School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
St. Bonaventure University is a Franciscan Catholic university in the Allegheny foothills of western New York, small enough that the whole campus operates with a genuine sense of familiarity, and shaped throughout by Franciscan values of hospitality and community that students and alumni consistently describe as the school's defining character.
Academics
The Jandoli School of Communication carries a journalism and media reputation well beyond what the university's size would suggest, with strong alumni placement in sports and broadcast journalism in particular; business and the health sciences are also solid, consistent draws.
Campus & student life
The rural western New York setting keeps the campus tightly self-contained, and Bonnies men's basketball functions as a genuine unifying force for the student body in a way that's unusually strong for a school this size — games are a communal event, not a niche interest. Franciscan-rooted service and community traditions run through campus life more broadly.
Getting in
Admission is holistic and personal, consistent with the university's small size and Franciscan emphasis on individual attention — this is a school where an applicant's fit and character come through in the review, not just numbers.
After graduation
The Jandoli journalism program in particular has an outsized alumni presence in national sports and broadcast media, and the broader alumni network is known for staying closely engaged with the university, reflective of the close community feel of the campus itself.
Worth knowing
The combination of small size, Franciscan warmth, and a genuinely strong journalism pipeline is a distinctive package — a student considering media careers should know Bonaventure's reputation there exceeds what its size or name recognition would suggest.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
sbu.edu ↗High school coursework
Recommended4 years of English · 4 years of social studies/history · 3 years of mathematics · 3 years of laboratory science · 2 years of foreign language
Your fit, with your own numbers
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