<p>My son is jewish and considering BC. would like to know what it is like being a jewish student at BC. Is there acceptance/ inclusiveness? Would my son be known as a "jewish kid" or is one's religion unimportant to students on campus? Is the hillel active? I welcome all comments. Thank you</p>
<p>I can't speak for BC, but my sister attended College of the Holy Cross, which is also a Jesuit university and a local rival to BC.</p>
<p>While my family is Catholic, I was always under the impression that while religion is a part of Holy Cross's identity, the professors are more interested in students who want to learn. Jesuits are among the most open-minded, liberal thinking religious orders I know. I know a bunch of people at Holy Cross who are not Catholic, and my sister's roommate was half-Jewish from a religiously apathetic family. I was told by another friend that people who held no interest in baseball would be more dubiously regarded at Holy Cross than an atheist.</p>
<p>I would be shocked if a Jewish student attending either college found his or her religion to hinder any sort of social activities beyond a certain asynchrony in the timing of holidays and weekly services.</p>
<p>BC's reputation beyond its identity of a Catholic school, and the number of non-Catholic students who attend is probably the best answer to your question.</p>
<p>ethan: have always thought that attending BC as a Jewish student would be fine....just make sure you understand that there has recently been a controversy regarding placement of crosses in classrooms....the article was in another BC thread and in the Boston Globe.....</p>
<p>BC is mentioned specifically here:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/638960-jewish-catholic-university-america.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/638960-jewish-catholic-university-america.html</a></p>
<p>I'm not sure about BC, but the surrounding areas of Newton and Brookline both have pretty large jewish populations (a nickname for Newton is Jewton).</p>
<p>I think Boston College is catholic by tradition, but not REALLY all that much of a catholic school. It's got jesuit history in its founding, but it's pretty diverse ethnically, and all I know is you're required to take 2 courses in religion, presumably christianity/catholicism--but it's not as if you'll be discriminated against or forced into some religion. Most Catholic colleges are pretty secular now--unlike most protestant christian colleges, baptist ones especially. I have a friend who attended, and he's ethnically Chinese and an atheist.</p>
<p>Boston College is an excellent school in a great neighborhood. Most locals consider the area to be predominently Jewish; however, I'm not sure that's statistically the case. The students at Boston College are ethnically diverse and accepting of all backgrounds, from my experience. Boston is a great multi-cultural town; although I think BC is technically in Newton or Chestnut Hill. Newton was named as one of the safest towns in the U.S. by some national magazine a few years back. Also....BC has a strong alumni, even for single Eagles.</p>
<p>Actuall the largest number of Jesuits (A Catholic order of priests) anywhere in the world resides at Boston College. I learned this on a tour of the campus in 2007. They also just recently put crucifixes back up in all of the classrooms. It is unquestionably a Catholic Jesuit college but like all Jesuit colleges (such as Goegretown, Holy Cross, Fordham, etc) they are welcoming of students of all faiths or none at all. But Catholic services including Mass, Chaplains office, Retreats and Faith-based organizations are easily accessible and the majority of the student poulation will be Catholic.</p>
<p>As a current student who is half-Jewish, it is not a problem at all. One of my best friends is Jewish, and he LOVES BC and has never felt unwelcome or anything like that. There is no anti-semitism at all on campus, and there is an active Hillel chapter at BC. They have Shabbat dinner every week together and go to Temple somewhere in Newton in addition to events around Holidays, etc. Yes there are priests on campus, and yes there are crosses in classrooms and the architecture of the main buildings is such that many of them look like churches. But that is as far as the Catholicism at BC goes unless you make an effort to get more involved with Catholic activities here. There are many factors that go into whether or not BC is the right school for your son, but his religious affiliation being different from that of the school should not be one of them. In fact, if he went here, one of the courses he could take to fulfill his theology requirement is a comparison of Christianity and Judaism. BC also has a Jewish studies minor and offers Hebrew as one of the languages taught on campus. Your son would absolutely not be known as the "Jewish kid", just as another BC student. If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to ask me.</p>
<p>If your family remotely cares about Judaism, they would not send a kid to BC.</p>
<p>I am in a similar situation with a Jewish son considering BC. I searched the web and found your thread from 2009. Where did your son ultimately choose? What had he learned about being Jewish at BC?</p>