<p>Has anyone else who was accepted to ND and deffered/rejected from BC gone this route? / Thinking about it, depending on what happens in April? I only applyed to BC, ND and my state school (Missouri), but figure I might have a better shot at BC coming from ND rather than a state school??</p>
<p>I'm sorry but why the hell would u leave Notre Dame to go to BC? Btw according to US News ND is #18 and BC is #40....</p>
<p>Actually it's that attitude, among other things, which really turns me off about Notre Dame.</p>
<p>For me Boston College is the better school, regardless of rankings. I am a liberal Catholic who wants a more heterogeneous student body and a more culturally cosmopolitan setting. Notre Dame was initially my first choice but after visiting it I was overwhelmed by the homogeneous and conservative student body. Although I'm straight, many of my friends are gay and I got a hugely different vibe about the lgbt climate at ND compared with BC. Again, as a liberal Catholic, I really think there is no better place for me than BC ... so instead of questioning my motives and rehashing useless rankings why not help out with some construcitve advice?</p>
<p>I don't know if going to ND would help with transferring, but if you really want that environment, you might be happier at a more liberal Catholic school in a more urban area until you tranfer. You probably still have time to apply. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks emswim, good idea. Trouble is, it seems hard to find schools that are liberal, Catholic, and well ... good. lol. St. Louis University is probably the nearest to me geographically, but it's quite conservative from what I hear. I am going to look into it further in any case. Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>all i can say...is that its good that u keep true to whatever principles u may have....and not compromise...when u dont have to</p>
<p>well its too late now, but you shouldve looked into UC Berkeley, great school, way liberal, and in an urban setting(oakland/san francisco). Another great school you could check out is McGill in Montreal. I dont see why you applied to notre dame in the first place if you are looking for a liberal urban college.</p>
<p>I was / am looking for schools that are CATHOLIC and progressive (both politically and theologically). I initially thought Notre Dame might be such a place, and only applied to BC just because it looked great on paper and I thought it might be easier to get into. Then I visited both schools and found them to be very, very different. As I've already explained, Notre Dame was a big letdown. Specifically at BC , I met a few great women's theology majors and attended a Church in the 21st Century lecture --- these are exactly the kinds of things I am looking to get involved with in college and I don't think such opportunities would be offered at a non-Catholic school ... I'm still hopefully for an April BC acceptance, but just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can now to best position myself in case that doesn't pan out. Hope this clarifies.</p>
<p>Check out Villanova; it is supposed to be Philadelphia's counterpart to BC.</p>
<p>All I'm saying, Iskan is that if you're not into Notre Dame and it's not a good environment, then don't go there. But don't USE ND to get into another school, BC or wherever if you have nothing good to say about it. I agree with what others said - Don't compromise your beliefs so if you go go to ND even though you dont think its a good fit but think it might benefit in a transfer, you're just being a hypocrite, especially when a lot of kids really want to go to ND. You'd be taking a place from one of those kids. There are lots of really great liberal schools..Check out Berkeley, Amherst, just about any school in New England. I'm sure you could transfer to BC from any of them. </p>
<p>Btw, I know several minority and non-minority students @ ND who are Democrats and even liberal Democrats. Likewise, I know many uber-Conservative Republicans at BC.</p>
<p>iskan, what I would do is this: Fax your acceptance letter from ND to BC and write Boston College a letter explaining the situation. Tell them that, in fact, Boston College was your number one choice. BC would be thrilled to steal a student away from ND, as that sort of thing doesn't happen too often. (Kid gets into ND, but not into BC.)</p>
<p>I shot you a PM so I hope it will help you some</p>
<p>Believe it or not, on the east coast it is common to have people get into ND and not BC... darn those lucky east cost people, lol. All joking aside, however, what I said in my email is that it is certainly possible but as a transfer and someone who got into BC as a transfer I can tell you that they do not make it easy on transfers! ND was my first choice with transferring so it isn't like they scared me away but they just didn't help their cause.</p>
