<p>My husband and I are 1984 grads of HC, and boy have things changed. Back then, HC’s acceptance rate was close to 60%. Now it’s about 45%. Much bigger pool. There’s a good chance that our son, who’s a jr. this year, with similar or better stats than either his dad or I, and a double legacy, might not get in. Never would have believed that. Yes, Worcester is a low-economic city, but I can count on two hands the times I left campus to venture into the city. HC is a small, tight-knit community on a hill, where you really meet your friends for life. Many HC marriages too! I was a psych major, my husband an eco-acctg major. He was hired on campus for what was then a Big Eight acctg firm, Price-Waterhouse. I went on to law school - not many jobs for a psych major right out of school. My husband’s brother is a 1986 grad of BC, and back then, BC wasn’t as competitive to get into as HC. Frankly, in this economy, we’re looking at Catholic colleges that have some great internship, JYA and job recruiting programs for the biggest bang for our buck. In addition to HC, we’ve looked at Providence, Stonehill, St. Michaels and Emmanuel so far. It’s just so much more competitive than it was even just 10 years ago.</p>
<p>HC, ND, and Georgetown have been the top Catholic schools for over 150 years. The Ivies are very selective in which schools they have played in football, basketball, and baseball for over 100 years-The only Catholic school they have played since the 1890’s is Holy Cross.(Colgate is another long-time non Ivy opponent.) Villanova, Boston College and Fordham were largely local commuter schools until the last 20-30 years. As another example Holy Cross has 3 affiliations on the current Supreme Court, 3-4 US Congressmen, Obama’s speechwriter, 1 US Senator, Chris Matthews and 5 Rhodes Scholars.</p>
<p>I attended Boston College 40 years ago and it was largely residential at the time. Get your facts straight.</p>
<p>I, too, think Holy Cross is a fine college and has been for a long time, but just because it has been on the Ivy sport schedules doesn’t necessarily mean it is the ‘darling’ of that exclusive crowd. It is probably more akin to the “Ancient Eight”'s need to include at least one college of the Catholic tradition so that they can feel so much more, er, superior – being stalwart’s of the Protestant tradition, don’t you know – when said college is thrashed by them on the field time and again. They will, of course pass this off under the rather thin guise of “noblesse oblige”… but there you have it.</p>
<p>And, had Holy Cross been so highly regarded as you profess, it (along with BC and most other Catholic colleges) would not have been removed from the ‘favorable list’ which Harvard Law School kept back in president Eliot’s day, around 1900, because the good prez thought that Catholic (and specifically, Jesuit) education ill-prepared its graduates for the demands of Harvard, and so few, if any, were admitted to its law school in those days. That kind of prejudical, ignorant bigotism and more was what BC had to contend with constantly, until the more enlightened of the protestant establishment finally chipped away at the bastion that was…</p>
<p>Also, as you know, HC and BC were arch-rivals for many years until BC went ‘big-time’. And don’t try to tell me that rivalry existed because of the extreme differences between the two. They both are descendants of the Jesuit, scholastic tradition – that is , rigorous, academic discipline. To pretend (as you have in past posts) that it was a match of blue-blooded brains vs. dim-witted peasantry is really hilarious. For your information, collegiate and school rivalries exist more for the similarities of the respective schools than for the differences – at least insofar as social standing is concerned. Think, Harvard-Yale, Andover-Exeter, Deerfield-Choate, Groton-St. Marks, etc, etc, etc.</p>
<p>I agree with Leanid that HC and BC are extremely similar colleges and if you understand their history it is clear why. The Jesuits were trying to open their first college in New England and ended up founding Holy Cross in 1843 in Worcester only after being thwarted by the Protestants from procuring a location in Boston their first choice The Jesuits were finally successful in securing a location 20 years later in Boston and then founded BC. The two schools have both been run by the same group of Jesuits ever since - the New England Province of the Jesuit order. The Jesuit president of HC had taught at BC for a number of years. You will quite often see Jesuits moving between the institutions. As just one example, a long time Jesuit theology professor at HC in my day now teaches at BC.</p>
<p>A Worcester high school student, a music major, a classics major, or basketball players may receive merit aid. COA is around $53,000/year. Other than these awards, all their aid is need-based, according to their website.</p>
<p>Boston College is committed to need-based financial aid and, therefore, offers very little merit money. The Presidential Scholars Program offers our only merit-based scholarship, and is awarded to the top 15 students each year. Presidential Scholars receive a full-tuition scholarship regardless of financial need. There is no separate application required to be considered for the scholarship. To be eligible, students must simply apply through the Early Action application process. Scholars are selected by the Committee on Admission based on academic excellence, demonstrated leadership ability, significant community service involvement and potential. Boston College awards all other money (more than 60 million dollars last year) through need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>Alright here is the breakdown of the top five catholic colleges.
