<p>I have received my college acceptances and I am trying to compare Boston College and Georgetown University.</p>
<p>Is Georgetown really as secular as everyone deems it to be? If so, is BC the same in that aspect? Do any practicing Catholics who attend these schools feel bothered by this? I have no prejudices against people with beliefs other than mine, but if I were to attend a Catholic college, I would prefer that it not try to downplay its Catholicism. I've read many posts about this topic on CC which lean more towards the "_____ is secular" opinion. I just want some clarification.</p>
<p>Also, any other reasons you think I should pick one of these colleges?</p>
<p>Boston College is a more conservative school (by that I mean more religious) than Georgetown. Georgetown is also a fairly religious school, but is sometimes cited as being less devout and conservative (politically as well as religiously) when directly compared to both Boston College and Catholic University (also in DC). Also, I have heard that historically, GU has at times, played down its catholicism as it always had a large contingent of Southern Protestants (from the former Confederacy States) who were comfortable sending their sons to Georgetown, but not to any former “Yankee” states. </p>
<p>As far as other reasons, here are two: 1) Boston is a better college town than DC, with more college students around, although BC students are not top dog in Boston, the way that GU students are in DC; 2) BC has more of a reputation as a party school than GU and GU students are a bit more academically and career focused; 3) BC is a better sports school, as GU students only support their basketball team; and 4) Both are great schools with very strong alumni networks.</p>
<p>Would you care to elaborate on how BC is “more religious” than GU? It seems that’s the common perception but I have yet to see anything written on this forum that would confirm it.</p>
<p>All I can think of is that BC has a Jesuit as president while GU has a layman, and that BC has the largest contigent of Jesuits in the world (yes, the world). But how that affects the day to day student experience has never been enunciated.</p>
<p>As for BC being less “career focused” – please! You cannot be serious.</p>
<p>I am not Catholic, but my observations are similar to Jacks. Sometimes, GU seems to go out of its way to downplay its Catholic connections. For example, if you walk into BC Law School, you are immediately aware that you are in a Catholic institution, as you would at Notre Dame, Catholic U, Villanova and many other laws schools with Catholic connections. Not so at Georgetown. Other than a small chapel in one of the buildings, you’d think you were at a completely non-sectarian university. </p>
<p>To be fair, religion is more apparent at Georgetown’s main campus. But I think that the law school demonstrates something about the school’s attitude toward religion.</p>
<p>I believe that the proportion of Catholic students at Georgetown is about 50% compared to about 80% at BC. Georgetown makes a special point of trying to be inviting to students of all faiths. For instance, they have Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim, and Mormon chaplains on campus.</p>
<p>I think BC is down to ~70% Catholic but, yes, GU definitely tries to downplay its heritage. (It almost has to, being in politically-correct DC). </p>
<p>BC has a large undergrad biz program, which is definitely career focused.</p>
<p>Think about it…GU would have a much harder time recruiting luminaries if it was dripping with religion (any religion).</p>
<p>And wrt to PC: even the-then Candidate Obama poked fun about folks “clinging to their religion…” in a derisive way. The local crowd roared. Draw your own conclusions. :)</p>
<p>I think it would be safe to say that Georgetown has more Ivy envy than BC does, and it has tailored its atmosphere to resemble the Ivies more than BC has. BC seems to know that it might overtake Tufts in the Boston-area pecking order, but overtaking Harvard or MIT isn’t realistically going to happen. So it seems content to strive to be the very best CATHOLIC university it can be. (I’m a BC grad, and have seen it go from decent nearly bankrupt regional school to a school that competes with some of the longtime national top-feeders for students.)</p>
<p>At this point, usually Tufts fans jump in and claim BC sucks, ignoring that it’s already closed the gap significantly in just a couple decades.</p>
<p>My sister currently attends Boston College and she absolutely loves it. She is a very religious person, but you don’t have to be to go there. BC has a lot religious programs that she has enjoyed, and she even helped run Kairos 100 (or some crazy number like that). She says that she’s met a lot of people with similar values as hers, developed great relationships with the Jesuits, and a large number of students regularly attend mass at 10 pm every Sunday. </p>
<p>She’s also noticed severe differences between BC and other schools, morality wise. For example, we visited Rice this summer to visit a friend of hers (and I was looking), and she was shocked (and somewhat appalled) that contraceptives were openly handed out by the school. Probably common elsewhere, but something you definitely would not find at BC (I have no idea about what the case is at GU). </p>
<p>I would suggest visiting for accepted students day and checking them both out. My sister got a lot more information from accepted students day than you can get out of the tour (and both of my parents are alumni so you think she would’ve know it already).</p>
<p>If I were you I would choose BC - there’s nothing like being in Boston, surrounded by the city and other colleges. And if you care, BC has D1 football - I won’t say they’re the best, but the students really get into it, and I’ve heard it can be a ton of fun to tailgate and sit in the student section at a BC game (basketball as well). They also play in the Bean Pot, and their hockey team is really good.</p>
<p>lol what? so youre saying that because the administration acknowledges the fact that students are having sex and are trying to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies (they have sex at BC, too…), that makes them less moral? its 2011 for gods sake</p>
<p>The point being made is that private non-sectarian schools are usually not based on any detailed moral principles, whereas a Catholic university would be. There is a difference between accepting the fact that students have sex and handing out condoms and implicitly condoning it. Students are going to drink beer too, but that doesn’t mean a college is antiquated if it isn’t handing out frosted mugs, barf buckets, and aspirin.</p>
<p>“…and she was shocked (and somewhat appalled) that contraceptives were openly handed out by the school. Probably common elsewhere, but something you definitely would not find at BC.”</p>
<p>This is a policy of BC’s that is patently absurd. The idea that the only allowable contraceptive is the “rhythm method” is like saying it’s alright to have sex with one’s wife/husband (or in the case of most students - girlfriend/boyfriend) for reason’s other than procreation only when the woman is not ovulating, which allows that sex is pursued for pleasure yet we may not construct artificial means of ensuring that no baby will result, only a naturaL one. This kind of adherence to dogma is impossibly restrictive and is probably a major reason some have for leaving the Church.</p>
<p>HIV was first diagnosed and reported in 1981. Handing out free condoms on college campuses has been standard operating procedure since around . . . oh, 1982. The only schools at which you would not find that this is the norm would be certain religiously-affiliated colleges. Considering that 78% of college students are sexually active, it’s pretty shocking that those colleges would prefer to see their students die than generate controversy within their denominations.</p>
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<p>I don’t think that GU is being merely opportunistic and I’m quite certain that it isn’t ashamed of its Jesuit roots. It was founded by Bishop John Carroll, who as a Catholic had no educational options available to him in the American Colonies or England, and had to attend the College of St. Omer in France. When he established a Catholic university in America he was determined that it be accessible to all faiths.</p>
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<p>Not in the case of higher education. Cling to your religion all you like in other aspects of your life, but if you’re going to be educated for the 21st century, you’d better have exposure to all viewpoints, perspectives and faiths.</p>
<p>Georgetown, Notre Dame and Holy Cross have been the best academic schools with national student bodies. Villanova and Boston College have transformed from regional schools to more national ones in the last 25 years. Agree that Gtown is more secular as demonstrated by non-Jesuit President.</p>
<p>I’m saying that the Catholic Church is against the use of contraceptives and Boston College will maintain this stance regardless of what is going on in 2011.</p>
<p>I’m not saying anything is wrong with handing out contraceptives, I’m just stating that because BC is a Catholic university they don’t.</p>