Daughter's College Choices

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Regina7 said:
Academically, Loyola is great. If you are looking for a great Catholic, school, Loyola isn’t it.

I can’t speak for the other schools, only Loyola.
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This was my concern. I know they had a major shake up of staff but I believe this was focused on the seminary. My experience was only with the minor seminary, and would not recommend that yet…but maybe in a year or two once they sort things out.

Your best bet is to find one who teaches or attends and have them guide you on the teachers to select for classes. As with all Catholic colleges, some professors will be solid and faithful, some will be not so hot. Marquette is a good example. They get a lot of press for some boneheaded decisions that get the alum I’m related to upset, but there are also some very solid professors trudging along quietly who need our support.

Wherever your daughter goes, have her enroll in 21 credits per semester with the intent of dropping one or two classes. She’s bound to get a bum class or teacher, but that will give her the room to select the best ones for that semester.

Good luck to you! I have a senior and junior this year. Double the college fun! 😛
 
WT1 said:
Can you give me more info? This is why I posted the link I want as much feedback as possible on exactly this type of stuff.

Thanks
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I don’t think caf allows me to name names, but it’s quite a few liberal professors who are the problem. Two of my cousins have degrees from there, both in medical field, and they had more liberal professors than not.
 
Catholic_Lady said:
What’s wrong with Jesuit schools? Just curious.
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the Jesuit schools (not the Jesuit priests, but the schools themselves) have an identify crisis.

Jesuit colleges (and not just Jesuit colleges, but many other Catholic colleges) were academically ranked poorly in in the 1950s. One of the top academic Catholic schools in the country at that time (Georgetown University - a Jesuit college) was ranked not as high as it believe it should have been.

The view was that the focus on Church teaching was preventing the Catholic colleges from getting the best professors, and making it hard for them to compete with the Ivy Leagues, Stanfords, etc.

So these Catholic schools started to de-focus their Catholic identify in order to attract top, non-Catholic professors.

The problem has become that today, these professors will often promote in their classes non-Catholic positions regarding society, sexuality, ethics, etc. Even if not blatant. Additionally, a weak Catholic faculty & staff allows the university’s faculty senate to be controlled by non-Catholic interests. These non-Catholic interests have lead to some Catholic colleges to remove crosses from the classrooms, buildings, marketing material, etc. Furthermore, this allows for non-Catholic student organizations to take root as official student organizations on Campus.

Catholic Answers has a good radio program about what happened at Catholic University of America in the 1960s (CUA has since come back inline with the Church), which lead the way to other Catholic colleges doing the same thing.

The Coup at Catholic University – catholic.com/focus/18

God Bless
 
phil19034 said:
the Jesuit schools (not the Jesuit priests, but the schools themselves) have an identify crisis.

Jesuit colleges (and not just Jesuit colleges, but many other Catholic colleges) were academically ranked poorly in in the 1950s. One of the top academic Catholic schools in the country at that time (Georgetown University - a Jesuit college) was ranked not as high as it believe it should have been.

The view was that the focus on Church teaching was preventing the Catholic colleges from getting the best professors, and making it hard for them to compete with the Ivy Leagues, Stanfords, etc.

So these Catholic schools started to de-focus their Catholic identify in order to attract top, non-Catholic professors.

The problem has become that today, these professors will often promote in their classes non-Catholic positions regarding society, sexuality, ethics, etc. Even if not blatant. Additionally, a weak Catholic faculty & staff allows the university’s faculty senate to be controlled by non-Catholic interests. These non-Catholic interests have lead to some Catholic colleges to remove crosses from the classrooms, buildings, marketing material, etc. Furthermore, this allows for non-Catholic student organizations to take root as official student organizations on Campus.

Catholic Answers has a good radio program about what happened at Catholic University of America in the 1960s (CUA has since come back inline with the Church), which lead the way to other Catholic colleges doing the same thing.

The Coup at Catholic University – catholic.com/focus/18

God Bless
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This was put very well.
 
Let me answer several questions from above:
  1. She is going into the nursing program which is the number ranked school at Loyola (50 nationally which is pretty high).
  2. My take is that a Catholic University is better than a secular University regardless and I really appreciate the social justice and volunteer aspects attached.
  3. I get that she is going to encounter quite a bit of liberal teachings while in school but I’ve taught her to think for herself and my expectations is that she will do just that.
  4. The schools are on the list (as stated in the OP) due to the 4 year nursing program that enrolls students as freshman which is somewhat unique. It just so happens that the main organizations that offer it are Catholic (which is an added bonus to me).
 
WT1 said:
Let me answer several questions from above:
  1. She is going into the nursing program which is the number ranked school at Loyola (50 nationally which is pretty high).
  2. My take is that a Catholic University is better than a secular University regardless and I really appreciate the social justice and volunteer aspects attached.
  3. I get that she is going to encounter quite a bit of liberal teachings while in school but I’ve taught her to think for herself and my expectations is that she will do just that.
  4. The schools are on the list (as stated in the OP) due to the 4 year nursing program that enrolls students as freshman which is somewhat unique. It just so happens that the main organizations that offer it are Catholic (which is an added bonus to me).
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The “special” feature of a bad Catholic college is that there will be theology courses that are a requirement and taught by Lord knows who. That is the special difficulty of a liberal Catholic college, as opposed to a plain old secular college.

