Hi,
I am wondering if anyone has information on St. Bonaventure’s who is from the Philly/South Jersey area. It is on my son’s short list and I have read many good and bad things. He is planning on studying history. I am a little worried about how remote it is even from trains or airports. Does anyone have any experience? He has been accepted to St. Joe’s, St. Bonnie’s and Susquehanna so far. He could attend St. Bonnie’s and come out debt free. Nobody I know has ever heard of it before. We really liked it when we went to visit, but still hesitant. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
It is remote. The closest airport is Buffalo, which is about 70 miles away. However, that is the appeal for some students.
Winters are long, but basketball has a rabid following, both in town and on campus. This year’s team is pretty good. If you truly love winter, Allegany State Park is nearby and offers plenty of opportunities for fun in the snow.
Without any Greek life, students develop an uncommonly strong bond with each other. The Franciscans are accessible and are passionate about education. Programs such as journalism and business are excellent – by any standard.
Social life may be too dependent on drinking, but that is not unusual for a rural campus. There is lots of dorm spirit and pride. The university also has an active theater scene.
If you visited and liked it, that would seem to be a good sign to me. Bona grads are everywhere in the Northeast.
Thank you so much. Did you go there?
I went there an eternity ago. It is one of the friendliest campuses you can imagine. Students, staff and faculty all tend to be very nice and helpful there. That hasn’t changed, we visited about 3 years ago to show the kids our college campus and got spontaneous tours of a couple of the academic buildings by professors we had never met before. We even bumped into one of my husband’s former professors while we were there and she remembered him from 20 years before.
It’s a small school, but there are students who come from Long Island, NJ, as well as some PA residents (probably most of the PA people are from just over the state border). I never asked how friends were getting home from those places, but they had to have been taking shuttles to the airport at least some of the time. You can have a car in campus and I had one, so I drove myself home (I was from 2.5 hours away from SBU). I drove a friend from Long Island to the Buffalo airport once when she was upset about a boyfriend breakup and wanted to fly home to spend time with her parents. I also drove to Niagara Falls one Saturday, just to see the falls 
Not everyone has a car, but unless it’s changed, anyone is allowed to have one on campus.
Thank you. We are going back to see it again next month. I think it is between St. Bonnies an Susquehanna.