St. John's University-New York

Private · Moderately Selective · NY

Photo: J.P.Ng35 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads9,477

Student:faculty16:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate51.9%

6-yr grad rate66.1%

Drop-out rate21.3%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$53k

Out-of-state tuition$53k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity66.2%

Gender diversity55.2%

International3.5%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

St. John's is a Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition, with its main campus in Queens and additional locations including a Staten Island campus and a long-standing study-abroad campus in Rome. Service to others and care for underserved communities are explicit parts of its mission, following the example of St. Vincent de Paul, and its student body is among the most diverse of any Catholic university in the country.

Academics

Pharmacy and business are the standout professional programs, with the Peter J. Tobin College of Business and the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences drawing students specifically for those tracks; pharmacy is a defined professional program students typically enter early and follow through to licensure. Being embedded in New York City gives many majors easy access to internships across finance, media, and healthcare, and the Rome campus gives undergraduates in other majors a genuine study-abroad option built into the university's own network rather than an outside provider.

Campus & student life

The Queens campus offers a more traditional, contained collegiate feel than most New York City schools, while still putting Manhattan within easy subway reach. Basketball is unusually central to campus identity — the Red Storm play marquee games at Madison Square Garden in addition to home games at the on-campus Carnesecca Arena, named for longtime coach Lou Carnesecca, and it functions as a unifying tradition in a way athletics often doesn't at commuter-heavy urban schools.

Getting in

Admissions is holistic but generally accessible relative to its size, with the Vincentian mission and interest in service sometimes reflected favorably in essays. Pharmacy applicants typically enter a defined professional track from the start, which carries its own more selective admission standard than the general university.

After graduation

New York City placement is a major draw, with strong alumni pipelines into finance and business roles through the Tobin College, and pharmacy graduates entering licensed practice directly. The basketball program also gives the school outsized national visibility relative to its academic profile, which alumni often describe as a genuine point of shared identity.

Worth knowing

The Vincentian, service-oriented mission is a real and visible part of student life, not just branding, so students uninterested in a faith-inflected community focus should know that going in. The Madison Square Garden basketball tradition is a genuine unifying campus event each year.

stjohns.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate83.4%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1150–1340 · ACT 24–29

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying