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School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Siena University is a Franciscan Catholic institution in Loudonville, New York, just outside Albany. It's known for a friendly, service-oriented campus culture shaped directly by the Franciscan friars who still live and teach on campus, rather than a Catholic identity that's purely historical.
Academics
Business and pre-health and science preparation are Siena's strongest programs, supported by a Franciscan liberal-arts core that emphasizes ethics and service alongside the major. Small classes and close faculty access are consistent with its identity as a teaching-focused institution rather than a research university.
Campus & student life
The friars' continued presence on campus is a defining, tangible feature of student life, not a historical footnote; students interact with them as professors, mentors, and campus residents. Division I basketball gives the small school a following well beyond its size, drawing local Albany-area attention in a way its academic profile alone wouldn't.
Getting in
Siena reviews holistically, and while it isn't highly selective, essays that reflect genuine interest in its Franciscan values of service and community are noticed, consistent with a mission-driven small Catholic college rather than a purely academic filter.
Worth knowing
The renaming from Siena College to Siena University reflects the addition of graduate programs, but the undergraduate experience, small, Franciscan, basketball-proud, remains the institution's core identity.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
siena.edu ↗High school coursework
Recommended4 years of English · 4 years of mathematics · 4 years of science · 4 years of history/social studies · 3 years of a world language · (19 total academic units; other combinations acceptable)
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