<p>Well, I'm a rising junior beginning to seriously compile my college list. I know I'm interested in political science, and obviously Georgetown would be a great place to go for opportunities in politics.</p>
<p>Anyway, I know Georgetown is a Jesuit school, and as an agnostic/atheist myself, I'm wondering, will I feel completely shut out? Is Georgetown's religious affiliation important to everyday life there?</p>
<p>Also, while I'm on the subject, is it true that Georgetown tends to be a conservative school? If so, how open is it to other viewpoints? (I tend to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal myself.)</p>
<p>The Society of Jesus is perhaps the most liberal of Catholic orders.
The Jesuits have been the forerunners of higher education and scholarly dissertation throughout modern European history.</p>
<p>You won't feel "shut out." This isn't the age of the Inquisition.</p>
<p>Students who have the willingness to attend mass may do so on a daily basis. The school itself is not conservative. Much of the student body may be, however. And, as I've addressed above, given its Jesuit identity, Georgetown is a very open school.</p>
<p>It's more conservative than most schools but not repressively so. On the grand scheme of things I would call it more moderate than anything.</p>
<p>From what I understand the Catholic affiliation is not a big part of everyday life and that the schools makes major efforts to allow students every opportunity to maintain their own beliefs.</p>
<p>So Georgetown is fairly moderate in regards to both religious and political ideals? That works for me. I'll keep it high on my list; thanks for clearing those couple questions up!</p>
<p>i visited Georgetown myself and the tour guide specifically said that there are many atheists that go to Georgetown and that they don't feel out of place at all.</p>
<p>Georgetown is infamous among Catholics for trying like crazy to ignore its Catholicism, so I think you'd have to go out of your way to feel cramped by it. Looks to me like they are leaning secular in an attempt to score an invite to the Ivy League.</p>
<p>^they more likely lean secular as being overly religious would limit the applicant pool and would make it difficult to have a diverse student body, and they, as with most prominent Jesuit schools, simply are not a religious school in the sense that many of the protestant ones are, they are affiliated with the church yes, but their primary goal is to educate people in general, not to educate Christians. The ivy league isn't exactly looking to expand...</p>
<p>to tour guide
when i went to georgetown the admissions officer stated that georgetown was actually invited to join the ivy league but they rejected the invitation. So i doubt<br>
they want to be ivy league.</p>
<p>Georgetown is probably the only Catholic school on the planet to have its own campus rabbi and campus imam. It's founder, John Carroll, started it because as a Catholic in the 18th century he'd had to go to a European university, and he wanted to create an American university that wouldn't discriminate on the basis of religion. You'll take a couple of religion courses there - otherwise, you shouldn't feel any religious pressure to conform.</p>