Written by Caitlyn Fennell
Founded in 1870, Canisius is a Jesuit liberal arts institution that has long been renowned locally and nationally for academic excellence, with the accounting program often ranked as one of the best in the country. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 12 to 1, the collegiate atmosphere is ideal for personalized attention. Canisius professors are on the whole extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and interested in seeing their students succeed. It is very easy to communicate with your professor via email, and, if necessary, set up meeting times if you can't drop by during office hours. Each student is matched with a faculty adviser freshman year. The adviser helps the student with course selection and reviews mid-semester progress reports. A student in the honors program—which has a somewhat different core curriculum and requirements—must meet with an adviser all four years. Students register for classes online in order of seniority. There are occasionally computer mishaps, and because of the emphasis Canisius places on small class sizes, necessary courses are often quickly filled to listed capacity. Students can go to the professor of that class or an adviser to request admittance, but it can be a hassle.
There is also confusion regarding the "Griff Audit," a program that shows what classes you have taken and what classes you need to take for your degree. It is sometimes out-of-date and lacks some course listings. Often, courses can be counted for more than one requirement—particularly if it is an honors one—but the Griff Audit does not always count it as such. Certainly, professors are always available to help you out with such things, but Griff Audit and class registration could use some fine-tuning. The workload at Canisius is rigorous but manageable. Grading is standard letter, though some classes may be taken as pass/fail.