<p>Holy Cross and Georgetown are liberal Catholic schools.</p>
<p>I know of one guy who left ND from my dorm after his freshman year. He switched to BC in part because of the reasons you echoed above. Of course he also ran afoul of ResLife here on campus, and was kicked out of his dorm in the first semester and relocated to Carrol Hall (look on the ND map and you'll understand why I find it funny) because of violation of the alcohol policy. After another visit to ResLife he soured on this place, and instead of changing his ways went there. Course he wanted to be a dentist and he claimed it would be better for him to be at BC....good luck with your plans though</p>
<p>haha, he went to live with the 100 hermits in Carroll Hall. I really hope, if I get in, that I don't get put in Carroll.</p>
<p>Iskan, I'm going to veer off topic here a little. I'd like to know what you mean by liberal Catholic. Isn't there really just one Catholic church? How can you hold different beliefs and still call yourself Roman Catholic? Wouldn't you then be something else, but certainly not Catholic?</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with the Catholic church on every item, but I respect it enough to know if I'm going to call myself Catholic I probably better adhere to most if not all of its teachings.</p>
<p>Most kids are liberal Catholics, meaning they disagree with the church on matters of dogma, doctrine, and moral positions, such as abortion. Most Catholic kids also don't really know what the Catholic church teaches, and more importantly, why it teaches what it does. I was the exact same way.</p>
<p>It's easy to dismiss stuff at face value, but when you get into it a little more deeply you'd be surprised at the reasoning. No other church supports both faith AND reason more than Catholicism, if you take time to really learn about it.</p>
<p>So anyway, I'm just cautioning you about the semantics of calling yourself a liberal Catholic. I hate the terms liberal and conservative when applied to Catholicism. It just isn't that kind of religion, like Judaism, because Catholicism obviously has a centralized structure (that I believe Christ founded). Each congregation (or university - hah!) is not allowed to make up their beliefs as they go along, or veer greatly from what the Church professes, and still call themselves Catholic.</p>
<p>I heard the guys in Carroll love it there, though.</p>
<p>Amen Docmom (though I do call myself a Conservative Catholic just because people then know that I am more traditional). I didn't think about it in this case but I certainly agree with you.</p>
<p>iskan, I wish we could switch situations. I was deffered from my dream school Notre Dame and accepted at Boston College early action. I would also, if I had to, classify myself as a conservaive Catholic. iskan I wish you the best of luck even though I don't understand your motives. I would agree with par72 that Georgetown is a more liberal catholic institution.</p>
<p>I also want to say I really liked Docmom's response, but I don't think we should sell kids short and naturally assume that all are in favor of immoral practices such as abortion, because above anything else I am a proud Roman Catholic. I have two quotes from Pope Benedict XVI, which are directly related to the Catholic church and how they should affect our moral beliefs.</p>
<p>"Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia. There may be legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not... with regard to abortion and euthanasia." </p>
<p>"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church is often labeled today as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, look like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards." </p>
<p>-Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI</p>
<p>I hold many different beliefs from the Catholic Church, but I consider myself Catholic.</p>
<p>I am against abortion, but politically I am for it as stopping abortion would destroy many other civil liberties. I am also a strong proponent of gay marriage as there is more evidence in the Bible supporting slavery than there is against gay marriage. I consider being Catholic believing in the Eucharist, Bible, and Jesus teachings. If I differ from Catholic doctrine determined by older men (no female interest what so ever), then that is my choice. </p>
<p>If you voted for Bush, I guess you are not Catholic because Bush went to war and the Church was against it. </p>
<p>Having different opinions from the church is very different than having different opinions from the pillars of Catholicism. </p>
<p>I consider myself a moderate-liberal politically and a Catholic.</p>
<p>As a male, I think there is a clear need for female priests. Jesus couldn't have had a female Apostle because society would not have listened to him. Today, society is very different. Why not let a nun say mass?</p>