The military service academies
Even if your daughter does not attend ND or a Catholic U, there are other ways to get involved in service.
For example, Newman Centers at non-Catholic U’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman_Centers
One of our kids attended a Catholic HS, and although service was a big part of the school’s mission, to many of the students it often felt like just another requirement to fulfill & something the teachers and parents were enthusiastic about. Also, many of the other students at her HS were from very affluent families – and some had different attitudes towards the poor (vs. our family). Just saying it’s not always a utopian bed of roses.
Our kid reached out to the Newman Center at her public U, and has had ample opportunities for service. And, it feels like it’s actually her choice now, versus her experience in HS where a certain number of service hours needed to be checked off each year.
Even though a school touts their commitment to service and being a force for good, you just can’t know how that translates at the student level or into adult life.
There are also many, many opportunities to volunteer and use one’s powers for good through other school clubs and organizations. There is a lot of need.
YMMV
I was also thinking Marquette, where students can choose to live in the new Dorothy Day learning community devoted to social justice. http://www.marquette.edu/servicelearning/dorothyday.shtml
I wonder if the phrase you’re looking for @katrina1 is “community engagement.” This was very important to my girls, too. Not just activism (or distant issues) or some required hours, but a school that promoted the local efforts and commitments. Try googling ‘colleges with comunity engagement’ and you’ll see a number of great schools that do encourage this. For many kids, this is a wanted aspect of personal growth. Not all of these schools have a religious connection.
Mine found this service very fulfilling.
IMO, Notre Dame is ‘more catholic’ than Georgetown and BC. That doesn’t mean any of them are ‘catholic-lite’ and if it comes down to doing something the Catholic way or the public way, the Catholic way is going to win. Every time. BC and Georgetown are in cities, and political cities, so are going to be more involved in politics, social causes, have more opportunities for internships in government, etc. BC and ND are much bigger in sports
80% of ND students consider themselves catholic. That doesn’t mean all of them are getting out of bed to go to church every Sunday, but a good portion of them are. Many dorms have priests living inhouse, acting as advisers.
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Purdue has more than 50% of its student population from Indiana.
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With few exceptions (Vermont - and I wouldn’t call Vermont the poster boy for diversity) you are going to find that at the flagships or other public schools, especially the large ones. The NC schools can only have 18% OOS by law. Texas only has 10%. Don’t be surprised at the number of students at ND from Chicago, St. Louis and Indiana. Even at Harvard there is a huge percentage from New England and even from Boston itself.
Is she a senior intending to apply to engineering programs?
I think Santa Clara is very attractive. Just keep in mind that it isn’t a safety - a bit of yield protection going on and demonstrated interest matters. (What I really want to say is “ssshhhhhh!!!” as I don’t want it to get any more competitive before my sophomores become seniors)
BC has concrete plans to build an engineering program but hasn’t broken ground on the new facility yet. This year’s high school seniors are too soon - if she plans to apply to engineering schools, not here. Considering you were just in Boston, be sure to distinguish the suburban, gorgeous campus of BC from the very urban BU down the road.
Doesn’t have engineering, but Rhodes College was named America’s #1 Service-Oriented College by Newsweek magazine.
Just a thought: your daughter can be very service-oriented at just about any college. My student was very active in Alpha Phi Omega (a national, co-ed service fraternity).
@katrina1 My daughter is very happy at ND, for a variety of reasons. As pertains to this topic, she is involved in 3 service-related ECs, in areas of interest to her. She is also in a couple clubs that have no service element. Her friends also participate in a variety of clubs, some service-related, some not. The most important point is that many opportunities for service are provided by the university for those who seek it, but not imposed on those who don’t.