Campus Masses can also be “interesting”.

(I spent a lot of time on a Jesuit campus and MomaMary8 is basically correct–even in the worst case, there are still a lot of good people doing good things at any large Catholic college.)
 
phil19034 said:
the Jesuit schools (not the Jesuit priests, but the schools themselves) have an identify crisis.

Jesuit colleges (and not just Jesuit colleges, but many other Catholic colleges) were academically ranked poorly in in the 1950s. One of the top academic Catholic schools in the country at that time (Georgetown University - a Jesuit college) was ranked not as high as it believe it should have been.

The view was that the focus on Church teaching was preventing the Catholic colleges from getting the best professors, and making it hard for them to compete with the Ivy Leagues, Stanfords, etc.

So these Catholic schools started to de-focus their Catholic identify in order to attract top, non-Catholic professors.

The problem has become that today, these professors will often promote in their classes non-Catholic positions regarding society, sexuality, ethics, etc. Even if not blatant. Additionally, a weak Catholic faculty & staff allows the university’s faculty senate to be controlled by non-Catholic interests. These non-Catholic interests have lead to some Catholic colleges to remove crosses from the classrooms, buildings, marketing material, etc. Furthermore, this allows for non-Catholic student organizations to take root as official student organizations on Campus.

Catholic Answers has a good radio program about what happened at Catholic University of America in the 1960s (CUA has since come back inline with the Church), which lead the way to other Catholic colleges doing the same thing.

The Coup at Catholic University – catholic.com/focus/18

God Bless
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Interesting, did not know that. Thank you for taking the time to answer.
 
Xantippe said:
The “special” feature of a bad Catholic college is that there will be theology courses that are a requirement and taught by Lord knows who. That is the special difficulty of a liberal Catholic college, as opposed to a plain old secular college.

Campus Masses can also be “interesting”.

(I spent a lot of time on a Jesuit campus and MomaMary8 is basically correct–even in the worst case, there are still a lot of good people doing good things at any large Catholic college.)
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I would also like to mention that there are some secular colleges with EXCELLENT Catholic Campus Ministries that put many Catholic colleges to shame.

Campuses with the Catholic campus group FOCUS (in addition to their Campus Ministry, sometimes called Newman Centers) are a great place to start looking.

There is a list out there called the Best 50 Newman Centers, but I have NO IDEA what they did to rank them, so this list might be meaning less. Texas A&M might be the BEST Catholic Campus Ministry at a secular school, and it’s not on this list. bestcollegereviews.org/features/college-newman-centers/

So using focus.org is a good place to start.

God Bless
 
phil19034 said:
I would also like to mention that there are some secular colleges with EXCELLENT Catholic Campus Ministries that put many Catholic colleges to shame.

Campuses with the Catholic campus group FOCUS (in addition to their Campus Ministry, sometimes called Newman Centers) are a great place to start looking.

There is a list out there called the Best 50 Newman Centers, but I have NO IDEA what they did to rank them, so this list might be meaning less. Texas A&M might be the BEST Catholic Campus Ministry at a secular school, and it’s not on this list. bestcollegereviews.org/features/college-newman-centers/

So using focus.org is a good place to start.

God Bless
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That is a very good point.
 
phil19034 said:
I would also like to mention that there are some secular colleges with EXCELLENT Catholic Campus Ministries that put many Catholic colleges to shame.

Campuses with the Catholic campus group FOCUS (in addition to their Campus Ministry, sometimes called Newman Centers) are a great place to start looking.

There is a list out there called the Best 50 Newman Centers, but I have NO IDEA what they did to rank them, so this list might be meaning less. Texas A&M might be the BEST Catholic Campus Ministry at a secular school, and it’s not on this list. bestcollegereviews.org/features/college-newman-centers/

So using focus.org is a good place to start.

God Bless
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And I do know they have a nursing school – not sure about the admitting freshman part. I attend St. Mary’s (I’m not a student) and it is AMAZING!! They area always offering different retreats and programs for the students. Father David is an amazing priest who has really done great things for the Catholic students here. Highly recommend looking into it.
 
Aggie414 said:
And I do know they have a nursing school – not sure about the admitting freshman part. I attend St. Mary’s (I’m not a student) and it is AMAZING!! They area always offering different retreats and programs for the students. Father David is an amazing priest who has really done great things for the Catholic students here. Highly recommend looking into it.
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Very good!
 
WT1 said:
  1. My take is that a Catholic University is better than a secular University regardless and I really appreciate the social justice and volunteer aspects attached.
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I think this is a hugely flawed assumption. Bad or not-faithful-to-the-Magesterium Catholic schools can do far more damage than a state university.

