<p>I am Catholic, but I am concerned about the lack of diversity (not necessarily racial, more in background/type of person) in Catholic colleges/universities. I would love to go to a Catholic school, but I don't think it would be good to be surrounded by people who are all very much like me (white/Catholic/upper-middle class/relatively preppy), which it seems most Catholic schools I have visited are filled with. I would be fine with attending a non-religious university that has a thriving Newman society/Catholic club or organization of some kind. Any personal experience with this or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I forgot to add, my current SAT score is 2210, GPA over 4.0, so I am looking at the top tier of schools, so any recommendations for that academic level would be great! 
</p>
<p>I mean Georgetown is Catholic but it’s not hard to find non-stereotypical people.</p>
<p>Cost constraints?</p>
<p>Whenever we visit campuses, we check out the Catholic Student Center and attend mass if we can and always investigate the organization online as well. Consider the location on campus especially if you do not have a car. You can get a good idea of the programming offered and how active the group is by doing this. I would suggest adding this to your top priorities when researching and visiting schools if this is important to you. It will definitely impact your day to day life and happiness on any campus if this is important to you. Some that we’ve seen that did seem especially strong are UNC Chapel Hill, Clemson, Vandy, FSU, Alabama, UVa, and Pitt. If you are looking at southern schools, consider the percentage of OOS, that directly impacts the numbers of catholic students on campus. </p>
<p>How much will your parents pay per year?</p>
<p>What is your major? Career goal?</p>
<p><<<<
Some that we’ve seen that did seem especially strong are UNC Chapel Hill, Clemson, Vandy, FSU, Alabama, UVa, and Pitt. If you are looking at southern schools, consider the percentage of OOS, that directly impacts the numbers of catholic students on campus.
<<<<<</p>
<p>^^^ This is very true. </p>
<p>Eyeball assessment: Georgetown’s just about as Catholic, white, uppermiddle class, and homogenous as it was 35 years ago when I started trolling their campus. </p>
<p>@SpaceCoastMom thank you, those are great suggestions! I will try to plan to visit the specific Catholic organizations while visiting campuses. And thank you for the school suggestions…but what does OOS mean? I am pretty new here so I don’t have the lingo down…</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids Some merit money would be good, but I plan on choosing my favorite school and taking out as many loans as I need to to pay for it (not a practical thing to do, but I want to have the best experience possible.) My parents haven’t set a limit but they would love to see some scholarship money! As for major, I really don’t know. I am thinking something to do with English/writing, but I have also considered becoming a surgeon…very different fields, but I don’t know yet</p>
<p>You can only borrow $5.500 your freshman year, and the amount only goes up to $7500 your senior year. Unless your parents are willing and qualified to co-sign. Go to the financial aid threads and look for schools with good merit scholarships. Look on school websites to see if they offer Catholic chaplains and mass on campus as a starting point.</p>
<p>There are a lot of Jesuit colleges that are fairly diverse and have a lot of non Catholic kids attending because they appreciate the whole person approach to education. </p>
<p>You might want to consider some excellent Jesuit schools where you could qualify for merit aid. You really don’t want to overload yourself with debt. As just one example, my S went to Fordham (where you would likely get merit aid), got a fantastic education, met great people, and experienced NYC.</p>
<p>I live nearby Saint Louis University, they are a Jesuit school, but I know a people from a very wide variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds attending. I don’t have the actual statistics with me, but that in addition to St. Louis being a city with a relatively higher Russian, African-American, and Asian populations, there is inherently some diversity on-campus as well as in the general city area. They require everyone to take a religious class (not necessarily catholic, could be like “Religions of the World” or something, I think they just call it Foundations of Theology), and nobody is required to go to church or something, but it is offered on campus.</p>
<p>The need-based aid is sort of weak at SLU, but the average stats are somewhat lower than other “big-name” universities, so you may qualify for some merit aid.</p>
<p>SLU is also very close to Wash U.</p>
<p>I think a more important question to be asking is to find a school that you can afford, as well as one that offers your intended major.</p>
<p>Might look at Duke, Northwestern and Vandy. Among Jesuit schools, Holy Cross has great conbination of academics and social life. HC also has decent diversity anf very good alumni network.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for the suggestions. Does anyone out there have any personal experience with being a practicing Catholic or person of another faith at a non-religious school?</p>
<p>I agree with the suggestion to look at Jesuit schools. Not sure where you live or if you prefer a particular part of the country where you would like to go to school? UIUC has a Newman Hall - a co ed dorm housing 800 plus students - sort of a small catholic school/environment within a large university. I’ve heard nice things from students living there.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that there will be students even at Jesuit and other Catholic schools are not Catholic or are not not practicing Catholics. My college roommate went to mass every morning at Newman Center and was very happy at our non-sectarian school. That said, if you want your religion to play a big part in your college experience you may find more opportunity to do so at a Catholic university. You should explore all your options and see where you feel comfortable. </p>
<p>OOS means Out of State. </p>
<p>We live in AL, which has a small overall percentage of Catholics state-wide, but plenty of clusters. My DD1 goes to UAB (UA-Birmingham) and has a very active Catholic experience with local church and Newman activities. DD2 will be going to UA (Tuscaloosa) in the fall - friends’ children have gone to UA. Church is on UA campus, very convenient. Both are in the Diocese of Birmingham, which is the same Diocese as our home. These two schools are about 50 miles apart.</p>
<p>When I lived in Texas, I got a graduate degree at Texas A & M, which has a huge Catholic population.</p>
<p>Catholic Digest has some Catholic schools with summer immersion programs described and listed in the March 2014 issue. Sept 2013 issue had the 2013 Catholic Digest College Guide.</p>
<p>In addition to checking out the Jesuit schools, check out the ones in your region of the country and also use other guides to learn more about various schools and the other facets such as automatic and other scholarships.</p>
<p>Desire to keep strong in your Catholic faith and have some people around you that you can share faith experiences can be experienced at many schools </p>
<p>My very Protestant daughter went to a Catholic college and loved it. She and the priest were great friends and discussed many theological issues, and she attended mass frequently although he refused to allow her to participate in the sacraments. She and three (Catholic, one now a novice nun) helped him to establish a faith-based (non-sectarian) residential community in one of the dorms. As an RA, one of her monthly assignments for the hall bulletin board was Catholic Identity. The nuns loved what she did - including a picture of Martin Luther in the bottom corner captioned “Protestants are people too”…</p>
<p>^ Very clever. I like that.</p>
<p>thank you everyone! there are so many places to consider, the personal experiences are helpful!</p>