Canisius College in Buffalo

[Anonymous]

Anyone have any personal experience or information? My daughter isn't a huge fan of cold weather, but the program she wants to study is offered there but not many other colleges.

[Anonymous]

Gosh. Yes, I know it and the surrounding area well. Did DD go to school here in the DC Metro area? I cannot imagine going from here to there and being happy. Going from a tiny town or rural America? Then I could see being happy there. In many ways, Buffalo acts like a small town -- everyone knows each other (if they aren't already related), everyone knows where everyone else prays, everyone eats the same thing (if you don't believe me, I can make a list for you and challenge everyone else on this board to see if there is anything I forgot), everyone goes to Canada for fun, everyone dresses the same (JCPenney's chic), and no one will have heard of your DD's high school. UB would be a better choice if you had had had to be in Buffalo, but honestly I would go almost anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

What's the program and career goal?

[Anonymous]

Is she interested in the Animal Behavior program? We are in the DMV, have visited and DC is probably applying to Canisius because of this program (it is well regarded and draws students from around the US). Agree it is a small town and small college but that is fine by my kid (only applying to small except for DC required by parents in-state choice) and the weather doesn't bother DC (our family has lived other colder places). Gets good reviews from locals and one child from my elder DC high school class is now there as a student athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is she interested in the Animal Behavior program? We are in the DMV, have visited and DC is probably applying to Canisius because of this program (it is well regarded and draws students from around the US). Agree it is a small town and small college but that is fine by my kid (only applying to small except for DC required by parents in-state choice) and the weather doesn't bother DC (our family has lived other colder places). Gets good reviews from locals and one child from my elder DC high school class is now there as a student athlete.

Yes! She is very interested in the Animal Behavior/Ethology program. We are from Upstate NY so it wouldn't be that much of a shock. She is a rural kid at heart. The cold may be alot for her! She wants to work in animal research or with animals as a career so it seems like a great program.

What other colleges have you toured? We toured Bucknell, F&M and I think she was interested in Eckerd (which would be much warmer)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh. Yes, I know it and the surrounding area well. Did DD go to school here in the DC Metro area? I cannot imagine going from here to there and being happy. Going from a tiny town or rural America? Then I could see being happy there. In many ways, Buffalo acts like a small town -- everyone knows each other (if they aren't already related), everyone knows where everyone else prays, everyone eats the same thing (if you don't believe me, I can make a list for you and challenge everyone else on this board to see if there is anything I forgot), everyone goes to Canada for fun, everyone dresses the same (JCPenney's chic), and no one will have heard of your DD's high school. UB would be a better choice if you had had had to be in Buffalo, but honestly I would go almost anywhere else.

I lol’ed.

[Anonymous]

I met a very enthusiastic graduate on the train once. She had been very happy there.

[Anonymous]

Can't speak to Canisius itself, but Buffalo's a lively, distinctive, reviving city with a lot of college students, and Canisius is a short walk from downtown and from the great Elmwood Village neighborhood (and basically across the street from Buffalo's equivalent of Central Park). It's certainly a vastly more entertaining place to go to school than say Williamstown MA or Hanover NH or Middlebury VT or Waterville ME (to name just a few god-awful nothing towns that DCUMs have no qualms about sending their kids to). Or than Lewisburg and Lancaster PA. Yes, there's snow - presumably something you're not unfamiliar with coming from upstate -- but the average-high winter temps in Buffalo are actually a bit higher than in other Great Lakes cities like Ann Arbor or Madison or Minneapolis. Besides, when did college students become as fragile as my grandmother?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh. Yes, I know it and the surrounding area well. Did DD go to school here in the DC Metro area? I cannot imagine going from here to there and being happy. Going from a tiny town or rural America? Then I could see being happy there. In many ways, Buffalo acts like a small town -- everyone knows each other (if they aren't already related), everyone knows where everyone else prays, everyone eats the same thing (if you don't believe me, I can make a list for you and challenge everyone else on this board to see if there is anything I forgot), everyone goes to Canada for fun, everyone dresses the same (JCPenney's chic), and no one will have heard of your DD's high school. UB would be a better choice if you had had had to be in Buffalo, but honestly I would go almost anywhere else.

I lol’ed.

