Catholic at an Ivy League College?

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My daughter attends a Catholic high school half the day and then an accelerated math and science center the other half.
I thought we could avoid this question for a couple more years, but the math and science center is having them as freshmen start researching colleges and preparing for the application process. Most of the students at this math and science center attend very competitive schools, many in the Ivy League.

So yesterday my daughter said she was interested in Yale. I had been thinking I wanted her to go to a Catholic college, but I don’t want to deny her the possibilities for her future that she might obtain by attending an Ivy League school. None of these advantages would be worth the loss of her soul, of course.

So my question is: Is it possible and/or probable that a young adult could attend a school like Yale and remain a faithful Catholic? Are the Catholic campus organizations strong enough to help the students remain on the right path? :confused:

A related question if you are familar with the Newman Guide: Are any of the schools in the Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College also competitive academically? Or does one have to make a choice of one or the other? I know the Newman Society does not recommend Notre Dame, which seems like the most likely compromise.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. :o
 
I went to a Lutheran college. Not ivy league, but still a really really good school.

Most schools with any religious affiliation have some sort of Catholic organization. And, at least at my college, we had to take a Biblical History class which was really interesting.

Plus, there is usually a lot of non-denom stuff that isn’t being used to “recruit.” I did Bible studies, YoungLife, etc that just celebrate God and faith.

I wouldn’t worry about it. I didn’t apply to a single Catholic school just because I wasn’t interested in any of them after I went to visit.
 
I can’t speak to Yale, but I’m in grad school at Notre Dame and so far it doesn’t “feel” very Catholic to me. Most of the students I have met seem not to care that it is a Catholic school…they care more about the prestige of it or “my dad went here, so I’m here too.” However, I am with grad students who are mostly not Catholic and I don’t really have the time or opportunity to link up with other faithful Catholics. I am sure if your daughter were to come here she would find her niche more easily. There are many opportunities to grow in faith for the students who will take advantage of them!

I wish I could find the link, but I read Dawn Eden’s blog (she is a chastity speaker and writer) and I remember her blogging about the Anscombe society, which is a pro-chastity organization at Princeton. She has given talks at Yale during their “Sex Week” and several clubs were mentioned as sponsoring her talk. That could be a possible place for your daughter to find support. Here are Dawn’s blog entries about her Yale visit.
dawneden.blogspot.com/search/label/Sex%20Week%20at%20Yale

I got into a few “top tier” schools but ended up going to the state university for financial reasons. I have to say it was a very good fit for me! Not as much “prestige” (whatever that means), but I also had a full scholarship so I was able to graduate debt-free. The Catholic Student Association there was also wonderful, and Sunday Mass was very well attended. The campus minister estimated that about 2/3 of the Catholic students there attended Mass every Sunday, which is impressive. My degree from Podunk U doesn’t seem to have bothered the admissions committee at Notre Dame, either. 😃

If your daughter is strong in her faith, I think she’ll be fine. I think it’s the poorly catechized and/or lukewarm kids that tend to fall away in college. Who knows, she might end up being an amateur apologist. 🙂 My two cents: look for the college that is a good fit for her, financially, academically, and spiritually.
 
Oh, we also had a sex week, but there was a whole day devoted to abstinence education.

Most Catholic colleges aren’t very Catholic at all.

I think it is most important to pick a school where one feels challenged and likes the atmosphere.
 
Some years ago an embarrassing study showed that it was not GOING to an Ivy League school that made you successful but having the ability to get into an Ivy League school that was decisive in a person’s success.

That said, there is just about no college in America (other than places like Ave Maria or Thomas Aquinas) where you are “safe” from the anti-Christian climate of our time and place. I have a young friend who is doing very well at Harvard – President of the Harvard Pro-Life Club, if I recall.

Some of these high powered schools have a strong Catholic underground.

PM me if you want to get in contact with this Harvard girl.
 
Check out the Intercollegiate Studies Institute college guide:

isi.org/college_guide/index.aspx

This guide has a mix of religious and secular colleges, with a detailed profile of each one, written for religiously-minded or conservatively-minded students.

I have found that the information in this guide matches my own experiences.

For the most part, the schools reviewed in this guide are academically competitive.
 
I went to Trinity [Hartford] and Yale, but that was 50 years ago so my experience may not be too helpful. At that time there were good Catholic clubs at both - A Newman club at Trinity and I forget the name of the one at Yale.

The Yale experience was in the Graduate School so may not be relevant to the undergraduate. Note that Yale just broke its affiliation with the United Church of Christ, which is not conservative by any measure, in order to have less orthodoxy in its religion.

On the other hand my Trinity was Episcopalian [They have pretty much eliminated that now.] at the time while Nancy Pelosi went to the Catholic Trinity in Washington. :rolleyes:
 
If she’s that good and has the opportunity, I’d say, GO TO YALE!!!

