<p>DS is looking at schools which are smaller and not too distant from western new york. I think we should look at St. Bonaventure, but DH keeps saying “Olean?!” with utter disdain. Since DS considers Geneseo a good possibility, I don’t think town is the highest priority. What does anyone have to say about Bony?</p>
<p>My son was accepted there. Didn’t go there but it was a school that made his list and he did not apply to any that he did not like. I have another who applied and was accepted at Geneseo, and I agree that the towns are not that unalike.</p>
<p>A visit could make the difference. On paper, Bucknell, Dickinson and Gettysburg are very similar. Son loved G, liked D and disliked B. The location of B was an issue. Too isolated from a “decent” town. D is downtown Carlisle rather than out in the boonies. Gettysburg has a vibrant, tourist town outside a magnificent, spacious campus. Bucknell is outside of a suburb that didn’t have a thing my son liked. Another student we know transferred from B for that reason. Couldn’t stand the location. Yet B was a top choice for my oldest who applied to St B. I would visit and get the feel of the location. That was the only way that my current high school junior can get an idea of the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Has S visited Geneseo? In other words, are you sure it’s not the size of the town?</p>
<p>Or is it that Geneseo is much more selective at least in terms of SAT/ACT scores?</p>
<p>Geneseo’s 25-75% SAT range is: 610-700 CR and 630-690 MAT.
Bonaventure’s 25-75% SAT range is: 460-560 CR and 460-570 MAT.</p>
<p>Could it also be that while your son wants smallish, he doesn’t want tiny? Geneseo has about 5500 undergrads while St. Bonaventure has just under 2000 undergrads.</p>
<p>If the size or town is the issue with St. Bonnie, then S might want to look at Niagara U and Canisius. Both are bigger than St. Bonnie, with about 3200 students each. Niagara’s SAT range is just about the same as St. Bonnie; Canisius is a bit stronger in that regard.</p>
<p>Any reason why St Bon rather than other schools in that category? NY has many such schools. A lot of smaller SUNYs, Catholic schools like St Bon, as robinsue mentions, and some private colleges as well. Hartwick, Hobart William Smith, St Lawrence, Union, Hamilton, Manhattanville, Manhattan, Sienna, Marist,… the list goes on. </p>
<p>Since he is not happy about St Bon before even visiting it, and yet receptive to Geneseo, I get the feeling that Robinsue has a valid point. He may be saying it is the town that is the issue, but it could be the school itself. Not enough name recognition, too tiny, not as strong academically.</p>
<p>Bonaventure’s 25-75% SAT range is: 460-560 CR and 460-570 MAT.</p>
<p>If Bony gives big merit, then your son would have a good chance there for a scholarship.</p>
<p>There are other schools that might also give good merit. Marist (which isn’t technically Catholic anymore), Canisius, Manhattan, St. Lawrence, Seton Hall, etc are some other possible schools. </p>
<p>I would look into all the small Catholic schools that have mid 50 ranges that are below your son’s stats to get the most merit offers.</p>
<p>Good point Mom2collegekids. My oldest got his only money offer from St Bon. Not a dime from any other schools.</p>
<p>It’s not S that has a problem with Bonaventure, but my husband - whose problem seems to be the location, rather than the school. We also have on our list Canisius, Niagara, St. John Fisher, Gannon, and Duquesne, in the “Catholic” category, in addition to some other privates and Geneseo as the only public. It seems as though Bonaventure admits pretty much everyone, but given the location, I don’t take that as necessarily a reflection on the overall quality.</p>
<p>We have visited Geneseo and Gannon, and he has been at both Canisius and Niagara in the past, although we are going to hit them for official tours soon.</p>
<p>Take a look at the school and see how it compares. If you like it and it offers some $s, you might want to do a value judgment on the school. We have friends whose D was not hot on Gannon for a number of reasons. A bad visit on a rainy, nasty day with everything going wrong did not help. When the acceptances came, G offered a great package. With that in hand, a second visit doing a real “kick the tires” and looking at the prices vs value was done. The young lady decided on her own to go there.</p>
<p>My youngest’s headmaster’s D went to Providence College after a similar fact finding mission armed with an offer. BC was her dream school She got in with a $55K bill in hand. Providence has a very nice financial package. A weekend visit made up her mind with no pressure from the parents who had decided they would borrow to send her to BC. </p>
<p>Geneseo is selective, so you may want to add another SUNY like Albany, New Paltz, or other as a state school option.</p>
<p>sylvan,</p>
<p>All the schools except for Bonnie and Geneseo are in real cities—yes, the cities are not huge, major metropolitan areas like NYC, but Buffalo, Rochester, and Pittsburgh are all really pretty big and Niagra Falls and Erie are way too big to be considered small towns.</p>
<p>So maybe H is worried about town size–even for Geneseo. But he believes (or at least hopes) that Geneseo’s reputation as the best of the SUNY colleges (and one of the two or three best of all SUNYs, including the university centers) would be worth the isolation. Maybe he also believes that the size of SUNY-Geneseo is big enough to ensure that campus has lots to do both academically and socially and that also makes up for the isolation?</p>
<p>In other words, maybe H thinks that Niagara, St. John Fisher, and Gannon are all acceptable because what they “lack” in SAT scores/selectivity, they make up by being a school that’s large enough to not be “tiny” and are located in a place that’s large enough to be interesting to live in. Duquesne and Canisius are a bit more selective than these schools, although not as selective as Geneseo based on SAT scores, and are also in nice sized metro areas. All five of these schools have roughly 3000-5500 students, compared to Bonnie’s 2000.</p>
<p>So maybe Geneseo is acceptable to your H <em>in</em> <em>spite</em> of it being in a small, rural town simply because Geneseo is the most selective of the colleges, is large enough to not worry about academic opportunties, AND is the cheapest if you are NYS residents. In other words, if Geneseo had the same kind of stats that the other schools have or was as small as Bonnie, would H veto Geneseo too?</p>
<p>In other words, maybe “Olean–yuck” is your H’s short hand for: Bonnie is too small AND too isolated AND not selective enough?</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, the religious studies programs at the state schools consist of rather weak minors, even Geneseo, which is a negative there. Some don’t even offer minors.</p>
<p>Look at Grove City and York in Pa.</p>
<p>Don’t know if Quinnipiac has a religious studies program, but that is a school that gets some good reviews around here. So do Providence, Stonehill and Sienna.</p>
<p>Also, though UPitt is a big school and does not have a campus, my son really liked it. It gets top marks for atmosphere, and how he really felt at home. We do have to look at it more carefully in terms of the attention he would get, and other issues, but for now, it is high on his list despite the size and being in a city without being enclosed. I mention it because if you visit Duquesne, it would be a quick trip to see Pitt. It also has religion majors, I know, because my SIL’s niece is majoring in that and going there this year. She too loved the school. It was her first choice.</p>