I ::
But I assume on any given day that if I met this poster, she would think I'm Target Chic

[Anonymous]

I went to Graduate school at Canisius and am from the city. It's very cute to see people call the 2nd largest city in New York State with a population of 257 thousand a "small town". The Animal Behavior program is extremely well known nationwide and yes, everyone knows everyone else in Buffalo but that's a good thing. Canisius is a small school (FYI the main buildings on campus are all connected by tunnels so you don't even have to go outside in winter or even bring a jacket to class on most days) and I found the faculty and administration to be amazingly supportive- they went above and beyond to help me with some challenging issues that made it extremely tough to continue my degree and I was able to finish up without issue. It's had enrollment struggles before and because there are many local students they don't always fill the dorms but they have an incredibly strong reputation in Western New York and are well connected in Buffalo. Buffalo is an incredible place to live- if you like watching sports in particular. It's experienced a real renaissance and there are lot of very cool places to spend time for concerts, festivals etc. It does tend to be quite gloomy in the winter because of it's place on the Lake and the grey, dreary days can really get to you...but the "nice" season between snow from mid-April to late September (well, sometimes mid-September. It depends) is really amazing. Buffalo doesn't actually get all that cold (part of why it gets so much snow) but I suppose it's all relative. Canisius is close to some very good parts of town but also to some bad parts of town, about 3 or 4 blocks behind campus things start to get a little dicey but there aren't issues on campus. It might feel like a small town, yes, but it's an urban campus and students need to be aware of that.
From the perspective of a Canisius alum, Canisius keeps getting better and better and it's wonderful to see that. When I think of Canisius, I think of a warm, friendly place. I think of running into a professor form semesters before in Old Main and chatting with them and before you know it 30 minutes has gone by. It's a gem of a little school, and I recommend it highly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she interested in the Animal Behavior program? We are in the DMV, have visited and DC is probably applying to Canisius because of this program (it is well regarded and draws students from around the US). Agree it is a small town and small college but that is fine by my kid (only applying to small except for DC required by parents in-state choice) and the weather doesn't bother DC (our family has lived other colder places). Gets good reviews from locals and one child from my elder DC high school class is now there as a student athlete.

Yes! She is very interested in the Animal Behavior/Ethology program. We are from Upstate NY so it wouldn't be that much of a shock. She is a rural kid at heart. The cold may be alot for her! She wants to work in animal research or with animals as a career so it seems like a great program.

What other colleges have you toured? We toured Bucknell, F&M and I think she was interested in Eckerd (which would be much warmer)

F&M is also on DC list and we visited. In your area (NE) Wheaton and University of New England have programs in AB. We are only looking in the NE/DMV area and then DC far western schools are within 1 hour of Chicago. So nothing South. Eckerd is on the list for AB but not in the geographical area we're looking at. If you look up AB degree programs I think Florida Institute of Tech comes up with it being a part of their psych department. My DC is not interested in the science/research aspect but the behavior/psych aspect so you might expand to Animal Science degree programs as these might bring in a few more schools and still be up your daughter's alley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she interested in the Animal Behavior program? We are in the DMV, have visited and DC is probably applying to Canisius because of this program (it is well regarded and draws students from around the US). Agree it is a small town and small college but that is fine by my kid (only applying to small except for DC required by parents in-state choice) and the weather doesn't bother DC (our family has lived other colder places). Gets good reviews from locals and one child from my elder DC high school class is now there as a student athlete.

Yes! She is very interested in the Animal Behavior/Ethology program. We are from Upstate NY so it wouldn't be that much of a shock. She is a rural kid at heart. The cold may be alot for her! She wants to work in animal research or with animals as a career so it seems like a great program.

What other colleges have you toured? We toured Bucknell, F&M and I think she was interested in Eckerd (which would be much warmer)

F&M is also on DC list and we visited. In your area (NE) Wheaton and University of New England have programs in AB. We are only looking in the NE/DMV area and then DC far western schools are within 1 hour of Chicago. So nothing South. Eckerd is on the list for AB but not in the geographical area we're looking at. If you look up AB degree programs I think Florida Institute of Tech comes up with it being a part of their psych department. My DC is not interested in the science/research aspect but the behavior/psych aspect so you might expand to Animal Science degree programs as these might bring in a few more schools and still be up your daughter's alley.

We looked at Bucknell, F&M and Eckerd for my son who would like to study Animal Behavior. This is a great post! I’m glad there are others interested in the same degree.

[Anonymous]

It's very cute to see people call the 2nd largest city in New York State with a population of 257 thousand a "small town".

Actually, metro Buffalo's population is 1.2 million.

But what can you expect from DCUM types who think Bethesda's faux downtown is the height of urban sophistication?

[Anonymous]

DS is a first year at Eckerd, though not for Animal Studies. It's a relatively new program, and from what I can tell, the focus is mainly on animal behavior--more psychology than biology. If that focus and a warmer climate are appealing, I would encourage your DC to take a closer look. There are a lot of internship and research opportunities for students in that discipline in the immediately surrounding area. Students come from all 50 states and overseas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is a first year at Eckerd, though not for Animal Studies. It's a relatively new program, and from what I can tell, the focus is mainly on animal behavior--more psychology than biology. If that focus and a warmer climate are appealing, I would encourage your DC to take a closer look. There are a lot of internship and research opportunities for students in that discipline in the immediately surrounding area. Students come from all 50 states and overseas.

We watched the Eckerd virtual tour and my DC is worried about shared bathrooms. I realize this is a ridiculous concern but when watching virtual tours is all she has to go on right now (we will visit top choices), I understand.

Anyway info from your first year student? Is it okay? LOL. Don't flame me.