Suggested Catholic Colleges?

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Well, I won’t make excuses for the sins of my prep school days! :o

Also, there are lots of good Catholics at both SJU & St. Bens, but…

But the general atmosphere is more in the range of Notre Dame or St. Thomas (MN). Being Catholic is a viable option, like being a member of the soccer team, campus Democrats, or the gay pride group. In other words, unlike some secular schools where being Catholic is something you keep secret, you can be openly Catholic at these schools and you won’t be harassed. You also won’t be approved. So, if you want to organize a petition drive against gay marriage–good luck! The administration will run the other way if not openly denounce you for intolerance. I know some of the faculty–good people, decent scholars but let’s just say Catholicism is not their favorite religion.

In other words, the atmosphere is not Catholic. It is one option among many. This quite different from a college in which Catholicism is built into the core identity.

Take a look at this or any Catholic college website and click the “about” tab. Does it say “in the Benedictine tradition” or “in the spirit of Franciscan service”. These are code words, meaning “don’t take it too seriously, wink, wink.” Do they list a “committment to social justice” but you have to look hard for the words “pro-life”? Run a search on the college’s website using terms like GLBT or pro-choice or pro-life and see what you come up with. Who have they invited to campus as an honored speaker? Do they have a prominent statement about being “inclusive” and “tolerant”? These are all higher ed code words.

Yes, St. John’s is way better than Georgetown where students had to fight to keep crosses in the classroom. The surrounding region is culturally conservative which is a brake on some of the more extreme tendencies of the faculty. It is okay to be Catholic there, just like being gay or having purple hair. I love the place and I wish it well, I just wish it kept its institutional Catholicism intact.

The problems of Catholic higher ed are well known. Caveat empetor!

JB
 
Pillar_of_truth said:
I live an hour away from St. John’s and CSB. My advice…AVOID them!

Loras College in Dubuque, IA is getting pretty good. The best Catholic colleges in the Midwest are Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, and Benedictine in Atchison, KS. Other than those, I’d probably go with Loras…(they have better financial aid there too, if money is a factor). Loras is actively working on recovering their Catholic identity, and there are lots of orthodox, on fire kids there. The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN is “OK”. Another Catholic college I love is Belmont Abbey near Charlotte, NC.

Texas A&M also is a great choice for those wanting/needing to attend a secular school. They have a fantastic campus ministry program there.

If you decide to look into Loras, shoot me an E-mail - I have some contacts there.
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Given a choice between St. Thomas and St. John’s, always choose St. John’s! The Johnny / Tommy rival is long standing…😃

You will find naysayers about every college choice, so I can only speak from MY personal experience having attended there…it was GREAT! I got VERY involved with the Catholic faith, LEARNED the Catholic faith (actually ended up minoring in theology), converted to Catholicism, and got to know the religious people at both the convent at St. Ben’s and the monks at St. John’s very well. I had a fabulous experience and positively know I would not have the love for the Catholic faith I have today had I not attended CSB/SJU.
 
Theres Southern Catholic College in Dawsonville GA (hour north of Atlanta). It seems pretty good. The only reason I didnt go there is because I wanted to major in Automotive Collision Repair lol.
 
I really wanted to go to a Catholic College, as well, and am proud to say I graduated from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. It has a population of about 2000, is a very friendly college, and the vast majority of students live on campus. Are there liberal people there? Sure. Are there partiers there? Sure. You’ll get that at most colleges like that. But there are also a lot of religiously conservative people there. The philosophy department is excellent, as is the nursing program. It is run by Benedictines, and they are a true presence on campus. As is the case with most colleges and universities, you will get out of it what you put in, so just do your research. Every college is going to have its drawbacks.

The poster who mentioned Magdalen College in Warner, NH (I think it is Warner) is correct, it is still there. It is quite small, so it depends on how big a school you want. There is also a Saint Thomas Aquinas College in Merrimack, NH, I think. Also very small.

I wish you all the best during this time of discernment! Keep praying about where you’re supposed to go!

Lynn In NH
 
Thanks to all who have given their “two cents worth.” From what you’ve all said, I am going to look into St. John’s and Loyola because both of those have contacted me through e-mail, and they are relatively close.

Feel free to continue to suggest other places though, things could change dramatically between now and my senior year, so I still don’t know exactly where I’ll go.

P.S.
does it matter that neither of those colleges were suggested by that Newman’s Guide? I am pretty sure that St. John’s wasn’t suggested because it probably has a TON of really liberal, pro-“choice,” type people attending it, seeing as it is in Minnesota and that won’t bother me because I am use to those types of people (not that I like them necessarily…).

P.S.S.
While I still can’t narrow down my majors/minors yet, I know a broad spectrum that I am interested in, I will list them in order of most favored to least.
1)Lawyer
2)Psychology
3)Computer programmer
4)Computer engineer
 
Waacm said:
Thanks to all who have given their “two cents worth.” From what you’ve all said, I am going to look into St. John’s and Loyola because both of those have contacted me through e-mail, and they are relatively close.

Feel free to continue to suggest other places though, things could change dramatically between now and my senior year, so I still don’t know exactly where I’ll go.

P.S.
does it matter that neither of those colleges were suggested by that Newman’s Guide? I am pretty sure that St. John’s wasn’t suggested because it probably has a TON of really liberal, pro-“choice,” type people attending it, seeing as it is in Minnesota and that won’t bother me because I am use to those types of people (not that I like them necessarily…).

