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Just curious which are the most highly thought of as far as academics, campus social life, and level of "catholicness" etc. Are they mostly thought of as good regional schools or do some have national reputations?

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Sunday, July 06, 2003 - 12:34 pm: Edit

Catholic schools with excellent, top national reputations, and areas of particular strength or reputation:
University of Notre Dame - engineering, business, arch, sciences, political science
Georgetown - international relations, political science, history, sciences
Boston College - great liberal arts school
Holy Cross - great liberal arts school

All of these are extremely competitive to get into.

Other Catholic schools that have very good academic reputations:

Santa Clara (CA)- excellent business, engineering
Loyola Marymount (CA)- good TV/Film, business, engineering
University of San Diego (CA)- good business, nursing
Seattle University (Wash)- good engineering, business, liberal arts
Gonzaga University (Wash)- liberal arts, pre-law, bio, buisiness
Loyola (MD)- business, bio, communications, engineering
Villanova (PA)- good sciences, business, communications, engineering
Catholic University (DC)- architechture, drama, poli science, engineering, pre-law, music
Creighton (NE)-art, sciences, pharmacy, poli sci, pre-law
University of Dallas (TX) - terrific study program in Rome,good art, sciences, computer science, economics, social sciences
Marquette (Wisc.) biology, business, communications, computer science, social sciences
Fairfield University (CT) - business
Fordham - business, liberal arts
Providence College (RI) - business, sciences, liberal arts

There are, of course, many many other Catholic schools across the country, in nearly every state. At all of these schools, the amount of "religion" will vary. Most schools will require you to take some religion classes but usually this doesn't mean taking classes in Catholicism, any religion will do. Some schools have high percentages of non-catholic students (Georgetown and Santa Clara for example) and are thus more diverse, but all accept students of all faiths. None will require attendance at religious services. Some are definitely more conservative than others - Gonzaga, Fordham, Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas are all ones where I know there are a high number of clergy as teachers or where the administration is very conservative. You can generally get a good sense of how religiously-oriented each school is from their web site, materials, and of course, from a visit to the school. Most Catholic schools are very good with financial aid and merit scholarships. Good luck!

By 1214 (1214) on Monday, July 07, 2003 - 12:55 pm: Edit

St. John's University, Queens
-Core Curriculum on Great Books
-Great Locale
-Diverse with nice campuses in Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and Rome
-Good reputation