<p>I understand that Santa Clara is a Jesuit University, but how much does the religion manifest itself within the campus? I know it is a very good school and I am applying regardless, but the idea of a school being heavily influenced by religion is a bit of a turn-off in my brain, so can someone clarify how deep the religious influence is?</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I’m currently a sophomore at SCU, and I have to say, if you really don’t want the Jesuit vibes, they don’t manifest themselves beyond a few required religion classes. You really wouldn’t know the difference between the campus here and, say, your flagship state school. There’s a campus ministry and so forth, but again, the religious thing is as much a part of your life as you wish to make. For reference, I’m pretty damn atheist (not agnostic, I mean what I say), and I still feel extremely comfortable.</p>
<p>Our daughter is a graduate of SCU. There are required religion course but there are about a hundred different choices of religion course. Our daughter actually liked these courses a lot. The school is a Jesuit school, but there are students of many faiths (and not) on the campus. The Jesuits themselves are an integral part of the school but DD reported that they were a very knowledgeable group of individuals and were really great to get to know.</p>
<p>Questions:
Required religion classes don’t bother me, but is there much going on on campus that an atheist would feel left out of?
What percent of students (a guess is fine) are Christian / very Christian?
How does this school compare to other Jesuit colleges in terms of impact of religion on daily lives?</p>
<p>Our daughter does not practice any particular religion. She isn’t an athiest but she also doesn’t have a religion that she practices. She had no difficulty at all on the SCU campus. If someone is bothered by the presence of a cross, Christmas tree, or other religious things, they need to know that these things ARE present on the campus. But you are not required to attend or partake in any religious events or other things. Yes, at things like graduation there is an invocation given by a Jesuit…but gotta say…I think MOST college campuses have this.</p>
<p>Re: the Jesuit presence. What exactly do you want to know? These are very knowledgeable folks who do have a presence on the campus. They are not trying to convert anyone or anything like that. The school does have a philosophy of community service and educational opportunity which is Jesuit philosophy.</p>