University of Dayton?

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My oldest son will be entering college next year. He wants to go to engineering school. We have been looking for a good Catholic school with an engineering program, with little luck. Today he received some information from the University of Dayton, which we know very little about. They aren’t included in the Newman Guide, but we don’t know why. Is this one of the “Catholic in name only” schools, or is it a faithful Catholic school? Any information you have to share would be helpful.
 
Do the kid a favour. Send him to the best **engineering **school you can get him in to. It’ll help him in the long run.
 
I went to college right by UofD.

It seems like a good school. I had some sorority sisters who had friends who went there. They partied hard, but every college is like that.

I didn’t think that they had that good of an engineering program. I thought it was more of a teaching school…Case Western in Cleveland has a great engineering program if you are looking for an Ohio school.
 
It is hard to find a good Catholic school with an engineering program. Most strongly Catholic schools are small liberal arts colleges because it is expensive to maintain an engineering school with good faculty and the facilities to do research. If you do manage to find a school like this make SURE the engineering program is accredited by ABET! If he doesn’t graduate from an accredited program he will not be able to take the FE exam which is the first step toward licensure as an engineer. That could really set him back in his career.

I actually think your son would be fine going to a public school for engineering. I understand your being worried about him keeping his faith in college, but truthfully it’s very hard to inject ideology into something like circuits or engineering mechanics. Academics as a whole are pretty liberal but I’ve noticed engineers tend to be more balanced in their outlook. I went to a state school for engineering and I saw a lot of my professors at Mass on Sundays. 😃
 
I went to college in Ohio and I knew students from various schools. The stories that my University of Dayton friends told weren’t much different from the stories that they told at other colleges (all involved drinking.)

Someone mentioned Case Western Reserve. This school is a secular school, but it is a top engineering school. It has a great parish next to the campus, and there are great Catholic and pro-life groups on campus (although this may have changed in recent years.) Also, it is known to be a school with more serious students and less partying. (In fact, all of the serious engineering schools are like that.)

Also, what about Notre Dame – doesn’t it have a good engineering program? (I know about ND’s problems so there’s no need to bring them up again, but it still has a stronger Catholic identity than Dayton.)
 
ack said:
Also, it is known to be a school with more serious students and less partying.
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Ha, engineering students party with the best (or worst) of them! 😉 Seriously, most of the time we were too busy to party…no going out to the bars on weeknights like the business or education majors (no offense to anyone who might have majored in those!) We knew how to have fun too, but anyone who wants to come to college and party every night is just not going to last long in engineering school.
Also, what about Notre Dame – doesn’t it have a good engineering program? (I know about ND’s problems so there’s no need to bring them up again, but it still has a stronger Catholic identity than Dayton.)
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Yeah, I forgot to put in my plug for ND - I am a grad student here and enjoying it so far. Of course, coming from a state school, I’m just thrilled to have the opportunity to go to daily Mass on campus (even if I don’t make it often because of time commitments!) I can’t really speak to the undergrad experience, though, which is quite different.
 
ack said:
Also, what about Notre Dame – doesn’t it have a good engineering program? (I know about ND’s problems so there’s no need to bring them up again, but it still has a stronger Catholic identity than Dayton.)
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I’m an undergrad at ND–not an engineering major, but I know that we do have a good program. Several of my friends have gone through the college of engineering and have gotten good job offers. Because of the way ND’s requirements are set up, your son would still get a well-rounded education–university requirements include 2 theology and 2 philosophy courses for all students, composition, social science or history, etc. I know that there is also the possibility of double majoring in theo + engineering or philo + engineering, if you are willing to go for 5 years.

We also have a new interdisciplinary engineering building w/ state of the art labs under construction right now, slated to open in Fall 2010 that your son would benefit from.

As for the character of UD–I know a number of people who have gone there. I wouldn’t call it exceedingly Catholic, from what I have heard. You can probably find more info on the Princeton Review and other standard college search sites about life on campus.
 
How about the BEST engineering school? U of I has a GREAT Newman center too… confessions daily, convenient mass times, EWTN show filmed there…
 
Hello…I just graduated from the University of Dayton this past May. I wasn’t an engineering student (journalism and religious studies)…but I roomed with a couple of them for a few years…it seems to be a decent program, at any rate, but I know it isn’t an elite one. It did serve one of my roommates well; he is now getting paid 35,000 a year to go to Georgia Tech and do research while pursuing his masters.

As for the school being Catholic…I would say it is one more in name only. There is a chapel on campus that has daily Mass and confession once a week. On Sundays, there is Mass at 10, noon, 6:30, 8 and 9:30 (I am pretty sure those are the times)…so there is plenty of opportunity to go–even in the evenings or at night–which I found helpful because, let’s face it, some times it was difficult to get up in the morning (plus, I played football there, Go Flyers!, and sometimes we would get home really, really late on Saturdays.)

However, it is known as a party school, and the vast majority of people drink and drink heavily. But there are plenty of ways to avoid that scene (I did, and I still had a great experience) via Campus Ministry and other groups.

But, if you were willing to forgo a Catholic School, I’ll have to agree with BlestOne…go to U of I!!! I am from around Champaign, and a huge fan of the Illini! Long live the chief!
 
I’ll give a shout out for U-D. My middle daughter began in the engineering school there and then transferred to the financial management program, which is amazingly innovative and led to her getting a great job right out of college.

The engineering school was very good as well – just not what she decided that she wanted afterall. She had chosen Dayton after being accepted in the engineering schools at Illinois, Indiana, Purdue and Villanova.

Like most colleges, there is a lot going on that parents would prefer did not. However, it is definitely not “Catholic in name only.” During my daughter’s years at Dayton, there was a tragic death of a fellow student. The way the priests, faculty, and students came together and found comfort in their faith, their God, and one another, was very reassuring to me as her mother. Also has one of the best Marionist libraries in the country.
 
I went to Notre Dame as an undergrad and to the U of Dayton for graduate school. There’s no doubt that Notre Dame has a much stronger “Catholic identity” than UD, but UD is not by any means weak in Catholicism either. I would say that Catholicism is much stronger at UD than a school such as Georgetown, Xavier, Loyola Marymount, or DePaul (just based on the students that I know or have known at these schools). There are many Catholic icons around campus and daily Mass. UD has a great engineering program (it’s not Notre Dame, but still is very good). People must realize that Notre Dame is only accepting 24% of applicants. So, UD is a fantastic alternative. Great school, good community etc…

I would recommend it. Although, they are known for partying quite a bit…but it’s certainly no worse than UD’s surrounding schools (OSU, Miami OH, Xavier, WSU etc…).

I would recommend Notre Dame first and foremost. But, if your child is finding it hard to get accepted, definitely look at UD and also Marquette…another great engineering school with a decent Catholic identity.
 
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