecture, and paper and bioprocess engineering among its programs. It shares a campus and many facilities with adjacent Syracuse University while maintaining its own distinct, tight-knit identity and admissions.

Academics

Programs are built around fieldwork and applied science rather than a conventional liberal arts core — students spend real time outdoors and in labs from early in their degree, not just in later years. The college manages a large network of forest properties across New York used directly for teaching and research, giving students hands-on access to working forests, not just classroom instruction. Cross-registration with Syracuse University lets students take courses outside ESF's own narrower catalog.

Campus & student life

Because ESF shares infrastructure with Syracuse (housing, dining, some facilities), students get a large-university social environment layered on top of ESF's much smaller, mission-focused academic community. The culture is notably outdoorsy and field-work-oriented, and students often describe a strong sense of shared purpose given how specialized the college's mission is.

Getting in

Applicants are generally expected to show genuine, specific interest in environmental or natural-resource fields — this is not a generalist liberal arts application, and demonstrated fieldwork, research, or environmental extracurriculars carry real weight.

After graduation

Graduates place into forestry services, environmental consulting, landscape architecture firms, state and federal natural-resource agencies, and paper and bioprocess industry roles, aided by the college's research forests and industry ties.

Worth knowing

The dual-campus arrangement with Syracuse is unusual and genuinely valuable — students get ESF's specialized, small-college focus with a large university's facilities and social life alongside it.

esf.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate63.3%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Early actionNov 15

AdmissionRolling

Applying