<p>if the school is say- independent methodist, or catholic, what exactly does that mean? academically wise i guess you could say?
i've heard that it means that religious classes are offered, and possibly a mass or something
i'm just wondering because a school that i'm looking at is independent methodist, and i was a little confused. (I'm not methodist so...)</p>
<p>church affiliations have widely varying degrees of meaning. Some are historical affiliations that are today no different than a secular university, while others may have religion in their core curriculum and requirements to attend chapel.</p>
<p>how could I find out if the school has it in their core curriculum? Would it just be on the school's website, or would I have to talk to a student or someone?</p>
<p>Email an admissions rep?</p>
<p>Seriously it depends totally on the school and its affiliation. For example a Catholic College can range from colleges that are totally rooted in pre Vatican two tradition and require closer adherence from their students and there are Catholic schools like Santa Clara which are Jesuit and have a strong Catholic tradition but whose students can fulfill their religious ed reqirement with Buddhist Studies or comparitive religions</p>
<p>Bob Jones and BYU are both very conservative Protestant schools. Willamette and Linfield are also both rooted in Protestant Christianity and both offer religious ECs and support for students who are not Prostestant Christians (or Christians at all). Neither require the same degree of adherence to specific faith practices as Bob Jones or BYU.</p>
<p>You have to take the time to get to know each school on its merits. Don't include or exclude a school simply because of its historic affiliation with a religion. You will be passing up a lot great schools.</p>
<p>Check these out if you want a LOT more details on religious or conservative orientation and curriculum. That aside, I felt the second are gave a lot of interesting details on teachers and curriculum. I assume its biased.</p>
<p>this one covers a lot more "secular" schools.</p>
<p>Only a few of my schools are actually catholic or something, and I just PREFER a school with no religious affiliation. </p>
<p>But shrinkrap- great thanks! I will definitely look at those two!</p>
<p>Of all the schools D looked at, only one, LMU, required any religion classes - and it could be a class on any religion. Our tour guide was studying Buddhism. D attends one of schools listed earlier in this thread, and while there is a chapel on campus, that is about the extent of any obvious sign of religion. I wouldn't let the school's association with a particular religion be of much influence unless the religion drives the curriculum in some way. Look what you might pass up:
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)
Davidson College Davidson, NC
Eckerd College St. Petersburg, FL
Macalester College St. Paul, MN
Rhodes College Memphis, TN
UNITED METHODIST
Emory University<br>
Hendrix College<br>
American University</p>
<p>I'd add Lafayette and Wooster to the Presbyterian list - you will find that quite a few of the top 50 LAC's (Davidson is top 10, Lafayette in and out of top 25) have a religious affiliation, but most as a previous poster said are historical in nature, and all of these schools probably have students of most all religions attending.</p>
<p>I'd venture to say that none of the top 50 LACs have a meaningful religious requirement, otherwise they wouldn't be in the top 50.</p>
<p>I was looking at American University, and a few of my other choices do have religious affiliation. I know I talked to my uncle about one college, and he said that this one particular school was just full of really hard religious kids- a crowd I prefer to keep away from.</p>