I’d send my kid to Texas A&M University over a number of Catholic schools.
 
Aggie414 said:
And I do know they have a nursing school – not sure about the admitting freshman part. I attend St. Mary’s (I’m not a student) and it is AMAZING!! They area always offering different retreats and programs for the students. Father David is an amazing priest who has really done great things for the Catholic students here. Highly recommend looking into it.
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For those who don’t know, St. Mary’s is the Campus Ministry at the Texas A&M.

aggiecatholic.org/

firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2011/02/aggie-catholic-renaissance

Their history and legacy is amazing. I truly believe they are a model for what Campus Ministries at secular schools should strive to be like.

In addition to the Ministry, they have a Catholic Students Association, FOCUS program, and a Catholic Faculty and Staff Network.

They also have a MASSIVE staff of 40 people, including 4 priests, 3 deacons, 3 religious sisters, 8 lay campus ministers, 6 FOCUS missionaries, 5 lay campus ministry interns, 8 administrative staff members, 2 student members, and a director of liturgy & music.

Their website is worth checking out. They have a detailed history there, list of staff, mission, etc.

If I lived in Texas, I would not think twice about sending my child to Texas A&M. Plus, Texas has several other great Catholic colleges, including University of Dallas & University of St. Thomas.
 
phil19034 said:
For those who don’t know, St. Mary’s is the Campus Ministry at the Texas A&M.

aggiecatholic.org/

firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2011/02/aggie-catholic-renaissance

Their history and legacy is amazing. I truly believe they are a model for what Campus Ministries at secular schools should strive to be like.

In addition to the Ministry, they have a Catholic Students Association, FOCUS program, and a Catholic Faculty and Staff Network.

They also have a MASSIVE staff of 40 people, including 4 priests, 3 deacons, 3 religious sisters, 8 lay campus ministers, 6 FOCUS missionaries, 5 lay campus ministry interns, 8 administrative staff members, 2 student members, and a director of liturgy & music.

Their website is worth checking out. They have a detailed history there, list of staff, mission, etc.

If I lived in Texas, I would not think twice about sending my child to Texas A&M. Plus, Texas has several other great Catholic colleges, including University of Dallas & University of St. Thomas.
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Just a clarification. There only two priests on staff BUT they have amazing priests that come in on a regular basis from other dioceses and orders. They once had the bishop of the Armed Forces Diocese come in and say Mass.
 
Aggie414 said:
Just a clarification. There only two priests on staff BUT they have amazing priests that come in on a regular basis from other dioceses and orders. They once had the bishop of the Armed Forces Diocese come in and say Mass.
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thanks. I imagine that some of the people who are listed as “staff” me be volunteers. And those two extra priests on their website did have “part-time” listed 🙂
 
Another plug for St. Mary’s – the music is amazing. I’ve had friends that wanted to attend Mass with me because they had never been to a Catholic church. I always tell them “do not expect to hear this kind of music at any other Catholic church because you’ll be disappointed” 😃
 
Aggie414 said:
Another plug for St. Mary’s – the music is amazing. I’ve had friends that wanted to attend Mass with me because they had never been to a Catholic church. I always tell them “do not expect to hear this kind of music at any other Catholic church because you’ll be disappointed” 😃
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They even have a Holy Door!!! I wonder if there are any other Campus Ministries (or colleges in the US, other than Catholic University) with a Holy Door?
 
WT1 said:
My daughter is a junior in high school who will be applying for colleges between now and August. She will be studying nursing and is looking for 4 year undergraduate programs that admit you as a freshman. Much to my surprise and pleasure it is mainly Catholic Universities that offer this type program so we are activily looking at the following three:

Loyola Chicago
Villanova - Philly
Xavier - Cincy

We basically live in a middle sized southern city so these locations are a departure to our comfort zone but she is excited to start a new adventure in a big city and we are supportive of that.

Looking for information and opinions on the above institutions so if you have insights you would like to share please do.

Special notes:
  1. Due to the specific nature of the nursing program she wants suggesting other schools not listed will probably not fit the criteria.
  2. We have ruled out certain schools that do fit like Gonzaga, Boston College and Georgetown due to distance, financial commitments or or ther reasons.
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By a “four year program that will admit you as a freshman” do you mean that the student will not have to apply to the nursing program, with a chance of not getting in, in the sophomore or junior year?

Is that the specific nature of the nursing program in note 1, or does that mean something different?
 
HouseArrest said:
By a “four year program that will admit you as a freshman” do you mean that the student will not have to apply to the nursing program, with a chance of not getting in, in the sophomore or junior year?

Is that the specific nature of the nursing program in note 1, or does that mean something different?
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It means you apply and are accepted as a freshman and do not have to reapply later.

At Loyola the way into the nursing program is to be admitted as a Freshman and they do not accept any transfers. Their rate of students staying in the program and graduating is above 96%.

They do a great job of selecting the students and start training them for nursing one day 1.
 
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