Hi all,
I am considering applying to Georgetown and I had some concerns over its religious affiliation. I have many Catholic friends, but I do not want to attend a school where a religious presence is overbearing. I visited Boston College and the Jesuit influence was rather overwhelming for someone who comes from a non-religious half Jewish half Protestant family. Georgetown seems like an awesome place to go to school, but because of this, I have some concerns.
You have to decide, but BC and Georgetown are both Jesuit schools and likely if you find BC too religious, you’ll find Georgetown that way too. If you just don’t like that there are religious symbols, masses, religious faculty, crucifixes around the school, those things won’t change.
Before you dismiss them, think about what you are worried about. If it is being converted, don’t worry about it. You will have plenty of opportunities to explore many religions, practice your own, or learn about other religions. You will have to do service projects because that’s part of the Jesuit mission. Many many options.
Not at all.
Not at all. CINO (Catholic In Name Only).
As a Catholic, I find that so sad.
They’ll take a Catholic position only insofar as it aligns with left-wing politics.
CINO - don’t agree with that characterization at all. The Jesuit influence is definitely felt on campus, and while no one is pushing Catholicism on you, two religion classes are required, and plenty of students attend one of the numerous Sunday masses. As with all the Jesuit schools, service, tolerance and equality are a focus. .Georgetown may have a smaller % of Catholic students than BC, but it is most definitely a Catholic school
I don’t think Ms. Flake found that to be true when she tried to get their stance on birth control changed. The school did not change its position and still doesn’t provide birth control on-campus.
Georgetown is not catholic in name only.
Agree with @twoinanddone. BC and Georgetown are essentially the same place, as are the other 20-some-odd Jesuit institutions in the country. But because of location and US News’ fawning rankings, there seems to be a concerted effort to paint Georgetown as less Catholic in some circles. It just ain’t so.
" I have many Catholic friends, but I do not want to attend a school where a religious presence is overbearing. "
I strongly disagree with the above posters. You will be fine at Georgetown. The religious presence in NOT overbearing. Don’t let these uninformed posters put you off (particularly when GU has so many other excellent attributes (top academics, location, campus life and specific stellar programmes). We have visited pretty much all of the top Catholic Universities (my DD is an incoming frosh at GU) and GU is easily the least Catholic of the schools that we visited. The most Catholic by far is Notre Dame, which we found so oppressively Catholic and religiously conservative that we did not even finish the tour).
Historically, GU has downplayed its Catholicism as it has always had a very large non-Catholic population (including Jewish students, internationals and Southern students). GU currently has a large population of UK and other Western European students, who tend to not be very religious. The Jesuit tradition is generally very inclusive of all religions and atheists anyway.
The one aspect that I found unique about GU is that all of the Freshman dorms have a chaplain on each floor, but I believe that the majority of them are non-Catholic and it was mentioned that they have rabbis, Protestant ministers, imans, as well as Hindu and Buddhist priests. I spoke to a student about this when I was at admitted students day who volunteered how helpful the Iman on his floor was when the student was having problems adjusting to college life.
If we had found GU overtly Catholic a la Notre Dame, my daughter would have not decided to go there.
@londondad You can have your opinions without resorting to calling others 'uninformed ’ I agree that none of the Jesuit schools are overbearingly Catholic. They all are inclusive and non Catholic kids can find a place at them. But if the OP found BC too Catholic, Georgetown may strike him the same way. G’town is more diverse than BC, so he will find more non Catholics, but if the iconography bothered him at BC, it may bother him at G’town too. None of the Jesuit schools are going to be secular, but they will feel less religious than Notre Dame
OP used the term overbearing. Let’s not call people uninformed. And carrying on about “overtly Catholic” and “oppressively Catholic” could be offensive to some.
@wisteria100 Thanks for the reply. I am not sure whether any of the other posters are “informed”, although you are right that everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I have visited both GU and BC several times (DD was accepted to both and my son applied to BC). I do think that BC does feel a bit more Catholic in its day-to-day life than GU (although I can’t really put my finger on why) and definitely has a higher percentage of middle-class East Coast Catholic students. I also believe that GU is definitely academically stronger than BC.
“the iconography bothered him at BC,”
I did not infer from the OP that the iconography bothered him/her.
@Mikemargo11 “Georgetown seems like an awesome place to go to school, but because of this, I have some concerns.”
I would recommend that you visit GU, and ask the adcoms about your concerns while you are there. Also, you should try and speak to some of GU’s non-Christian students to see what their views are on this topic.
Thank you everyone for your valuable feedback. Just to be clear, I am not Catholic and do not plan on becomming Catholic, but I am accepting of all beliefs. The iconography at BC added to the Catholic feel, but I can get used to it if needed. I ask that everyone stop arguing over things that I haven’t even said and take a step back to understand that I just want to know about the school and have no interest in starting a religious war in the comments.
While there are crucifixes at Georgetown, it is not a “religious” university and each year there are fewer and fewer Jesuits on campus due to their declining numbers. It is not a seminary and is not at all like Brigham Young or Pepperdine. Non-Catholics are welcomed. And while you cannot get birth control at the stores on campus, you need only walk 10 minutes to a pharmacy, which is what most students do.
There also is irony in the fact that Georgetown has been attacked by many Catholics for being too secular.
It’s not very religious. Yes, there are crosses on buildings and in some classrooms, and yes, the administration talks about it. But all in all, the administration talks about it way more than the student body does. The theology classes you take don’t need to be related to Catholicism at all. Jesuit values manifest themselves in a more philanthropic way (basically be a good person and do good for others) than religious way. As a Jewish student, I can say that I have had very very very few issues with Georgetown’s religious affiliation.
Agreed. I’m not catholic at all but I’ve never once felt that Georgetown was overwhelmingly pushy or in my face about its catholic affiliation. Yes there are priests and crucifixes and chaplains but I’ve found that Georgetown’s religious affiliation almost feels more spiritual than anything else. There’s a huge emphasis on living life with the intent to do good and I think that really adds something special to the campus community.
" It is not a seminary and is not at all like Brigham Young or Pepperdine. "
@exlibris97 makes a great point. GU is not similar to Pepperdine, BYU, Liberty U and similar religious universities (Baylor?). The Catholic universities closest to those models are schools such as Notre Dame and Catholic U.
@londondad Notre Dame is in no way similar to BYU and Liberty.
^ Really? That was the impression we all felt when we visited. We found Notre Dame to be a strange place and my family is Catholic. Anyway, my point was essentially that ND and Catholic U are a lot more like those above schools than GU is.