Admission to Ella Cline Shear School of Education

Admissions Policy

All undergraduate programs require the submission of an application form and meeting several academic standards to qualify for admission. You are a "pre" major until accepted. We recommend that students admitted to Geneseo as first year students apply for admission into the School of Education after their first semester at Geneseo. 

Special Notes for Admissions:

• Students who add/change to education certification after starting at SUNY Geneseo should apply for admission to the School of Education during the same semester they change their major.
• Transfer students should apply for admission into the School of Education once accepted to the college.
• Childhood majors: In order to register for Block IV, you must be accepted into the SOE.
• Adolescence majors: In order to register for Block III, you must be accepted into the SOE.

Admission criteria (you must meet all; the college will have this information on file):

1. College GPA of 2.75 
2. Answer four disposition prompts
3. Applicants (all classifications) who do not satisfy the GPA requirements may be accepted on a waiver basis

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Admissions decisions will be made on a monthly basis. Applications from transfer students and applications through a waiver will take additional time to process.

You need to have at least one semester completed at Geneseo before applying to the SOE. A GPA of 2.75 is required for admission into the program. A 2.5 GPA is required until completion of the program.

Disposition Prompts

Instructions: As part of your application, we ask you to submit a brief response (1,000 character maximum) to each of the 4 prompts that assess professional dispositions that get to the core of teaching beliefs and practices.

1. Individual learners come to the classroom with differing personal and family backgrounds, as well as different skills, perspectives, talents, and interests. How might you help all learners feel valued, and help them to value each other, despite the variations that exist in every classroom and school?
2. Given your content area and/or certification level (e.g. Childhood with Special Education, Early Childhood/ Childhood Education, and Adolescence Education), describe how you would set up a flexible learning environment that encourages learner exploration, discovery, and expression. Please explain the reason(s) for your choice.
3. What is more important: to stay closely aligned with the lesson plans you have created in advance to ensure you meet planned learning objectives, or to change the plans based on learner needs and changing circumstances? Please explain the reason(s) for your choice.
4. Briefly explain how you as a teacher would approach a situation where families of students in your classroom have beliefs, norms, and expectations that are different from your own.

Click here for the dispositions prompts rubric

Click here to submit your School of Education application online.