<p>You are correct that nearly all US universities provide Christian faith support in some manner. The same cannot be said about all other belief systems.</p>
<p>^ So Bay, do you think your question has been answered by now?
Does #286 work for you?</p>
<p>(Her choice has prompted me to ask the question why someone would prefer to earn an academic degree from a religious institution over one that is not religious…)</p>
<p>tk,</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone who actually attends/attended a religious university responded to the question, but they may just not have identified themselves that way. The responses were not particularly surprising - fit, marriage, liking to be around others who share your beliefs, people seem warm and friendly. I guess those are the reasons.</p>
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<p>I’m not purporting this. I don’t have enough information to do so. Since you used my post to make a point, which is fine, I would like to clarify what I meant by “all things being equal.” What I meant was that if one were considering a list of colleges that all seemed roughly matched according to any number of objective criteria one chose to apply, the presence or absence of a particular type of group would be a reasonable (if not foolproof) heuristic for deciding whether it stays on your list. At least in my book, as I happen to be the type of person who often makes decisions that way. That is all.</p>
<p>Bay - All I can say is in Texas, the second amendment as interpreted by gun owners would have trumped the first amendment if Westboro church were here.</p>
<p>There is a basic level of respect that is needed to be accorded to dead people at funeral, laws be da@#ed.</p>
<p>absweetmarie - it is not death to an argument by URLs. My kid ruled out applying to Vanderbilt because it is considered conservative. So I don’t see any reason that this kid can’t go to Baylor because she wants to hang out with conservatives (religious?).</p>
<p>^:), texaspg.</p>
<p>P.S. gunowner, here.</p>
<p>Current Baylor parent adding my two cents. My daughter was the valedictorian of a public high school class of 900+, National Merit Scholar and had excellent SAT scores. She had many opportunities and visited a variety of schools. In the end she selected Baylor due to a great scholarship, flexible honors major (Business Fellows), size (14,000+) and atmosphere. She has never regretted her decision. She finds the classes challenging, works as student instructor, serves as an officer in her sorority and is president of an investment organization. She has been very impressed by the professors and finds them very approachable.</p>
<p>Before my daughter selected Baylor I knew little about the university. Now I have no problem understanding why the young lady in the article (Lizzie) made her choice. </p>
<p>CC has opened my eyes to many excellent universities that I previously knew nothing about. My lack of knowledge did not make these universities any less impressive. Each year we read about dozens of well deserving students that don’t make the cut into the ivies. Thank heavens there are other options. Just consider that Lizzie’s decision allowed another student (maybe even a CC participant) to attend Harvard.</p>
<p>texaspg,</p>
<p>You wrote: “So I don’t see any reason that this kid can’t go to Baylor because she wants to hang out with conservatives (religious?).” I completely agree. I’ll forgive you for not instantly knowing where I stand on that point, as it’s getting hard to keep track over 22 pages of posts.</p>
<p>I enjoy reading the diverse viewpoints on cc. However, in cc land, these type of threads often seem to end up with numerous posts stating that “kids should reach outside their comfort zone/widen their horizons/challenge their beliefs, etc.” Almost without exception, this is applied to conservative and/or religious students seeking advice. I rarely see the same advice offered to students on the other end of the spectrum.</p>
<p>I think xiggi said it well in #320 and I agree. I don’t think the world of academia, in general, represents the majority opinion of the US; I think it is much more liberal. There have been prior threads citing more liberal universities where they were downright hostile to conservative speakers, ROTC, etc. So much for their “open-mindedness”. Learning critical thinking and analytic skills is one thing; constantly being challenged on one’s core values is another.</p>
<p>There are more than 3,000 colleges here; most students could thrive at many. As seen on many threads, there are numerous reasons why student like/don’t like a school and some of them may seem minute or silly to some of us. We all come to our decisions through some type of process, and I see no reason why religion (or lack of), political bent (or lack of), and conservatism/liberal shouldn’t be part of the decision analytics.</p>
<p>The discussions regarding “intellectualism” kind of grate on me, mainly because we are talking about 18 year-olds. I’m not 'dissing serious young students who truly want that “vibe”, but much of that, when stated by that age group, feels like an oxy-moron and “fake” to me.</p>