Seriously, I had the opportunity to go to a Catholic university on a good scholarship. I ended up choosing a non-Catholic one. Why?
  1. The Catholic university did not have an IR program, which is what I wanted (and what I’m doing ;))
  2. It was slightly secluded and I wanted to be in the city.
  3. I had a feeling my faith would get stronger at a non-Catholic school.
  4. The non-Catholic school had a better education and career connections.
I think saying that going to a certain school makes you a bad Catholic is simplistic. I know many devout Catholics at my school (two of whom are discerning the convent, another of whom taught me how a man should treat me by his own example) and many devout people of other faiths. I believe that if you’re strong in your faith, college won’t change that. And it’s made me a witness to people. And not only that, non-Catholics need to see an example of Catholicism.

I’ll be praying for your daughter’s college search:)
 
I am one of six children and all my brothers and sisters went to Catholic universities while I went to a top-tier, secular college. And in the end, some of them got “derailed” at their Catholic college and went to becoming a C/E Catholic (Christmas and Easter) to out and out leaving the Church. I remained a practicing Catholic throughout college despite the fact it was not a Catholic school.

The lesson I’ve learned from my family’s experience – it’s not the school, it’s the person. If someone is committed to being a faithful Catholic then they will be despite their environment. If their faith is weakening, a Catholic college probably won’t make too much of a difference to bring them back. I’m just throwing this out there, but I would say that there is probably a 2% difference in the day-to-day life of a student between a Catholic and secular college.

I believe I heard on ETWN radio about a book that discusses how to remain Catholic in college (I don’t remember the name). I say assign some books about the Catholic faith as a little summer reading and send them off to the best school you can. However, don’t go to a top school because it is an Ivy-league school. Your daughter has to find the school that will be the best fit.
 
PrayHarder said:
I believe I heard on ETWN radio about a book that discusses how to remain Catholic in college (I don’t remember the name). I say assign some books about the Catholic faith as a little summer reading and send them off to the best school you can. However, don’t go to a top school because it is an Ivy-league school. Your daughter has to find the school that will be the best fit.
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Reading about everyone’s experience really helped. I have heard of the book you mention and should get a copy. Also, it was either on EWTN or Catholic Answers Live that I had heard a priest talking who said that (I’m paraphrasing) sending your child to a non-Catholic college was basically like sending them to the devil and that they WILL lose their faith almost guaranteed. So I think that made me a little bit paranoid! 😉

I looked at the isi.org link that someone else mentioned and that looks very helpful too.
 
There will very likely be good Catholic support around the Yale community or any of the Ivy League schools.

At some point, your daughter is just going to have to go out into the world and make her own way and her adherence to her religion will be down to her.
 
AnotherChance said:
My daughter attends a Catholic high school half the day and then an accelerated math and science center the other half.
I thought we could avoid this question for a couple more years, but the math and science center is having them as freshmen start researching colleges and preparing for the application process. Most of the students at this math and science center attend very competitive schools, many in the Ivy League.

So yesterday my daughter said she was interested in Yale. I had been thinking I wanted her to go to a Catholic college, but I don’t want to deny her the possibilities for her future that she might obtain by attending an Ivy League school. None of these advantages would be worth the loss of her soul, of course.

So my question is: Is it possible and/or probable that a young adult could attend a school like Yale and remain a faithful Catholic? Are the Catholic campus organizations strong enough to help the students remain on the right path? :confused:

A related question if you are familar with the Newman Guide: Are any of the schools in the Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College also competitive academically? Or does one have to make a choice of one or the other? I know the Newman Society does not recommend Notre Dame, which seems like the most likely compromise.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. :o
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I am a Notre Dame student, and I say it all the time–Notre Dame is the only religious school in the top 20 US News rankings that still cares at all about its religious mission/affiliation. Your daughter would probably do quite well here, not only academically but in her faith life. Notre Dame has much to offer–whether or not we are endorsed by the Newman Guide.

Definitely keep ND in mind for the future! Feel free to PM me w/ any more particular questions related to Catholic identity here…

(Side note: I was interviewed for the Newman Guide and am very familiar with the issues they bring up re: Notre Dame in their book. The gist of it, from my perspective–yes, we have our problems. But that doesn’t mean we’re not Catholic, or that a Catholic student who comes here is going to be ‘led astray’. The faith life on campus is quite active, and one doesn’t need to look hard to find many opportunities.)
 
HOPEFUL_IN_UK said:
There will very likely be good Catholic support around the Yale community or any of the Ivy League schools.

