beast of the east
Active member
I was thinking about all of our talk over time about SJU being a safety school, and how it is a lower tier school, and came to this realization:
I grew up in Queens. I wasn't the first in my family to graduate college, although only one of my aunts did, and very few of my cousins at the time. I was, however the first to graduate from a private university (SJU). I was pretty bright, having skipped a year of high school, and had an opportunity to skip another, but figured i didn't want graduate HS at 16 years, 1 month. So I stayed another.
I started at a CUNY school, and transferred because of a major offered only at SJU. Considering all of our complaining now, I have to tell you, there wasn't a thought or an opportunity to go an IVY, or any other private university - completely unaffordfable and not even on my radar of contemplation. Not that it mattered. I was thrilled to step foot on campus for the first time at SJU, and felt privileged to be part of SJU every day of my student existence. Unlike my CUNY school, which had a large non-Catholic population, I felt totally at home at SJU. At my CUNY school, if you missed a bio lecture, no one would give you notes - one kid telling me, it's better if you fail because they grade on a curve here. At SJU, I made many friends, and I found the social envirnoment among students to be warm, supporting, and caring. It didn't matter if I was in the gym playing hours of free gym basketball, at a frat table, or in class, it was a great environment.
Like most students, I didn't think much of faculty, but when one of my parents got very sick and passed away, my profs and dean couldn't have been nicer. One very tough and very disliked professor took me aside and threw out two or three exam grades at the end of the semester. When I asked him why, he said, "How could I expect you even think about school under those circumstances?" A few years later when he was struggling for tenure and I worked at SJU, I put in a good word for him with the dean. The associate dean called me in, and told me she would do everything she could to help me get through the semester. I thanked her profusely, and she said, "You're italian, so am I, when times are tough we stick together." I don't really think she cared about my ehtnicity, she just cared and used a common ethnicity as an explanation. I still think warmly of her to this day.
My friends at St. John's are still my closest buddies Many went to law school, some head corporations, and most are successful in whatever they are doing, big or small, or just as family people. Hardly any sent their own kids to St. John's. It's not surprising - they were really bright, some brilliant, and they can afford to send their qualified kids to better schools. It doesn't diminish St. John's, what is was then or now.
My point is, thinking about this, is that SJU was a fantastic experience for me. Without SJU I wouldn't have the degrees I have now, nor had the success I had in my career. And way beyond that, I wouldn't have the same set of terrific friends who I wouldn't trade for the world.
Enough for now.
I grew up in Queens. I wasn't the first in my family to graduate college, although only one of my aunts did, and very few of my cousins at the time. I was, however the first to graduate from a private university (SJU). I was pretty bright, having skipped a year of high school, and had an opportunity to skip another, but figured i didn't want graduate HS at 16 years, 1 month. So I stayed another.
I started at a CUNY school, and transferred because of a major offered only at SJU. Considering all of our complaining now, I have to tell you, there wasn't a thought or an opportunity to go an IVY, or any other private university - completely unaffordfable and not even on my radar of contemplation. Not that it mattered. I was thrilled to step foot on campus for the first time at SJU, and felt privileged to be part of SJU every day of my student existence. Unlike my CUNY school, which had a large non-Catholic population, I felt totally at home at SJU. At my CUNY school, if you missed a bio lecture, no one would give you notes - one kid telling me, it's better if you fail because they grade on a curve here. At SJU, I made many friends, and I found the social envirnoment among students to be warm, supporting, and caring. It didn't matter if I was in the gym playing hours of free gym basketball, at a frat table, or in class, it was a great environment.
Like most students, I didn't think much of faculty, but when one of my parents got very sick and passed away, my profs and dean couldn't have been nicer. One very tough and very disliked professor took me aside and threw out two or three exam grades at the end of the semester. When I asked him why, he said, "How could I expect you even think about school under those circumstances?" A few years later when he was struggling for tenure and I worked at SJU, I put in a good word for him with the dean. The associate dean called me in, and told me she would do everything she could to help me get through the semester. I thanked her profusely, and she said, "You're italian, so am I, when times are tough we stick together." I don't really think she cared about my ehtnicity, she just cared and used a common ethnicity as an explanation. I still think warmly of her to this day.
My friends at St. John's are still my closest buddies Many went to law school, some head corporations, and most are successful in whatever they are doing, big or small, or just as family people. Hardly any sent their own kids to St. John's. It's not surprising - they were really bright, some brilliant, and they can afford to send their qualified kids to better schools. It doesn't diminish St. John's, what is was then or now.
My point is, thinking about this, is that SJU was a fantastic experience for me. Without SJU I wouldn't have the degrees I have now, nor had the success I had in my career. And way beyond that, I wouldn't have the same set of terrific friends who I wouldn't trade for the world.
Enough for now.
