Are there any parents out there that the child is going or went to Saint Francis Univ. in Loretto? My son has been accepted with a seat in the Physician Assistant program?
Any views on that program?
You should only go if you’re devoutly Catholic. We’re not talking Notre Dame, we’re more talking what Wheaton is to evangelicals (but less academically strong) or what Liberty is to fundamentalists (but stronger academically).
Admissions are not very selective, about on par with the PASSHE schools (like West Chester, Mansfield, Bloomsburg, Slippery Rock, etc.)
It is for students who are very serious about their faith and plan to grow and nurture that faith while in college; conservative Catholics who don’t consider Notre Dame or Georgetown or Holy Cross to be “truly” Catholic consider St Francis to be equal to CUA in Catholic obedience. However, there is no mandatory mass and the number of religion courses is relatively low.
It is not on the Cardinal Newman List.
But only 27 are on that list, and they may have been taken off because they’d invited a speaker controversial to Catholics that Newman Society made them dis-invite.
http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/catholic-identity
It’s not Steubenville but the President was educated at Steubenville.
I’m sure it is more Catholic than Scranton but I don’t think it is as conservative as the typical Newman school. Theodore Hesburgh went to Catholic U, which is a very conservative school, but made Notre Dame into a much more modern institution, so the current President coming from Steubenville doesn’t mean it is like that.
Sr. Margaret Carney, President of St. Bonaventure, received an Honorary Degree from Steubenville and she is exceptionally liberal.
^ true for Sr M.Carney, but… sfu loretto is known as seriously Catholic in terms of doctrine, and definitely not liberal 
“My son has been accepted with a seat in the Physician Assistant program?”
congrats if he got in that is very hard and is something to be proud of. I assume he is at least 21-22 years old? if the program is accredited that is all that matters. who cares about the religious philosophy of the school. he is going as an adult to get an amazing degree! if he was 12 going to boarding school I would care.
the academics are no more or less strong than any other PA program.
like they teach extra secret stuff at harvard med school that med students at u of louisville do not learn about (sarcasm)
@zobroward it can matter because there is a small group of Catholic schools that believe and teach that homosexuality is a psychological disorder.
if that is true are they teaching that in the PA program?
(I highly doubt it)
https://francis.edu/physician-assistant-science/
You need to visit and ask current students, staff and faculty the questions your son might have about the program. It’s a 5 year program and it has a good pass rate.
mommdc…I agree… definitely visit but who cares where it is.(as long as it is safe) you will be so busy for 5 years it does not matter where you are as long as you have a place to live and eat(no free time for other stuff).a PA program is probably super hard core for anyone with an IQ under 160. ( a person that smart could probably just attend class and never study)
so between class, study and clinicals…nothing else about the school or area really matters. the fact you got into the program makes it the place to go! unless you got into multiple programs…than you can look at other secondary factors.
^^^^Einstein had a 160 IQ. I know a few PAs and they are all smart/hardworking but don’t have Einsten’s IQ. They all got through their programs with no issues (not to say they didn’t work hard) and found time to have fun during their college years.
And to the OP, I am not familiar with this school but it sounds like it would be worthwhile to visit before making a decision to attend.
yeah I put it at 160 as not to offend anyone and it was also sarcastic. (I have no idea what the iq threshold is to not have to really study hard in a PA program) it was not meant to be taken literally.