In high school when I was deciding where I wanted to go to college, one of the first things I added to my list was to be at a small school. I am not the type of person who does well in a 300-person lecture (power to you if you can). This is one of the main reasons I chose to attend St. Bonaventure. There is an overwhelming amount of benefits to choosing a small school; increased opportunities to be chosen for a club, getting a job, and getting to really know your professors.
With all this being said— there are definite downsides. Have you ever felt like avoiding someone for any reason? Well, welcome to Bonas— you’re not going to be able to. Awkward interactions in the dining hall, academic buildings and gym are inevitable (but make you better at confrontation). There have been many times when I’m walking by someone who I had a drunken conversation with the weekend before and not knowing how to react. Do I say hi? Do I not? Not to mention seeing someone after a nasty breakup—those interactions are never fun. Typically, a lot of these situations are not as awkward as we think they will be, but it is easy to overthink them.
Going to a small school also means that your classes are going to be around the same number of students as your classes in high school. There isn’t a sea of students to cover up the fact that you skipped your 8:30 a.m. because you couldn’t bring yourself to get out of bed that early. Group work, along with group projects, are also a huge part of being in small classes. The key to dealing with this is making sure you get a partner or group that you know will actually do the work, you don’t want to be stuck doing everything by yourself. You also really get to know people in your major because you typically end up having a lot of classes with them, so you always know who to go to if you’re confused about an assignment and the professor isn’t great at emailing back right away.
On top of going to a school the same size as a large high school, we don’t have an ideal location. Students here joke about being in the “Bona bubble,” but in all reality, the bubble is too real. To put it another way, I wouldn’t recommend visiting Olean, NY to a friend unless you were visiting St Bonaventure. There’s not too much to do around here unless you’re going to the OP on a Saturday night with your friends (or unless you count Walmart as fun).
With all this being said, there is no place I’d rather be than here. St Bonaventure is a one of a kind school with such kind and loving people— it’s hard to think that I’ll have to leave this place someday.