While our high school counselor says it isn’t true, has anyone found Catholic colleges giving preferred consideration to applicants coming from a Catholic high school? When I look at average admit stats for some Catholic college they are higher than my daughter’s stats (sometimes significantly). At the same time, when I look at the admit stats for my daughter’s particular high school cohort (Catholic), every single kid has been admitted to these Catholic colleges with much lower stats than the college says is their average. (and, sometimes significantly lower stats). It just doesn’t add up.
The biggest advantage may be that the GC at the catholic schools know how to create the application that will get their students into the catholic schools. What does BC look for? Does Dayton or Santa Clara want letters of recommendation that highlight leadership in church activities, that talk about service, that talk about sports and school activities? The GC have connections with the admissions officers at the colleges. The Catholic high schools host college fairs or presentations by these colleges.
Catholic high school students also apply to the catholic colleges in much higher numbers. They might be legacies. They might be athletic recruits.
All good comments. Our GC said we get no special treatment or consideration. Legacies makes sense though.
@finalthree I find the same thing. The vast majority of students from my kids’ high school apply and are accepted to Catholic colleges, yet the GC says there’s no advantage coming from a Catholic hs. ???
I am just curious, but why do you want her to enter a college Catholic school?
I’m indifferent. I’m just trying to figure out if she has an advantage since her grades and test scores are average. I think she might have an advantage at some of the catholic colleges based on the statistics for her school (not like Notre Dame of course…but maybe Marquette, St Louis, Loyola…). In the end she will apply at a broad range of schools.
I think that often kids from Catholic schools get the vibe of and convey fit for Catholic schools better than others. So in the “why us?” essay, the student looks like someone who aligns with the school’s culture. Not necessarily making it possible to overlook serious weaknesses in the application, but a way of lifting it out of a pile of equals without that.
My son goes to a Catholic high school and from what I’ve seen the school just seems to maintain closer relationships with the Catholic colleges as a whole. Our PSEO program is with the local Catholic university, not the public one, a lot of kids are steered towards the Catholic schools and they’re the only ones I know that actually do campus visits to the high school. I mean it makes sense that they’d want to support the Catholic schools so it’s not a huge surprise. But, I think the advantage is more as pp stated. The GC knows what those schools are looking for in an application.
Now, my son stated he will go to any school BUT a Catholic one. He figures 4 years of having to take religion classes are enough for him. 
My D’s college prep HS was Catholic and there were definitely strong ties to some of the Catholic colleges, including some of the heavy hitters. Administrators and teachers were often graduates of those schools and definitely could give more strategic advice to students applying. IMO, it’s similar to boarding schools that have strong ties to certainly colleges. The GCs are more familiar with those schools, have better data on who gets accepted, and the colleges themselves are more aware of the high school’s rigor/reputation. Often times the HS’s mission and service requirements better align with the college as well so a student with maybe slightly lesser stats, looks like a better fit.
That said, my kid on paper thought some of the Catholic schools were going to be the perfect match…until we stepped on campus. Finding out that there would be 4 more semesters of theology, philosophy, and other mandatory gen eds, with a much different emphasis than what she was looking for, ended up being a huge turnoff.
We’ve only visited one so far, and she really loved it and didn’t seem turned off by the theology requirements. At the same time, she visited our large state school and loved it too. She’s really torn but who knows which ones will actually accept her!
One of our kids went to a Catholic college prep HS.
Some parents said her school was a feeder for area Catholic universities. I have no idea whether that is true or not.
Her HS was in an affluent area. Lots of full pay families, plus legacies.
She ended up at an OOS public university for the big merit money, and the connected with the Newman Center on campus.
My kids went to several different catholic high schools. And yes there was a relationship and an advantage. One went to what is considered a feeder school. Lots of high performing kids with high stats were accepted to highly ranked catholic colleges. But these same kids were also accepted to other top 20 schools. these kids all had the stats and ec to get in. What was and is more common here, is that the local catholic colleges, some of which have a national reputation, would have an instant admission day at the high schools. They would set the minimums they require, say 1250 sat and 3.5 gpa and the kids would sign up and meet with the college rep at the high school and get instant admission and a financial aid scholarship estimate. The kids find out that day after a 10 minute conversation whether they are admitted or not. Most of the students take advantage of this even if they decide not to attend. The colleges know the caliber of the students they are getting and the students know they have a college to go to. Everybody benefits.
GCs often have relationships with the regional admissions officer. Catholic high schools are the bread and butter sources for students for Catholic colleges, for reasons that include fit and yield. In addition, the AO will be very familiar with whatever level of rigor the high school offers.
From the applicant’s end, four years of high school theology classes, which may be full of self-reflective writing, and extensive service make pumping out a supplemental essay for a Catholic college a piece of cake.
I don’t think it’s restricted to Catholic schools; I think some schools just have good relationships with certain colleges, for whatever region. My niece is in a Catholic school and they have good luck with BC, Scranton, Loyola, etc… My daughter is at a public in a different state and we have great luck with the same schools. Hard to know the science behind it, with legacy, athletes, etc… thrown in the mix.
Could also be that the type of students who attend Catholic high schools and like it there enough to want to continue education in a Catholic environment happen to acquire non-academic characteristics that Catholic colleges like, even without specifically packaging themselves (or being packaged by counselors) to appeal to Catholic colleges.
^Agree. It happens naturally. The GC is not giving specific app-crafting instructions.
I do believe Catholic colleges see students from Catholic high schools as a fit. There is often automatic scholarship money that goes to those from Catholic high schools.
I was just really surprised that her GC said “no advantage” - we will find out soon enough on a few reach schools. 
Hmmm, I just checked the latest from one of our relatives’ Catholic high school (very high performing, rather not say which one) and 28% of the class that just graduated are starting at Catholic colleges this semester, including 7% to Georgetown, 5% to Fordham, 4% each to Boston College and Holy Cross, and 2% to Notre Dame.
I do think there is some special consideration by the Catholic colleges if you go to a Catholic high school even above and beyond the “fit” questions.