Hey guys!
I was admitted to St. John’s University as a freshman for the fall of 2015 as a Physician Assistant major (PA)! Honestly, I didn’t think much of SJU until I visited. After visiting, I can say that I will most likely be committing to SJU for this fall. This is due to a few factors, of which personal fit and finances are the biggest two. Anywho, this is an overview of my visit to SJU, and I promise this is free of any bias! I went in thinking nothing of SJU, and after visiting it honestly changed my perspective of SJU so much! I hope this post can help all of you prospective students who can’t visit to get a better feeling of campus and SJU overall, and if you have any questions be sure to ask as I may forget to include some things. NOTE: This is for the Queens campus!!
Location: For me, location was one of the biggest factors when I was applying to college. I wanted to go to college in NYC, preferably in Manhattan or within 30 minutes of it, and SJU fulfills this requirement. Nestled in a cute, little residential area of Queens, SJU can be considered a college “in the city” per se. Around campus there are various little shops, restaurants, and vintage shops. Its nothing like Manhattan, but if you wanted to be within walking distance of places SJU is the place to be. You won’t be stranded on campus, there are things and places to go to off campus. I really didn’t get to walk around the local area (I drove around), so I’m pretty sure there are many more things to do than the few things I saw through my window. One of the downsides is that the subway is approximately two miles away from campus, and I really wouldn’t want to walk there unless it was a very nice day out. It could take about 20 minutes (or more) to get to the subway via walking. Now, SJU addresses this by offering shuttles that pick you up from the main entrance of campus and drop you off right in front of the subway. These shuttles run from 7am to until 11pm. After 11, you have to find your own way back to campus (or the subway). This could be a hit or miss, as I plan on spending a considerable amount of my time in Manhattan, thus I need a reliable source of getting to the subway and back to campus (NOTE: I will not be living on campus - more on that later). The shuttles are a good idea for those students who want to venture to manhattan every few days or once a week, but for someone who wants/needs to be there almost every day, this could be a problem, especially if you are living on campus. However, you can call campus security at any time of the day and they will pick you up from wherever you are and drop you back off at campus. You can also call a cab, or even get a friend to pick you up. There are lots of ways to get around this small inconsistency. Bottom line: don’t expect SJU to be right smack in the middle of a city. Its located in an affluent and suburban area of Queens, and is approximately 20-25 away from Manhattan via car, and about 30-40 minutes away via subway. There are lots of ways of getting to the subway from campus; including, but not limited to: car, shuttles, campus security, and cabs.
Security: Another important factor (who wants to go to a college where the crime rate is high???). Most people associate Queens with being ghetto and dirty, however that is not true at all. Some parts may indeed be like that, but the area around SJU is extremely safe. Its actually located in one of the richer parts of Queens, so walking in the area around campus at night (or any time of the day) isn’t dangerous; just don’t be dumb and use common sense and you’ll be okay. Campus security is very active, they were constantly patrolling campus while I was there. There are poles all around campus (and I think in the area around campus as well) that you can go to and press the button that will alert campus security where you are, and they will come straight to you. Obviously, this is really safe and helpful. Furthermore, campus gates close at 11pm, and at that point, only SJU students are allowed to enter campus. I remember being told that SJU takes security really seriously, so that was something that really attracted me. Safe campus = happy me!
Campus: SJU is located on 100 acres of land, and my tour guide was telling me how SJU was actually built on some sort of golf field, and thats why the campus was hilly and uneven! The campus is gated, with five entrances at various points of campus. The campus has a huge quad in the beginning/center near the welcome center. The buildings are nothing to brag about - they look like normal cement buildings, but with some added features (and obviously they look better, my point is the exterior architecture isn’t instagram worthy, lol.) However, the interior of the buildings are very nice and modern! SJU spends some money every year improving and adding to their campus too keep it modern and sleek, so thats a huge plus. There are so many buildings, I can’t even remember the names. The hub of student life is the D’Angelo Center, however. The D’angelo center is the newest building on campus, and has meeting rooms, classrooms, areas to relax and chill, a Starbucks (the cheapest in all of NYC!!!), and on campus dining options. On campus, there is also a soccer field, gym (which was pretty nice and big), track field, tennis courts, and a food truck! While the campus isn’t comparable to Syracuse University’s, its still nice and modern, with lots of amenities for all its students and lots of green space.
Dorms: I will be living off campus, primarily because its too expensive to live on campus, and I refuse to pick up too many loans. I can’t really comment on dorms because I didn’t check them out, but I do know some stuff that my tour guide told me. Freshman are guaranteed housing, but after freshman year you have to enter a lottery to get on campus housing. Freshman housing is in doubles or triples, with very few singles. There are no common bathrooms (communals). There is one bathroom that is shared between two rooms, so you can be sharing your bathroom with anywhere from 2-6 people. Thats pretty much all I know about dorms (sorry!!!)
Food: ugh, FOOD. SJU has so many on campus dining options, its crazy. Theres almost an on-campus eatery in every building (ok not literally but you get the point). There’s also a taco bell, subway, starbucks, and burger king on campus (I may have forgotten or added something). Point is, there are lots of places to eat on campus, so you won’t feel tired of the food anytime soon. Beware of the Freshman 15.
Overall Vibe: While walking around campus I noticed that a large majority of the students were dressed nice, preppy, and fashionable. The few professors I talked to were extremely nice and understanding, and my campus guide was very nice too! I saw students of all races and genders, and you could see the diversity reflecting off the student body.
This is basically all I remember, if you guys have any questions please ask and I will try my best to answer (I’m not a current student yet so take my views with a grain of salt!).