<p>One of the first things I noticed about Georgetown was that it labels itself as a Jesuit school. As an ardent Buddhist, I almost didn't apply until I found out that they had quite a few campus ministries of other faiths. Then I figured it was an openminded school for all sorts of diverse groups of people, and after further research about more specifics, I consequently fell in love with Georgetown and have turned in an EA application to NHS.</p>
<p>But I'm wondering, does the religion you put down either boost or hurt your chances of acceptance? What if you said you were Muslim? Jewish? Aetheist? Hindu? Mormon?Zoroastrian?</p>
<p>Does it matter? Or do they just ask cuz they're curious?</p>
<p>also, how does the religious aspect of the school play into its academics? Does it or not at all? Are there like campus masses and required theology classes or is the Jesuit part more of a label?</p>
<p>No. There are two major purposes of the religion question: 1)So Georgetown has a better idea of the religious makeup of its student body and 2)If you get accepted EA, Georgetown knows what kind of card to send you ("Happy Holidays" v. "Merry Christmas").</p>
<p>If you're really interested in the degree of religious diversity at Georgetown, I'd encourage you to look into the following publication exploring Georgetown undergraduates' views on religion: <a href="http://berkleycenterdata.org/documents/undergrad_survey_final.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://berkleycenterdata.org/documents/undergrad_survey_final.pdf</a></p>
<p>You might be surprised to learn that:
*35% of Georgetown students report themselves as atheist, agnostic, or "spiritual but not religious" (10,12, and 13 percent respectively)
*Only about a third of Georgetown identifies as catholic
*Other Christians make up about 20% of the population
*A narrow majority of respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement "I consider myself deeply religious"
*60% of the student body agrees or strongly agrees with the statement "I discuss religion with my friends regularly"</p>
<p>Specific to Buddhism:
*Georgetown has a very small Buddhist population. Of 460 respondents, only one self-identified as Buddhist. You could double the population! (As an aside, some of the more opportunistic may claim that stressing your Buddhism, and possibly reminding them of this study, could markedly increase your chances if they think you'll add diversity to Georgetown's intellectual atmosphere. Not saying I necessarily agree with that, but as this is CC, it probably is worth noting.)
*Buddhism were rated higher than any other religion in terms of seeking peaceful dispute resolution and in terms of tolerance. On most other measures, Buddhism usually came in 2nd to Christianity or 3rd to Christianity and Judaism in terms of favorable impressions of a given dimension.
*about 60% of respondents reported considerable knowledge of Buddhism, compared to around 63% for Christianity
*When tested on a battery of 5 questions about Buddhism, the average correct response rate was about 68%, compared to the high 70's for Christianity and Hinduism.</p>
<p>I encourage anyone curious about religion at Georgetown to check the study out.</p>
<p>As to classes, each Georgetown Student is required to take two philosophy, and two theology courses. The first theology course is your choice between either the "Problem of God" (which takes too many varying formats to be able to summarize) or "Intro to Biblical literature." The second theology is your choice, and ranges all over, from "Theology of Love" (THEO 016), to "Tibbettan Buddhism" (THEO 056) to "Intro to Catholic Theology" (THEO 022).</p>
<p>There was a spot on the application to indicate religion? Did I miss something? I applied online... I don't think that makes a difference but who knows.</p>
<p>"Are there like campus masses and required theology classes or is the Jesuit part more of a label?"</p>
<p>Have you looked at the Georgetown program?</p>