P.S.S.
While I still can’t narrow down my majors/minors yet, I know a broad spectrum that I am interested in, I will list them in order of most favored to least.
1)Lawyer
2)Psychology
3)Computer programmer
4)Computer engineer
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The bottom line is that all Catholic colleges will have SOME orthodox Catholic students and some orthodox faculty. The ratios may vary considerably though, as will the amount of support the institution gives to developing and maintaining an authentic Catholic identity.

Steubenville and Benedictine College made the Cardinal Newman Guide, because as institutions, they support authentic Catholicism. The other colleges in the Midwest don’t, at least not nearly as much. The other Midwest Catholic college that I can think of that might be close to making the list is Loras College in Dubuque, IA. They have FOCUS there, one of the only Catholic universities that have it, and through the Breitbach program, among others, they are actively trying to draw in students who love their Catholic faith.

I don’t think that St. John’s or Loyola would be at all close to making the Cardinal Newman Society list, but you may want to go there for other reasons (although I wouldn’t consider going there just because they sent you something) and you will find supportive students and faculty there, if you seek them out.
 
Or maybe YOU and a couple of friends could be the presence on campus. You know? Of course, it depends a bit on the nature of your particular relationship with God. Just my 0.02
 
From an academic standpoint both SJU and Loyola are good. If you ultimately go into something like law, you want a good pre-law program and probably a minor in history, sociology, or psychology, etc.

Ave Maria law school was pretty good last I checked and not dysfunctional like the main AM. But that’s for after you get your Bachelor’s degree.

The smaller colleges some of the posters and I mentioned have smaller recruiting budgets and so they probably won’t send you recruiting material because they don’t know that you’d be a good prospect.

JB
 
Texas A&M also is a great choice for those wanting/needing to attend a secular school. They have a fantastic campus ministry program there.
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I’m a proud Class od 2004 Aggie! A&M is a State University, but is widely known for having a very conservative student body. It is also very affordable compared to a lot of private schools. The campus ministry there is very active, and in fact it was at A&M where I first really started to research Catholicism based on the strong faith I saw in the Catholics that I met on campus. Also, I heard this somewhere and don’t know if it’s entirely true, but supposedly more people enter religious vocations out of A&M than any other public school. Google “St. Mary’s in College Station, TX” for more information on Aggie priests and sisters. My current Parochial Vicar is an Aggie and is by far one of the best homilists I’ve ever heard.

University of Dallas is a great school as well. My former Parochial Vicar is the Pastor and campus chaplain there now. I also have a cousin who attended there. Their academics are very respectable and from what I hear from my cousin the student body is mostly made up of faithful Catholics.

Best of luck to you!
 
Does anyone know anything about Rockhurst University in Kansas City? It’s a Jesuit university, and they actually have my major, which is sometimes hard to find.

Thanks much! 🙂
 
Try looking into the following schools:
  • Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
  • University of Dallas (Dallas, TX)
  • Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, OH)
  • John Paul the Great Catholic University (San Diego, CA)
  • Benedictine College (Atchison, KA)
  • Ave Maria University (Ave Maria, FL)
  • Southern Catholic College (Dawsonville, GA)
  • Christendom College (Front Royal, VA)
  • Belmont Abbey College (Belmont, NC)
I spent my first year of college at Franciscan University of Steubenville. My parents spent about $18,000. I decided to transfer out after the first year. If I had stayed at Franciscan, my parents would have spent about $20,000 for my second year. Franciscan is a great school, but the financial aid is lacking. But that’s probably true for many small private schools, especially now that the economy isn’t so great. Definitely look into financial aid when you start applying for college. Good luck! 🙂
 
My apologies! It is Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH, not Thomas Aquinas.
 
A bit of advice: If you have any idea of what you wish to major in, first look for schools that are good for that field of study. Then, narrow it down to Catholic schools.

Also, don’t worry too much about costs while you are applying… I ended up attending an extremely expensive secular university,** BUT** they threw tons of financial aid (need AND merit based) my way, and ended up giving me the best bang for my buck, academically, and to my surprise spiritually!

So, when you are visiting different universities, research some of the student faith organizations on campus, and ask what those organizations do, and how big their membership is…
Also, I am a part of a non-denominational fellowship on campus (Intervarsity), where I ended up meeting a bunch of Catholics who I go to mass with every week…

I can honestly say that my faith has developed more on this secular campus than it ever did within the walls of my Catholic high school…

(Don’t think that I’m trying to sway you specifically towards secular schools–you should really just make sure that you visit the schools and get a feel for the general population as well as the Christian population-- unfortunately some of our most prestigious Catholic institutions don’t have a very religious population 😦 including my sister’s university)
 
I’m in a similar position to you–I’m a junior this year and am picking my colleges now. I also want to go to a Catholic college, although I’m not considering the priesthood at all. (I’m a girl! LOL.)

Here’s my list. You’ll notice these are all over.

-The Catholic University of America
-The University of Dallas
-Fordham
-Notre Dame
-Boston College (this is by far the iffiest–pretty not-Catholic.)

You’ll notice in your search that you’ll have to sacrifice something. As a general rule, the Catholic universities have lower SAT scores than the non-Catholic ones. Notre Dame and BC might be good compromises for smarts and Catholicism. You’ll have to look for the Catholicism, though. And honestly, the Fordham and CUA honors programs are as good as BC.

Anyway, gotta run, but I’m more than happy to share more about my search later, if you like! 🙂
 
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