<p>I don’t think any of these schools can brag about sports. These aren’t sports schools.</p>
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Less happily, the Holy Cross men’s basketball team also suffered one of the most shocking defeats of an NCAA Division I basketball team over the past decade – they were beaten by Williams, a Division III school, in a home game during the 2003-04 season. Williams plays in NESCAC, the same league as Bowdoin and Conn College.</p>
<p>To be fair, Williams was one of the top DIII schools in the country that year; they finished #2 nationally, after losing in the NCAA championship game by 2 points. HC, in contrast, had a mediocre season in Division I, finishing at 13-15 and fifth in the Patriot League.</p>
<p>Fortunately Division I Air Force lost to Division III Colorado College in November, so that is the Division III basketball upset of record now.</p>
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Conn (and other northeastern LACs) are classified as Division III for all NCAA sports. They rarely play Division I or II schools.</p>
<p>Sailing is different: Conn Coll and other LACs often compete with larger universities. However, this is not because the LACs are reclassified as Division I for sailing competition. It’s because sailing is not an NCAA sport, and so the Division I, II, and III distinction does not apply. </p>
<p>Squash is the same way. Squash is not an NCAA sport, and so universities and LACs often compete with each other, regardless of their classification for purposes of NCAA competition.</p>
<p>Whoo! LAC sports, lol. The only good sports programs in the northeast are UConn and BC, and they aren’t even all that great.</p>
<p>That’s not quite true, informative, NESCAC men’s lacrosse is highly competitive and can often give the Div I teams a good run.</p>
<p>^Stand corrected. lol.</p>
<p>Update for all you rabid Holy Cross fans:</p>
<p>Tonight in Annapolis the Holy Cross Crusaders defeated the United States Naval Academy in Men’s basketball 71-50</p>
<p>[Holy</a> Cross Crusaders vs. Navy Midshipmen - Box Score - January 19, 2011 - ESPN](<a href=“Men's College Basketball Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Standings, Rumors”>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=310192426)</p>
<p>My brother attends Holy Cross and absolutely loves it. To date, he’s only had positive experiences there, both in the dorms and in classes. </p>
<p>If you’re drawn by prestige, don’t doubt Holy Cross just because it’s 10 or so ranks below Bowdoin in the USNews Report. I don’t even live in Massachusetts, and people tell me all the time how “great a school that is!” when they hear that my brother goes to Holy Cross. It’s definitely a well respected institution, and would look great on your resume for grad school (if you plan to continue your education after college). Also, HC alumni relations are incredible.</p>
<p>Agree the Holy Cross alumni network is very good and helpful in job placement. HC has alumni clubs in most major cities and specific alumni networks focused on high tech, finance, law, and medical careers.</p>
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<p>HC actually is 26 ranks below Bowdoin. 32 (HC) v. 6 (Bowdoin) in the USNWR LAC ranking.</p>
<p>If you look through the posts, the Bowdoin supporters talk about academics and finances and the Holy Cross supporters keep talking about sports. It seems that the only advantage Holy Cross has over Bowdoin is Division I sports, if that’s an advantage at all. Bowdoin, however, plays in the best DIII conference in the country, so sports are not an afterthought. I see no reason why you should choose HC or CC over Bowdoin, except if you want a slightly larger school (1,600 vs. 2,900). </p>
<p>Bowdoin has more prestige, money, academic strength as measured by the student body, and just as good an alumni network as HC, if not better. Bowdoin has an alumni giving rate of 54%, just like HC. Plus Bowdoin’s economics department is absolutely outstanding.</p>
<p>I went to another NESCAC school (not Conn. or Bowdoin, so no vested interest), but Bowdoin is the strongest school of the three (though HC and CC are great schools themselves, just not as strong as Bowdoin).</p>
<p>HC is a great safety school if you don’t get into Georgetown, ND or BC.</p>
<p>Holy Cross probably overachieves in the category of alumni success. In business hc has many CEO’s, medical alumni are very distinguished-including Nobel Prize winner(not sure if Bowdoin has produced one?). Also for a small, selective LAC, Holy Cross currently has 1 US Senator, 3 Congressmen, 1 Supreme Court Justice(2 others have HC affiliations), Chris Matthews, and Obama’s chief speechwriter. Like ND and Georgetown, Holy Cross offers great academics and Div1 sports.</p>
<p>The other distinguishing characteristic of Holy Cross is that it is the oldest Catholic college in all of New England, 20 years older than fellow Jesuit school BC. It was founded by the Jesuits from Georgetown and the first grads actually got Georgetown degrees for 3-4 years until Massachusetts granted the school a charter. If you have any interest in religious studies and philosophy, Holy Cross offers a broad spectrum of offerings in this area as well as many community outreach programs, religious retreats, and Catholic services. Holy Cross also has one of the largest Classics departments in terms of professors and classes offered of any LAC in the nation. They also offer 3 full merit scholarships for Classics majors.</p>
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<p>This is an important reason for some applicants to choose Holy Cross over a secular school like Bowdoin, and perhaps an equally important reason for some other applicants to avoid it. Not to say that HC is overwhelmingly religious or that more secular students can’t thrive there, but from all reports Catholicism–and more particularly, the Jesuit intellectual strain of Catholicism—is a big part of the culture at HC. For some that’s a plus, for others not. I have a lot of respect for HC. It’s a very good school. From a purely academic perspective Bowdoin is a better school. But there’s more to life than academics. I would say that HC’s Jesuit tradition and leadership is a more important distinguishing characteristic than athletics.</p>
<p>But doesn’t BC also have a Jesuit and sports tradition? And isn’t it known to be somewhat of a party school?</p>
<p>Georgetown, Boston College, and Holy Cross are all run by the Jesuits. BC and Holy Cross are both run by the New England Province of the Jesuits. Jesuits will occasionally be transferred from one school to another. For example, the current president of Holy Cross taught at Boston College for many years. So yes there will of course be a lot of cultural similarity among these schools. When I took a tour of BC the tour director said that BC had the most Jesuits living there than anywhere else in the USA.</p>
<p>From academic perspective, the number of Rhodes winners. Bowdoin 22, Holy Cross 5, Conn. College 0, Tufts 4, Boston College 2, Brandeis 2.</p>
<p>holy cross does not have a good sports program. Doesn’t compare to ND/BC or even georgetown.</p>
<p>There have been 23 meetings between the Holy Cross Crusaders and Georgetown Hoyas on the football gridiron, with Holy Cross leading the all-time series 15-8. The Crusaders have have been victorious in 12 of the last 15 meetings. I’m sure “Informative” will say that football is not a major sport though. Holy Cross does not play BC or ND since HC and Georgetown play at the FCS level (1AA) within the Patriot League and not FBS (1A).</p>