For high school seniors, the month of April is all about making a decision by May 1 on where to hit the books come September. A ritual of the courtship between school and student is the reception for accepted students and parents.

City University of New York’s Honors College, which in five years has established itself as a crown contender for New York’s top students, held its reception Monday at the American Museum of Natural History.

The Honors College, available on six CUNY campuses, offers an attractive package: full tuition for a rigorous academic program and extras such as a laptop, free access to museums and theater tickets, and an allowance for study abroad and summer programs and internships.

“It’s really cool,” a prospective Honors College student, Priscilla Posada, said. Ms. Posada, a senior at Bayside High School, is trying to decide between the CUNY Honors College and Hofstra, which also offered her a full scholarship.

Ms. Posada’s mother, Diurny Rizzo, is concerned about her child’s safety. If Ms. Posada were to enroll at CUNY, she would live at home and take the Long Island Rail Road and the subway to get to school; a long, wearying trip. “At Hofstra there is a campus and she won’t disappear,” Ms. Rizzo said.

The Honors College has accepted more than 600 candidates for the 330 slots in the class of 2010, out of a total applicant pool of 3,177 students. And admission was more competitive this year, with applications up more than 35% from last year, and the mean SAT score up 29 points to 1381. More than half of the applications came from in-state students attending public school, but out-of-state applications have also been increasing.

Positive word of mouth – in part generated by Honors College students winning prestigious Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, and Goldwater scholarships – has contributed to the increasing competitiveness.

CUNY’s chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, who created the program, said it is a great bargain for very talented students. “We can provide comparable educational experiences to the most respected institutions at an affordable price,” Mr. Goldstein said.

Freshman David Bauer, a graduate of Hunter High School, was admitted early decision to the Honors College – the only college he applied to. “In effect, the Honors College creates a small liberal arts school environment within a university that has large amounts of resources, particularly in science, so you have, in essence, the best of both worlds,” Mr. Bauer said.

A Queens College sophomore, David Ng, took advantage of the foreign study option by going to Hong Kong and southern China. “The experience of meeting these other people is something you can’t Google,” Mr. Ng said.

Correction: Seven is the number of City University of New York colleges that offer the Honors College program. The number was misstated in Out & About on page 14 of yesterday’s New York Sun.