<p>S1 chose Notre Dame over Yale and Duke. His dorm was the smallest and I know of at least 8 others there who had made similar decisions. It wasn’t an aberration there. He was neither a cradle Catholic nor a football crazed kid. He has never regretted the decision and would make the same one again. The schools, esp. ND-Yale, are very different. I would guess the same would be said for Baylor vs. HYP.</p>
<p>Two big reasons ND>Yale? He visited Yale 3 times before deciding, including the 4 day Bulldog Days for prospective students. He was not impressed with the amount of drug use, and he especially questioned that if it were that rampant when they were trying to impress HS seniors, how bad was it when they weren’t? Since he didn’t attend, I can’t say what actual drug use at Y is; I can say that, among colleges, it is low at ND.</p>
<p>The other reason, and I will agree this was also a huge turn-off for me–When we toured Yale, we constantly, by many different students, heard the refrain, “We’re better than H.” They constantly tried to prove they were better than H. Made us feel they had an inferiority complex. No one at H ever did that about Y. ND is the #1 choice of the huge majority of ND students–and it shows–they <em>want</em> to be there. I think I read once it was #2 in this regard, 2nd to H.</p>
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<p>Atheists don’t lack beliefs so much as they have active counter-beliefs.</p>
<p>I’m not a an atheist, but I have been blessed with the gift of counter-prophesy. I can’t predict which events are going to happen. But I can, with remarkable accuracy, foretell which prophesies of are NOT going to happen. </p>
<p>For example, whenever some pastor makes some prophesy about the date for the end of the world, or the Rapture, or whatever, I promptly counter-prophesy and predict that the end, or Rapture, or whatever will NOT happen on the assigned date. So far my record is perfect. </p>
<p>With this track record of success I’m kinda surprised I haven’t attracted at least a small cult of followers.</p>
<p>Right now I’m putting my perfect record on the line and counter-prophesying the end of the world in Dec. 2012 based on the Mayan calendar. You heard it here first.</p>
<p>“Ask an admissions officer where the Right-to-Life group meets.”</p>
<p>“I could see that being a reasonable litmus test to help someone who is anti-abortion decide where he or she wants to expend college-search energies.”</p>
<p>I’m kind of hoping most of y’all saw past the surface here…it’s not an acid test that is limited to the topic in question…a spit-take followed by a sneer would say more about a college than just its leanings on abortion. Even the most enthusiastic feminists, leftists, atheists, and pro-choice applicants who are looking for diversity of thought would be wise to avoid a college that can’t scare up a quorum on either side of such an important issue.</p>
<p>^
Umm, Schmaltz, I am not stupid. I got your point. Is there a reason you felt you needed to elaborate? Have enough people not yet belabored the generalization that liberal East Coast colleges are scornful of conservative social positions?</p>
<p>“I am not stupid.”</p>
<p>My bad. I forgot to mention that I’m not psychic and have to go on the available evidence.</p>
<p>^
Are you kidding me with this? I have spent a long time on this thread, arguing back and forth with people who disagree with me and even some with whom I more or less agree. No one has yet insulted my intelligence. Because you know what, that would be dumb. Get over yourself.</p>
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<p>I would agree with this if I thought it were a bad thing, or actually true. </p>
<p>Why is it bad to challenge conservative speakers? (I am a conservative). Why is it wrong to be anti-war, pro-peace and make your opinion known? (I am pro-ROTC).</p>
<p>Please direct me to a college on Lizzie’s reject list that exemplifies a lack of “open-mindedness,” and does not offer support to the Christian way of thinking.</p>
<p>I have a tough time feeling sorry for Christians (78% of the US) and their supposed lack of good academic choices, because no one has been able to show me that what they are looking for does not exist in all of the top colleges in the US. Apparently, some Christians would prefer to hang out with people who think the same way they do, and will never challenge their way of thinking. That is their right, but don’t expect me to think that it is anything more than a status quo existence.</p>
<p>I agree, you are very intelligent. Nobody is questioning your intelligence.</p>
<p>Love your post, coureur.</p>
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<p>Completely agree. No snark. </p>
<p>And when I take my child to visit Baylor, I’ll ask the tour guide where the Humanist Society meets on campus of a Sunday morning. (That’s snark.)</p>
<p>The poor girl is going to have to work for her grades at Baylor - no “Harvard A’s” for her.</p>
<p>I’m getting dizzy. Take a position on snark and stick to it. Hint: Most intelligent people I know are pro-snark.</p>