April 29, 2017
St. John’s 2017 Accepted Student Day on April 8 recorded the largest turnout in the event’s history. Accompanied by their parents and other family members, more than 2,000 high school students visited the Queens campus, speaking with administrators and counselors, taking tours, and meeting current students at activities that included a barbecue on the Great Lawn.
Accepted Student Day offers admitted students a personal introduction to the advantages of attending St. John’s. The event showcases resources such as residence halls, classroom buildings, and recreational facilities. This year’s activities included music, performances by the University’s dance team, a photo booth, and the chance to meet representatives of 70 student clubs and organizations.
Guests were also able to tour the new home of The Peter J. Tobin College of Business. The facility includes 11 state-of-the-art classrooms; the Lesley and William Collins Business Analytics Lab, made possible by a generous gift from alumni Lesley H. ’83SVC and William L. Collins ’76C, ’12HON; and the Paul and Carol Evanson Career Services Center, established through the generosity of Carol and Paul Evanson ’63CBA.
Student Ambassadors joined Conrado “Bobby” Gempesaw, Ph.D., President of St. John’s, in welcoming the visitors. At Carnesecca Arena, Dr. Gempesaw hosted a formal presentation highlighting some of the latest news about the University. For the class that will enter this fall, St. John’s received 27,000 applications, with an anticipated enrollment of more than 3,000 students. The average SAT score of accepted students is 1200, and the average high school GPA is 90. In addition, the accepted students represented 49 states and 83 foreign countries.
Career placement prospects for St. John’s students are excellent, Dr. Gempesaw added. In 2016, 94.3 percent of new graduates secured jobs or were accepted to graduate programs within six months of receiving their degrees. He noted that more than 150,000 of the over 178,000 SJU alumni live and work in the greater New York metropolitan area, providing a substantial base for networking.
“At St. John’s, our job is not just to enroll and recruit students,” Dr. Gempesaw said. “Our number one priority is to help them graduate to a successful career.”
The Staten Island campus held its own Accepted Student Day on April 22, and guests were welcomed by James O’Keefe, Ph.D., Vice Provost. “Here on the Staten Island campus,” he said, “our students experience the intimate and personal side of a major, world-class university.”