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The Jesuits were the intellectuals of the Catholic Church ,and have a tradition of offering a good education.
My S went to Fordham and loved it. I would say that Jesuit schools are considered on par with other similar schools. They are all known for giving a very solid education. Most if not all Jesuit colleges have a large liberal arts core curriculum - for example as a business major my S took a number of classes in varies subjects he would not have chosen on his own such as philosophy, theology, a few English and history classes etc. so I felt he got a strong humanities background as an undergrad as well as a strong business education.
Jesuit institutions have strong core values that emphasize not just learning but social justice, service, integrity, and the like. Most do a pretty good job of adhering to those values, and for those who value skills in critical thinking and reasoning, a Jesuit education is a great start. Here are how the core values are stated at one institution:
Magis: Literally translated “more.” This is the challenge to strive for excellence.
Women & Men for and with Others: Sharing gifts, pursuing justice, and having concern for the poor and marginalized.
Cura Personalis: “Care for the individual person.” Respecting each person as a child of God and all of God’s creations.
Unity of Heart, Mind, & Soul: Developing the whole person. Integrating all aspects of our lives.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (AMDG): “For the Greater Glory of God.”
Forming & Educating Agents of Change: Teaching behaviors that reflect critical thought and responsible action on moral and ethical issues.
The exposure I’ve had to Jesuit schools makes me believe they truly aspire to live these values.
This is an interesting question. On another thread, Gonzaga was highly recommended. My son, who is now trying to make a list, is non-religious and I am a little concerned that this religious aspect may be off-putting to non-religoius people. Are Jesuit colleges highly regarded all over the country, or mostly on the East Coast?
^^ Gonzaga and Santa Clara are two well regarded West Coast Jesuit schools. With the Jesuits, it’s very much about intellectually searching for answers, service to others, building community, and making the world starting with your own community a better place. My D is at a Jesuit school. Chapel is not required, only 1 religion class is required with lots of interesting topics to choose from. Some kids are more religious than others, but a large percentage participate in community service. Jesuits focus on social justice issues, so with that, many of their ideologies are far from conservative. I think many of the Jesuit schools may feel less 'religious ’ than other Catholic schools.
@Lindagaf: Jesuit colleges tend to be among the least religious of the religiously-affiliated colleges (Georgetown is Jesuit, for example), though there is some variation.
@wisteria100 , very helpful. I noticed that no religious classes are required at Gonzaga. I suspect there is a lack of awareness that some colleges are Jesuit. I certainly had no idea about Gonzaga or Santa Clara unitl recently.
@PurpleTitan , that’s useful. Perhaps explains my comment above.
Jesuit schools are very open to those of any - or no - faith. The Jesuits like to view issues from all perspectives and engage in open dialog. They’re typically very open and accepting - D’s school has gay married faculty and a gay theology professor. As with anywhere, there are faculty and students all over the spectrum - but a Jesuit school will not pressure anyone over religious issues. Religious symbology will be prevalent though, and the administration and faculty will have members who are clergy.
@Lindagaf I looked quickly and I do think that Gonzaga has two religion (Christianity and Catholic Religion + World or Comparative Religion and 2 philosophy (Philosophy of Human Nature + Ethics) classes required. Of course you should check more carefully if your S is considering the school. https://www.gonzaga.edu/Academics/Undergraduate/General-Degree-Requirements-and-Procedures/University-Core/Core-2016-Beyond.asp As an aside I think Gonzaga’s success on the basketball court has given the school increased name recognition out east.
In terms of if non-religious people are comfortable at a Jesuit school it may depend a bit on the school. Fordham was pretty diverse and my S had friends of many different faiths/agnostic/atheist who were happy and felt at home at the school. However, I would say that anyone attending a Jesuit school should: 1) be respectful of religion and 2) be comfortable seeing some religious symbols on campus.
The Jesuit reputation is present out here in CA, too. I did graduate work at UCSB and Claremont Graduate U, and everyone spoke highly of Jesuit schools.
Is that a thing outside of CC? Because I went to a Fransican university and it’s very similar to what people have described here about Jesuit colleges. My Jewish professor (who was the Department head while I was there) was pretty comfortable there.
I think Jesuit colleges are highly regarded both because the US has historically had a large Catholic population (~25%) AND because many of them are strong schools - I was raised Catholic and have no dog in this hunt, just IMHO.
