Saint John Fisher College Input Please

College Search & Lists
1

<p>My twins daughters are both interested in St. John Fisher. One in particular has it at the top of her list of schools to apply to next year as it has just about everything she is looking for in a school. We have visited campus and were very impressed. I have a few questions and would appreciate input from anyone who is familiar with the school. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>One drawback I see is that many freshman end up in a triple dorm room. According to the web site, kids are de-tripled as space becomes available. Does anyone have experience with this? How likely is it to be de-tripled and how long will that usually take? Are kids generally happy in the triples or do they feel they are living on top of one another?</p></li>
<li><p>The overwhelming majority of kids are from NY state. We are OOS and a six hour drive away. To what extent is Fisher a suitcase school? Would my daughters be bored on campus on the weekends because many kids go home?</p></li>
<li><p>What are the reputations of the nursing and education schools? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Any other general information about Fisher would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Fisher has a decent reputation as a primarily local, Catholic, mostly pre-professional liberal arts college. There is talk of them starting a law school. I think they offer a nurse practitioner program. They have a good reputation for nursing and education. You might want to check where students go for student teaching. The Rochester City School District is awful.</p>

<p>What are your daughters’ stats? There are better Catholic schools out there, if they can get in.</p>

<p>Fisher itself is in the nicest suburb of Rochester.</p>

3

<p>Since you’ll have two going at one time, do they provide generous aid or scholarships? Or, is money no concern? </p>

<p>I agree that there are other Catholic U’s to consider if that is what’s desirable. :)</p>

<p>What do your twins like about St. John Fisher and what is important to them outside of academics? </p>

<p>What state are you in?</p>

<p>What are your twin’s stats? GPA and test scores?</p>

4

<p>Rochester is very pretty in the Fall and Spring, but make sure your daughters are aware of the lengthy winters and snow volume in Upstate New York. It is probably wise to visit in winter for deeper appreciation of the weather. If you are from New England, it’s no big transition.</p>

5

<p>Not sure what the draw is there for you. Paul Hewitt, GaTech basketball, is a graduate of St. John Fisher, but other than that I know very little.</p>

<p>Other choices might include LeMoyne, Canisius, Siena, St. Bonaventure, SUNY Buffalo, Niagara.</p>

<p>U Rochester is a superb school but its uber selective.</p>

6

<p>I’m the O.P. To answer severel questions/points raised:</p>

<p>Actually, Fisher is no longer affilitated with the Catholic Church so that is not the draw. We are not looking for a Catholic school, but not opposed to one either. We did visit LeMoyne and didn’t like it. The other schools suggested, besides SUNY Buffalo, have been ruled out for various reasons.</p>

<p>Over a period of months I’ve done an exhaustive (compulsive?) on-line search of schools and have come up with a list of those that have what my daughters want in a school AND are potentialy affordable. Fisher made the final cut and, as I said earlier, we visited campus and were impressed with what we saw and learned.</p>

<p>Yes, cost is a huge factor for us, which is one of the critical reasons we looked at Fisher at the first place. They are generous with merit aid and my daughters’ GPA’s and ACT scores put them in the running for one of the top tier scholarships which should bring cost down into the low 20’s which is what we can afford. There are countless “better” schools my girls could be admitted to but they won’t be applying to due to cost. My definition of better differs from most. Not concerned with prestiege, especially given the fields my girls intend to enter - nursing and elementary teaching. Key criteria, besides cost, are graduation rates and freshman retention rates, both of which Fisher scores well in.</p>

<p>We are aware that the winters could be brutal. One daughter loves the snow and cold for some insane reason. The other, not so much.</p>

<p>Thanks very much for the replies so far. Would still love to hear from some folks familiar with the school.</p>

7

<p>I actually live literally 2 minutes from the Fisher campus so I know a little about it. Like collegehelp said, it has a lot of pre-professional students and it’s big into pharmacy,nursing, business, and teaching (although SUNY Geneseo out-edges it for the best local school for teachers). </p>

<p>A few kids from our school went last year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the student body comprised of mostly kids around the Rochester area, but it definitely is not a commuter school. I actually just checked out the Fisher website and it said 90% of freshman choose to live on campus, so that shouldn’t be a big worry.</p>

<p>Rochester might not be Boston or New York, but there is actually a lot of opportunities for college students to have a good time in the city. Thats mostly because there is quite a few colleges in the immediate area (U of Rochester, RIT, Nazareth College, St. John Fisher). </p>

<p>The immediate area is an affluent residential suburb (Pittsford) outside of Rochester. The village of Pittsford is really quaint and has alot of boutiques near and on the Erie Canal.</p>

<p>The first area you hit in the city from there is East Ave, which has alot of nice restaurants, coffee houses, and live music.</p>

<p>IK alot of Nazareth and Fisher students that student-taught at our school and both schools take advantage of the 3 highly successful high schools in the area (all 3 hover around 70 in the USNWR top High schools). Even if you don’t student teach there, just about all of the suburbs have pretty solid educational systems too. </p>

<p>I would definitely suggest Nazareth as well; I personally think the campus is alot nicer and that it has a higher achieving student body, but the schools compete for alot of the same students.
But if they can get into SUNY Geneseo, that would be an even better option for teaching (IDK about their nursing program). </p>

<p>Besides the dreary weather, I really like Pittsford (and Rochester in general from a broader sense) and think it would be a great place to attend college if I wasn’t already living here.</p>