BC is looking to increase diversity. One way to do that is to become a Questbridge partner which BC did this year. Questbridge requires a school have ED.
“Questbridge requires a school have ED.”
Does it? Princeton (a QuestBridge partner), for example, does not offer ED.
@taverngirl @Lindagaf well if either of you have ideas as to how to convince a teenager who hasn’t been raised with a smidge of religion to go to a college named Holy Cross, then let me know. Lots of colleges out there and I think that’s just a hard sell. I’m sure it’s a great place but I don’t see that happening. As for a BC or a Villanova, they are bigger and we know non-catholic kids at both but I’ve said a number of times that the religious aspect (no matter how low key) isn’t ideal. Since she wants to look at medium sized schools where she has half a chance, we have a few of those on the list but we need to visit to see what she thinks.
Clearly quoting isn’t working today.
@merc81 That BCheights article linked above cites the QB and ED requirement…but I agree there are non-ED schools that are QB partners, so clearly that’s not the case.
Maybe those Ivies get a pass 
MIT and Cal Tech too!
@homerdog our girls seems to have a lot in common! I asked her about touring St. Joe’s in Philly. “I don’t want to go anywhere with the name Saint in it”. LOL I didn’t bring up Holy Cross!
Princeton University has SCEA which, while not ED, is more restrictive than EA.
@NJWrestlingmom If I thought she would be happy to be among a very predominant class of Catholics, we’d be all over Notre Dame. Close to home, tons of school spirit, lots of job cred in Chicago. We send at least a dozen kids there each year but all Catholic from what I know except our neighbor who is Episcopalian and, when I talked to her last, she said she wished she knew how Catholic Notre Dame was. It was everything I could do to not laugh out loud. Did she visit? Doesn’t get much more Catholic that Notre Dame, but it would be a very good fit for our D otherwise.
@homerdog My family are die hard Notre Dame fans! You know - the kind who never went to school there, but grandparents are off the boat from Ireland and it was always Go Irish!!! S17 would never get it; D21 has no desire! Her uncle’s brother is a professor there - I’m still working on a fall tour to see a football game! Who cares if she applies??? LOL
The kids who attended from our school were muslim.
@roycroftmom: Was it because Notre Dame is clearly a school with a school culture that respects & reveres religion and religious practices ?
Yes, it was, @Publisher. They felt that school respected faith practioners, regardless of which faith, and since they would be in the religious minority regardless of which they attended, it made sense to apply. They seem happy there.
My D, who was raised Catholic but had been rejecting organized religion since high school years, attends a Jesuit school happily. She enjoys the Jesuit philosophy and does not participate in anything “religious” at school (unless you count the Christmas tree lighting) and same with all of her friends. A close friend’s D who did not want ANY religious schools chose Loyola Chicago.
How was this accomplished? I think for the most part, parent not saying anything, visiting and letting the student see and decide, and ask the questions (ask your student tour guide about religious presence and/or pressure). How did we get these girls to even visit in the first place? Good question…I think the schools ticked the other boxes so it was a “let’s just check it out and see” kind of scenario.
I totally understand the hurdle that the name Holy Cross and any “Saint” presents. So many options, really it’s OK to have reasons to cross schools off the list! My son, when I broached Holy Cross, said “no MA schools” LOL. By that time we had a good, balanced list, so fine.
FYI, the 25/75 ACT score at ND is 33-35.
Also, the rough breakdown of religious affiliation is 80% Catholic and 20% other religions.
@sushiritto oh I know. D not in any position to apply to any school with that ACT range.
My mother, who was raised in Pakistan, did all her primary education and A/O levels at private Catholic schools in Karachi. Many Muslim families trust and prefer private Catholic schools. I think it’s because of the strictness and discipline maybe? I’m first generation US born and a product of the public school system, but if my mother could have afforded it, she would have totally sent me to a private Catholic school. I have a lot of friends who have their kids enrolled in private parochial schools here in Dallas (Catholic/Episcopalian)…two that I know of that graduated from Jesuit (probate boys high school) applied to BC & Notre Dame, but they both ended up at SMU lol.
@homerdog If your D is still thinking seriously about Davidson, she should consider applying to Davidson’s wonderful pre-college July Experience program https://www.davidson.edu/offices-and-services/july-experience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkqutEFlekI). My D w/likely a slightly weaker academic profile to yours attended JE, enjoyed her 2 classes taught by Davidson professors and had a fabulous 3 weeks there. She also gained invaluable insight into the college application process at workshops led by Davidson’s admissions officers and applied ED and got in. We were told unofficially on the very first day by a couple Davidson student counselors that JE students who later apply ED had an extremely good chance of being admitted. At the time we took that with a grain of salt but found it to be true for most of my D’s July Experience friends who applied.
@lloyddobler85 : The University of Pennsylvania used to have a similiar approach with students who attended its summer program for high school juniors–although it involved an additional step of hiring UPenn-Wharton personnel as private college counselors.
Our rabbi went to Georgetown and had a great experience!