At some point, your daughter is just going to have to go out into the world and make her own way and her adherence to her religion will be down to her.
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I agree with this. I know many faithful Catholics at the Ivy League. She just needs to go visit and see whether the atmosphere is ‘for her’. My college counselors suggested Yale to me as well–not sure I could have gotten in, but apart from that I really felt put off by the environment. Very cutthroat competition, a general lack of community, and all the worst problems of secular academia…
 
I’m not from the States, but I went to one of the Ivy League counterparts here, which wasn’t a Catholic one, and it all turned out well. There are people who went to a Catholic one in this same city and they weren’t practising Catholics. Still, right at my uni, I was able to take a fully credited course in the social teaching of the Catholic Church, for example. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t a strong liberal presence or even anti-clerical elements, but the atmosphere was very civilised and no one was after anyone. Just need to find the right university and keep the priorities straight. 😉
 
My younger daughter attended a Catholic high school in an “accelerated” program, and became the first female from her school to be accepted at an Ivy League school (Cornell). She just graduated from Cornell with honors and is now doing grad work at Georgetown. OK, enough with the proud papa bit. As far as her faith, if your daughter is properly prepared, grounded, and motivated, she should be OK. My daughter was an RA for 2 years and would shepherd her Catholic kids from her dorm to Mass Sunday evenings.

Some of the Ivy’s might be more aggressively secular than others, don’t know. But in contrast, my older daughter went to a (nominally) “Catholic college” in Connecticut, and I was stunned at how poorly the school reflected any real Catholic values. And she became a “C/E Catholic” sadly.

As an earlier poster said, it’s not the school, it’s the person. And the family too. Good luck.
 
I talked to one of my Catholic friends who attended Yale.

He says that Yale is much better than it used to be. 10 years ago, the Catholic scene at Yale revolved around an extremely liberal Catholic student center that didn’t do much to ground students in their faith. Since then, the Catholic student center has gotten better, and is now something that an orthodox Catholic might consider.

For more traditionally minded Catholics, there is a Dominican parish off campus that ministers to students.
AnotherChance said:
My daughter attends a Catholic high school half the day and then an accelerated math and science center the other half.
I thought we could avoid this question for a couple more years, but the math and science center is having them as freshmen start researching colleges and preparing for the application process. Most of the students at this math and science center attend very competitive schools, many in the Ivy League.

So yesterday my daughter said she was interested in Yale. I had been thinking I wanted her to go to a Catholic college, but I don’t want to deny her the possibilities for her future that she might obtain by attending an Ivy League school. None of these advantages would be worth the loss of her soul, of course.

So my question is: Is it possible and/or probable that a young adult could attend a school like Yale and remain a faithful Catholic? Are the Catholic campus organizations strong enough to help the students remain on the right path? :confused:

A related question if you are familar with the Newman Guide: Are any of the schools in the Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College also competitive academically? Or does one have to make a choice of one or the other? I know the Newman Society does not recommend Notre Dame, which seems like the most likely compromise.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated. :o
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ack said:
. . .

For more traditionally minded Catholics, there is a Dominican parish off campus that ministers to students.
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Note that this is the church, St Mary’s, where Father McGivney was stationed when he founded the KofC. I used to go there to mass on occasion, but never had an opportunity to interact with the Dominicans. I was living in Waterville with my parents and drove in each day.
 
HOPEFUL_IN_UK said:
At some point, your daughter is just going to have to go out into the world and make her own way and her adherence to her religion will be down to her.
Click to expand...
👍 I know! I will have to cut the apron strings and am starting at least to sharpen my apron-cutting scissors just by acknowledging that I actually have a child in high school! Eventually I will have to give it to God and just want to make sure she has the best possible tools and atmosphere before that point.

I am pleasantly surprised that pretty much every post so far is positive about the prospects of (theoretically) remaining Catholic at a secular university. At this point her faith is strong, and she is voluntarily and enthusiastically taking Confirmation classes. I hope that it will stay that way!
 
I do think she should brace herself, though. This is true of any college campus, but probably more so at elite ones: she will encounter some very, very clever people who have an elitist, liberal mindset that is overtly hostile to religion, and Catholicism in particular. In my experience with such people, they honestly think that the only people who could be pro-life are a bunch of slack-jawed knuckle-draggers out in midwestern trailer parks or something. I went to Berkeley and lived in the SF Bay Area (this was before I was a Christian) and we pretty much assumed that there were all these yokels out in “flyover country” who obstinately voted Republican because they were just too ignorant to know what was good for them.

On such issues as abortion and gay marriage, your daughter will have to brace herself to either keep her mouth shut or put up a fight because espousing views in line with Catholic doctrine will not go over very well and could be met with quite a lot of hostility.
 
I would say a lot depends on your daughter’s major. If she is going into Math and Science you won’t have as much of a problem with a secular/liberal school if she were going for social sciences. I think sociology and psychology are going to be pretty bad at Yale. (My brother went there). I went to Penn State for engineering. There wasn’t any way to mess up Signals and Circuits.
 
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