Ok, sounds like you got a lot of bad advice about Catholic schools. I am a conservative, devout, practicing Catholic. But I am politically libertarian. (notice the lower case). Notre Dame is not a school that practices its Catholic heritage. They feed off of their reputation as the largest Catholic college in the US, but they are too enamored with academia to stick to their faith.
Strong Catholic safeties: Franciscan University of Steubenville (OH). Ave Maria (FL). Catholic University of America (DC) I posted a link to the Cardinal Newman Society. Lots of good info there for a strong Catholic.
You will be hard pressed to find too many of the âTopâ schools among the more conservative colleges because there are too few young people who want to live a moral life. Most of us went through phases in our lives when we fell to temptation and lived sinful lives. I applaud your desire to resist that temptation. I wish I would have had your strength when I was young.
@Torveauxâ. It is a pleasant surprise to find someone with similar opinions. Thanks for the recommendations and for the compliment. This desire to avoid sin is mostly thanks to my parents and how they have formed me, rather than to my own merits, so it is somewhat undeserved. By the way, do you know much about Christendom College? Would you recommend it too?
@Torveaux, just because others are not conservative Catholics or follow similar conservative doctrines/ideologies does not mean they are not living a âmoral life.â
^If youâre willing to look outside the Top 50, there are lots of Catholic colleges that are conservative. Catholic University in DC is THE official university of Catholic doctrine, which permeates all teachings. But itâs nowhere near the top 50.
You may however want to have Catholic university as a safety. Even if youâre a very devout catholic, St Francis Steubenville and Ave Maria arenât quite good enough for a kid aiming at the Top 20, even for safeties - their faith is in synch with the papal bullae, but their academics are better for students in the 2.5-3.0 GPA range, not for Questbridge/Ivy level applicants. OP wouldnât be challenged in any way at these two universities (and not very much at Catholic, but at least it has the honor of being âtheâ Catholic university, the only one officially approved by the Holy See; something the other two donât have, and Catholic has more extensive academic offerings and a greater concentration of good students.)
Is it that common these days to âsexileâ dorm roommates? Didnât seem to be too common when I was in college.
The OP may want to consider the distinction between personal behavior versus political beliefs. Some people are personally conservative in their behavior do not adhere to social conservatism politically, while some people adhere to social conservatism are not personally conservative.
An example of the distinction is that black and Asian people tend to be more personally conservative with respect to alcohol consumption, but are less likely to adhere to social conservatism politically.
Maybe Howard? Youâd probably get a large automatic scholarship there, and most of the residence halls do not allow overnight visitation. Most of the students are black, so there is the possibility of lower alcohol consumption there (but that should be investigated).
I canât believe someone would recommend Franciscan for a student who is wanting a top school. Yes, Franciscan certainly meets the devout Catholic criteria, but academically itâs below what this student should be considering even as a safety. I canât see OP happy at a school with students with average SATs in the 500 range. Although they might offer LOTS of aid to bump their stats up! No, Notre Dame isnât as âCatholicâ, but itâs the best compromise of Catholic and academically challenging. I know a number of ND students who cover a broad range of the Catholic spectrum. OP would find plenty of like-minded students there, as well as plenty of liberals. The Catholic University of America makes sense to look at, but I canât see OP happy with most of the other schools on the Newman Society list from an academic standpoint.
Another thing to note is that Dartmouth was mentioned previously. Dartmouth has a very heavy fraternity (and sorority) presence. Fraternities have a reputation of being politically more conservative, but their reputation in terms of personal behavior tends to be the opposite (e.g. heavier alcohol use, and attendant indiscretions that seem to occur when people get drunk). So this is another example of where political viewpoints and personal behavior may diverge, so the OP needs to be careful in what he is actually looking for.
Funnily enough, though Darthmouth keeps being tossed around as the conservative choice, it has the (in my opinion) strongest alcohol culture.
OP canât have his cake and eat it too. Politically conservative schools (or just less liberal ones) still engage heavily in college-antics. OP is looking for a school that is prestigious, conservative politically, and reserved in their actions. Somethingâs gonna have to give here.
I think OPâs best bet outside of Notre Dame is a not-especially-conservative school, not-especially-liberal school, rather a moderate school or a school thatâs not especially political, but has substance-free dorms/healthy living dorms, preferably with singles or suite-style housing. Itâd guarantee quiet dorms with as little uncouth behavior as possible on a college campus, while keeping OPâs options open (since s/he needs to cast a wide net financially), and would ensure thereâs a wide variety of beliefs and opinions discussed.
Perhaps the best deeply conservative Catholic college is the University of Dallas. Better than Franciscan-Steubenville, Christendom College (which is a liberal arts college of fewer than 500 students â in total), or Ava Maria.
The best conservative Catholic liberal arts college is Thomas Aquinas College in California, but like Christendom has fewer than 500 students.
Since finances are an issue, perhaps take a look at College of the Ozarks in Missouri. Very conservative Christian (protestant evangelical). Tuition is free, but you have to work 15 hours per week. One problem with Catholic colleges is that they tend be rather skimpy with financial aid.
OP, I do not know anything about Christendom other than it is one of the colleges recommended in the article I posted. I did not mention UDallas (I live in the area) because you had mentioned not wanting to be in the South. My son has done summer programs there and I am familiar with many grads from UD. It may suit your needs as well. As NROTCgrad mentioned, TAMU is as conservative as you could expect a public university to be and has a very active Catholic community. It is also a highly rated academic institution. There are a lot of kids there who party like rock stars though, too.
As for the hatersâŠFranciscan may not be an Ivy, but it is hardly the low end school it is portrayed as. It is true that you will not be surrounded by NMS students, but the attributes attributed to it by posters above are sadly misinformed. You will often find lower scores and grades among schools that are not as popular because to keep the doors open they must have a broader base. That does not correlate with a lesser education, it simply means your peer group will be more diverse academically. For some, that is a deal breaker. I just wanted the OP to know about actual conservative Catholic options as he expressed interest in that area. Ultimately, he will need to find his own best fit between academic reputation and his own value system.
No qualification that one be Catholic or conservative to be moral. The point is that the typical 18-22 year old is not primarily concerned with their moral compass when choosing a college. Most of us were too strongly ruled by hormones or peer pressure to put our spiritual or moral lives ahead of having fun. No judgment on any of them. Note the inclusive language as I was just a typical teen-age boy entering college myself once.
There are strong conservative elements at all the Ivies. Câmon, are some assuming only liberals can be smart, top performing and driven? As someone said, look at the campus groups and events, incl the religious organizations. If you get a roommate with different views (and that can mean from any part of the world or SES, too,) you do what everyone else does: you try to get along and come up with a plan to live harmoniously (thereâs a principle for you.) if you need quiet, you ask for a quiet or substance-free dorm.
Most kids on campuses find their types. My kids went to a granola/activist rep school and were surprised at the strengths of the conservatives on campus. You really need to dig deeper.
Most schools with a graduate presence have plenty of quieter students and activities. And no, adcoms donât look askance at conservatives.