Notre Dame
Georgetown
Boston College
Villanova
Holy Cross</p>
<p>Rankings from sources:
Notre Dame USnews says is #20.
Georgetown USnews says is #21 or 22
Boston College USnews says is #31
Holy Cross USnews under liberal arts ranks at #36 (off memory)
Villanova USnews under regional North ranks at #1.
Tough to compare nova and HC with the rest because of being on different lists. </p>
<p>Business week ranks Notre Dame undergrad Biz as #1, Villanova Biz as #7, Georgetown Biz as #10, Boston College Biz as #16, and Holy cross is not in top 25. </p>
<p>I couldn’t find any undergrad rankings for sciences or other majors. </p>
<p>Quality of students who choose:
Notre Dame had 51 Merit scholars in its 2009-2010 freshman class(2.44% of class are scholars)
Georgetown had 28 merit scholars(1.5% of class are scholars)
BC had 12 merit scholars(0.5% of class are scholars)
Nova had 9 merit scholars(0.6% of class are scholars)
Holy Cross had 0 merit scholars. (0.0% of class are scholars)</p>
<p>SAT scores according to college board:
Notre Dame CR 650-740 MTH 670-770 WR 650-740
Georgetown CR 640-740 MTH 650-750
Boston College CR 610-700 MTH 640-730 WR 630-720
Villanova U CR 590-680 MTH 620-710
Holy Cross CR 590-680 MTH 600-690 </p>
<p>So these colleges are very comparable between each other but they definitely stand out as the top five catholic colleges. I think Holy Cross is lagging on the list, but still better than Fordham, Catholic U, providence, xavier and the other lower tier catholic schools.</p>
<p>Gtown, ND, and Holy Cross based on endowment per student, Rhodes Scholars, Nobel Prize winners among alumni, collective US News rankings since its inception from the mid 1980’s. Boston College, Fordham, DePaul, and Villanova were more or less commuter schools 25-30 years ago. Holy Cross and ND have the best alumni giving rates and endowment per student by significant numbers. Also per Bloomberg’s latest Payscale alumni salary ranking ND was top 10 and Holy Cross 22.</p>
<p>Nova2011 - Great analysis. Some people might argue with the order that you put them (although I wouldn’t) but these 5 schools are clearly the consensus most popular and best academic of the Catholic universities. After those, Fordham is probably number 6 and then there is probably quite a gap in quality and popularity between those and the Loyolas, U Dallas,the California Catholic colleges, etc. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a view on Santa Clara University (the Catholic one)? I have heard that it is now a hot school, due to 1) its location in Silicon Valley combined with an excellent career services office and 2) due to some people’s dissatisfaction with the UC’s, SCU is getting much better applicants these days. Thanks.</p>
<p>Bclintonk put out a realistic list by using standardized test scores. I went to Notre Dame. It’s very rigorous academically. I know one ND alumnus who told me it was harder to earn a bachelors in pre-med at Notre Dame than it was to earn an MD from a state medical school out west. That’s how hard Notre Dame is. I know parents have large expectations of children, but to put a child in a hypercompetitive environment isn’t always the best thing. Perhaps it’s better to wait until graduate school. But if the teen is mature beyond his or her years and scored at the expected level of ACT/SAT with proper prerequisites from HS, then it can work.</p>
<p>Patriot League schools happen to be fairly close geographically to Ivy League schools. In the days before relatively inexpensive fast air travel, playing a lot of far away schools meant difficult travel logistics (even now, it is more convenient to charter a team bus to an away game than it is to charter a team airplane). Makes you wonder how Notre Dame and USC managed their annual football game dating back to 1926.</p>
<p>ND and Georgetown we all know. But when it comes to BC, HC, and Nova the line seems to blur a bit. We’ve got a National U, LAC, and Regional school. Nova has the highest admit rate while BC and HC’s are pretty close. BC has the highest SAT scores (only by a hair) and Nova has a higher SAT average by 20 points which doesn’t make a difference in my opinion. </p>
<p>I think it comes down to what you like in a school or what you want to study. HC has a great biology/premed program, Nova has an amazing business school, and BC is a fashionable choice with a lot of name recognition. All good and up there with ND and Gtown on the list of great catholic schools.</p>
<p>I’ve never seen rankings that place Fordham above HC or Nova. But again it’s a National U compared to a LAC and Regional school… But still Fordham lags in behind HC and Nova marginally in test scores and noticeably in acceptance rates. </p>
<p>By looking at the peer schools and how these schools are ranked in their respective categories, it isn’t too hard to figure out the rankings of Fordham/NOVA/HC.</p>