Most popular majors at SUNY colleges and universities
Business, management and public administration is the most popular area of study at the University at Buffalo. Credit: University at Buffalo/Douglas Levere
More than 50,000 students statewide were enrolled last school year in classes focusing on business, management and public administration — which was the most of any discipline — at one of the more than 60 SUNY colleges across New York State, according to a Newsday analysis of data available through SUNY.
The University at Buffalo had the most students enrolled in business, management and public administration classes with 4,695, followed by the public online college Empire State University with 4,171 students and Stony Brook University with 3,148 students.
The second most popular discipline at SUNY schools statewide was health and related fields with 49,037 students, followed by humanities with 42,402. The University at Buffalo had the most students enrolled in health and related fields with 4,694, while Suffolk County Community College had the most students enrolled in humanities classes with 5,677.
The most popular discipline among the SUNY schools located on Long Island was humanities with 13,399 students, followed by health and related fields with 10,197 students and business, management and public administration with 9,423 students.
Suffolk County Community College had the most students enrolled in humanities classes with 5,677, while Stony Brook University had the most enrolled in health and related fields as well as business, management and public administration classes with 4,476 and 3,148 students, respectively.
The figures are taken from SUNY Fast Facts, which provides official statistical data on the SUNY system, and are from the fall of 2025, which is the most recent data available by the system.
Most popular majors at every SUNY college
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
