Villanova is Augustinian
@artie1 I think areas like Scranton will always be the subject of ridicule in some ways. If the school were in Philly or Baltimore where parts are much uglier and far more dangerous, students will rationalize those points. The violent crime rate is 5 times higher in Philly than in Scranton.
It was among the last schools we visited and we all agreed it should have been among the first.
Over $400 million has been invested in the last 5 years and you can see it. It is a very high-end campus.
Scranton is not the prettiest place but it is much safer than many college areas and frankly much nicer than New Haven for example.
The area is fine and Scranton is in-town so you don’t feel secluded.
Your son will be quite impressed because you will not find many B/B+ student schools with facilities like Scranton’s or prestige academically. It is one of the true outliers.
It was utterly enjoyable and utterly surprising.
Thanks- maybe we will revisit the idea…
@artie1 I found the tour a little short so wander around on your own and you can eat free at the dining hall. The food was excellent, not just for college food. The Scranton kids are very outgoing and like chatting with visitors.
Scranton is a real find.
If you can, St. Michael’s in Burlington Vermont was great too. In my opinion, Burlington is the premier college town in the Northeast.
Scranton is definitely a city that’s been down on it’s luck, and I don’t think I’d want to live there permanently, but for a college town it has enough to offer. I would feel safe with my kid there. S still likes Butler a bit more, and part of that is he liked Indy a lot, but Scranton is high on his list as well. It’s an excellent school that seems to be frequently passed over without being given a chance.
We attended a family retreat at Scranton 3 years ago and were very impressed by the campus, food, and their student accomplishments and activities. We spoke to a woman with 2 kids, one had graduated from Cornell and the other from Scranton and the one at Scranton had a much more enjoyable college experience.
On the other hand I also just heard about a girl who transferred out around 5 years ago because her roommate was constantly sexiling her and the RAs wouldn’t do anything about it. Of course that’s something that could happen almost anywhere.
Our experience with Scranton was that we absolutely loved it on the first visit. Great tour, great vibes on campus etc. My S was accepted to Scranton EA with nice merit aid and went back for an accepted students overnight. I imagine he was put with a kid he really didn’t connect with because he left the overnight much less enthusiastic about the school. (In contrast Siena moved up on his list after his overnight). I didn’t love that his opinion was so colored by who he did the overnight with, but it is a risk you take. Guess it is luck of the draw to a certain extent. After all that he ended up at Fordham (also with nice merit aid) which had no accepted students overnight visit. He absolutely loved his experience at Fordham but I do think he could have been very happy at any of these schools.
Bottom line is they are all really fine choices. Apply and see where admissions/merit aid fall out and then if possible re-visit.
PS If you are looking for another option that is similar, consider Marist.
I’ll give you an example of what you are in for. At Boston College, in my Ethical Issues in Health class, we discussed issues such as “In Vitro Fertilization (Not Acceptable)”, Abortion in the case of rape (Not Acceptable). So, if your child decides to argue that either one of those is acceptable, perfectly fine, but against church doctrine and specifically laid out in the course material why either of those is unacceptable. I would suspect that your child would get close to a failing grade, if not fail that course altogether. So be careful when going to these Jesuit schools if your tendency is to challenge church doctrine on key points.
My S graduated from Scranton 4 years ago and absolutely loved his experience there, even though it was not even on his radar when he started his college search. He found plenty to do in the area and couldn’t have been happier. My daughter is now a sophomore at Fordham and loves it. Although both were raised Catholic, neither considers themselves religious, probably both more agnostic at best. They are both big fans of Jesuit education. In fact, when my D was narrowing down her final choices, my S strongly advised in favor of a Jesuit school.
Some of the most brilliant instructors I ever had were Jesuits. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer Jesuit instructors at any of these schools. Also please keep in mind that Theology and Philosophy courses will be required at these institutions regardless of your major and thus your electives will be fewer at these schools. Check what the required number of courses in each discipline are before you are surprised at registration!
My Jewish girls are having a wonderful time at Fordham, Rose Hill campus. Jews + Jesuits = fabulous. They are members of the small, but growing, Jewish Students Organization and hope to establish a Hillel. They are not observant, but others are. Similarly, their friends run the continuum of Catholic observance. Fordham is not shy about its Catholicism and Jesuit values, but it is a no-pressure environment, religiously speaking.
Villanova is not Jesuit - it is Augsutine
Providence not Jesuit either - it is Dominican
Did you look at Marist?
Marist is no longer affiliated with church
^^^^ I think people understand that Marist is a secular school. If you go back to the start of the thread, the OP doesn’t need a Catholic school – they have simply found that they liked the “vibe” and the size of a number of Catholic schools they have seen thus far. When I visited Marist with my S a few years ago (after also liking a number of Catholic colleges), and felt (along with others) that it had a similar feel and might be worth a visit.
Marist didn’t move the needle at all. Right now the top three are St. Mike’s, Scranton and Siena with St. Bonaventure and Muhlenberg sort of coming in and out of the conversation. TCNJ is still considered possible but the ACT is low in the middle 50%.
TCNJ acceptance may depend on his intended major. They only accept a certain number, at least in some majors. My son considered it for biomedical engineering, but among other concerns was that if he decided he didn’t like the program he could not switch into biology. They have room for 123 bio majors (I think that was the number) and if you are not accepted as a bio major you will in all likelihood not be able to switch to that major. I have not heard of that at other schools (beyond not being able to switch into business or engineering schools). I believe the acceptance for bio majors is harder than for other majors.
My S put in a fast forward application to Siena (this was a few years back) as soon as he could (his HS didn’t have transcripts ready until October) and heard back by the end of October. I think he filled out a separate Siena application but it was no big deal. The early acceptance was wonderful because 1) he could relax and 2) he didn’t have to apply to any real safety schools since he was in to a school he liked a lot (so we saved $ in application fees). While he didn’t end up at Siena, (although it was high on his list) that early acceptance was a big deal. If they still have this program I’d suggest your S put in an application early.
^^^^I didn’t make it clear, but the early acceptance to Siena (see above post) was non-binding.
I think a catholic school in 2015 vs 1915 is not even close to being the same. that said I do not think religion and education mix (IMO) I would make sure to avoid any school that still functions like it is still 1915.