@Midwest67 My D also attended a Catholic high school, which did not require service hours, for the very reason you mentioned. (And I hope it’s fairly easy for adcom’s to distinguish between short-term activities done to fulfill service requirements vs. true service-related ECs in which kids are invested). ND also does not require service hours, either for admission or for graduation. However, based on the school’s mission, I believe that a history of service is a plus on the application and that Katrina’s D is correct that they “look for kids like her”. I think that’s part of “fit”. I’m not sure I understand your use of the word “touts”, which to me implies something that is not sincere and trying to be sold as an image. I don’t know if that’s how you intended it. But I can assure you that, at Notre Dame, being a “force for good in the world” is lived in word and deed by both the university and it’s students.
And by no means am I saying that ND/Catholic schools are the only ones that can or do accomplish this goal. Clearly there are many schools that do, both religious and not, both private and public.
**And I consistently see good things about Santa Clara on this site, I would definitely look at that if I were you. FWIW, my cousin teaches there (he is not Catholic) and is very happy there, says it’s a great place
Sorry, just pointing out that link is 2010. It’s still very helpful, but others may have increased their encouraged their service goals.
You may find these helpful:
https://www.newsweek.com/25-best-schools-do-gooders-71907
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018college-guide?ranking=2018-rankings-liberal-arts-colleges
Virtually ALL schools nowadays prize social justice and service orientation, not just the religious ones. It will be up to your student to actively participate in these opportunities. No school is going to force your child to volunteer.
I got the impression “service” more than activism or social justice.
And when you go looking for this service value, not all schools have it. We had tours where the response was a dumbfounded look.
My husband and I were very impressed by the admissions presentation at Notre Dame which stressed students being a force for good. All while they were growing up, we told the kids that they had to volunteer for something and it could be anything they want. Just this morning, my daughter spent four hours helping a friend with his Eagle project. She is going to write an essay which talks about service, but there is a lot in her background that would not go into an essay: helping with church Halloween parties and Santa breakfasts and in the nursery, helping with library programs for younger children, working on projects at the high school… I am not a believer in tracking of service hours. It’s more a part of a person’s outlook on life than something you track and put on a resume, and we saw that at Notre Dame.
To my surprise, my daughter decided against applying to Purdue which has a very good engineering program. She wants to go to a college which offers engineering but her main interest is “fit”. I’ll look at Santa Clara.
@katrina1 What field of engineering is she interested in?
Tufts also has a commitment to be a force for good, but it’s also pretty political and social justice-y. I like their Engineers without Borders program: http://ase.tufts.edu/ewb/ It’s not a safety for anyone.
When we visited Georgetown the student newspaper had a (somewhat tongue in cheek) article about how to hide your alcohol. We don’t belong to a mainstream religion, and my son was not sure how well he’d fit in, though we liked that they were very open to many religions. He didn’t get in, so it was moot!
She is interested in civil engineering. I thought she’d be interested in some sort of materials engineering because she has taken blacksmithing and welding classes.
She is somewhat apolitical so service is more volunteering than lobbying.
She has her safety school. She’ll definitely get into the college which her older sister attends. What bothers me is she is only applying to one other college. She told me she doesn’t want to attend the college her sister is attending. She is more or less putting all her eggs in the Notre Dame basket. It would be nice if there were other schools she is considering.
I’ll look into Tufts.
If she isn’t going to be happy at here safety, she needs to find another safety and add to her list. It’s a recipe for disaster to be counting on one reach school.
If she is happy with the sister’s school as her only other option…that’s fine.
Plus, if she applies ED and doesn’t get accepted to ND, she can always toss out some other RD applications.
My SCU kid only applied to 3 schools initially. Two EA, and one rolling. She then tossed out two other applications…one in December and one in January.
But those first three were always her top choices, were affordable for us…and she had those acceptances before Christmas…two before Thanksgiving.
Well, ND had a 30% admit rate for early action last year. However, most of those slots were likely taken up by athletes, legacy, and questbridge, so if one is not in those groups, the admit rate is probably closer to 15%. Though your student’s stats are fine, it is always more likely than not that she will not be admitted. You might want to ask her again if she wants to consider more schools.