Generally speaking, Catholic colleges offer a strong educational experience. Jesuits have been doing this the longest and overall are considered to be the most tolerant. Hopefully any Catholic college would be welcoming, however some, especially those on the Newman list, tend to be more rigid and doctrinaire, and might not feel as welcoming to non-Catholics.
As others have indicated, Jesuit colleges have a longstanding reputation for the thoroughness and rigor of their core curricula. A distinctive feature of this was a solid grounding in philosophy and theology. I had a family member who entered Boston College in the mid-1960s. At that time, the core curriculum required five courses in philosophy (Introduction to Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, Metaphysics, Ethics, and one elective) and four courses in theology (three core courses and one elective). If I’m not mistaken, this core was required not only for Arts & Sciences majors, but also for Business, Nursing, and Education majors. Since that time, the core requirements have been reduced considerably, just as they have been at most schools. Currently, BC’s A&S students are required to take only 2 semester courses each of philosophy and theology. Although these are selected from specially-designed core courses in these fields, there is a broader range of courses from which to choose, including some courses geared to students who do not subscribe to Catholicism or who do not necessarily identify as religious at all.
Jesuit high schools have a similar reputation for the quality of their education. Back in the day, the Jesuit high school in my city required all students to study Greek, Latin, and French. In contrast, my Dominican high school only required two years of Latin, after which you could continue with two more years of Latin or switch to a modern language.
Often, one would hear prominent figures in the media, e.g., Chris Matthews (Holy cross) or the late Tim Russert (Canisius High School, John Carroll U) fondly recall the lasting influence of their Jesuit educations.
Although I did not attend a Jesuit university, several family members and friends did, and I would agree that there is something distinctive about a Jesuit education. At the same time, as Jesuit universities have become more similar to other universities in many respects, they’ve sometimes had to re-double their efforts to clarify just what it makes them “Jesuit” (and “Catholic”). https://www.bc.edu/offices/mission/exploring/jesuniv.html
^^ At least in Catholic circles, it seems that the Franciscan university that I most often hear about is the Franciscan University of Steubenville. From what little I know about it, it also emphasizes a traditional core curriculum. Compared to the Jesuit universities, which tend quite liberal, its reputation is as a bastion of conservative Catholicism. I don’t know to what extent this conservatism carries over to the several other Franciscan schools, (http://franciscancollegesuniversities.org/members/), though theologically Franciscans have always tended to be identified with social justice, peace, and environmental concerns.
The Jesuits also have the more intellectual reputation compared to the Franciscans, who did not place as much emphasis on their educational mission, though historically there have been some prominent Franciscan scholars and scientists.
Jesuit colleges tend to be the least “Catholic” of the Catholic schools. This may be a good or bad thing depending on what you are looking for. Most will emphasize social justice, rather than other areas of church teaching.
Our boys have attended Catholic grade school and high school (largely due to the dire condition of our local public schools in our city.) My oldest doesn’t relate to the religious aspects while my youngest is very much involved. Both are treated exactly the same at their school. In fact, our list leans heavily towards Catholic Universities out here on the West Coast, with most being Jesuit, due to the respectful nature we’ve experienced so far. BTW, I’m definitely NOT Catholic, though my wife is. I have personally found their schools to be inclusive and not in the least preachy so far.
This feels like a thread that should be moved to the Christian Colleges subsection.
While the US’s oldest colleges were associated with a particular religion when they were founded, most have become secular since then and some have kept their historic faith based roots. Today, there are great schools affiliated with a particular religion or no religion - something for everyone.
In conventional secular rankings of colleges and universities, the highest-ranked Catholic schools do tend to be Jesuit. For example, seven of the ten top-ranked Catholic schools in the 2017 US News “national university” rankings are Jesuit (marked with * below)::
15 Notre Dame
20 Georgetown*
31 Boston College*
50 Villanova
60 Fordham*
86 Marquette*
86 U San Diego
96 St Louis U*
99 Loyola Chicago*
107 U San Francisco*
The highest-ranked Catholic school in the “national liberal arts college” category is Holy Cross, which is Jesuit.
And most (not all) of the top-ranked Catholic schools in the “regional university” categories are Jesuit. These include:
- Loyola Maryland, Fairfield, and St Joseph's in the East
- Creighton, Xavier, and John Carroll in the Midwest
- Loyola New Orleans in the South
- Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, and Gonzaga in the West.
Not all highly-ranked Catholic schools are Jesuit, and not all Jesuit schools are highly ranked. But there are enough highly-ranked Jesuit schools to make even non-Catholics take notice.