Anonymous wrote:I went to Fairfield. It’s a beautiful campus in a fairly wealthy town that has a seedier side near Bridgeport, where sacred heart is. I doubt kids from the two campuses ever interact. Fairfield U kids live at the beach after sophomore year or the townhouses. Beach is for the partiers, townhouses are for the less cool but they still have parties but they are looked down upon by the beach kids. No frats.
Fairfield has an excellent business school with great placement in Boston, Stamford and nyc accounting firms. Most kids are from Ct, NJ, NY and MA.
Villanova is obviously much harder to get into.

Surprisingly Fairfield was a harder admit this year - it was 25% vs Villanova at 27%. It has been on the rise the past few years.


https://www.fairfield.edu/news/2025/march/record-setting-admission-cycle.html#:~:text=With%20Fairfield's%20ongoing%20commitment%20to%20maintaining%20an,most%20selective%20admission%20cycle%20in%20recent%20history.&text=Additional%20Class%20of%202029%20admission%20statistics%20include,range%20for%20those%20who%20submitted%20scores:%201310%2D1420.


https://www1.villanova.edu/university/undergraduate-admission/applying-to-villanova/admission-profile.html

Villanova of course.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sacred Heart is basically the same school to me as Quinnipiac, and both are "eh". Is there something I am missing?

both are hidden gems full of happy well- adjusted friendly kids - take that over the ultra competitive vapid perfectionist majoring in schadenfreude at a Swarthmore or Cornell any day of the week!

Alrighty then...

Grew up in NE, kids who went to SH and QU barely had a pulse 15 years ago. What's changed?

Sacred Heart is a step up from community college. Villanova is nationally known, Fairfield is for catholic kids who couldn't get into Holy Cross, BC or Villanova but has a fine reputation. I would not pay $$ to send my kid to Sacred Heart.

geez tough crowd - T25 or bust!!

Anonymous wrote:first two are up and coming hidden gems in Ct, while nova seems to have an established reputation driven from basketball fame.

Feel Fairfield will open the most doors in NYC finance as the alumni network seems extremely strong, but i expect nova to be good there also. And kiddo thought Sacred Heart kids seemed most fun loving and happy, although Fairfield kids apparently live on the beach after frosh year! haha I guess they take off season vacation homes on the LI sound.

help! need pros and cons and to know what my kiddo needs to take into account, good and bad

No they are not "up and coming"

Villanova is better than the others but it's a pure party school filled with Catholics from the suburbs of NY & NJ. It is not for the brighest bulb none of these are.

Fairfield is not opening doors in Finance in NYC Villanova has a way better track record for that because Daddy can get their darling in.

Sacred Heart for nursing maybe even that is not worth it.

Anonymous wrote:Sacred Heart is basically the same school to me as Quinnipiac, and both are "eh". Is there something I am missing?

both are hidden gems full of happy well- adjusted friendly kids - take that over the ultra competitive vapid perfectionist majoring in schadenfreude at a Swarthmore or Cornell any day of the week!

Sacred Heart is basically the same school to me as Quinnipiac, and both are "eh". Is there something I am missing?

Fairfield is a great feeder to prof/grad school and the proximity to NYC is great for finance.

I don't know how "Catholic" it is in culture with regard to the students now, but can tell you that it used to be (20+ years ago), with a high percentage of students coming from parochial high schools throughout NY and CT.

I lived in Fairfield a million years ago. Sacred Heart was basically a commuter school not for serious students. I see it has been on the rise. Now I see athletes commit to going there for athletics from upstate NY and other areas. I am always surprised by that, but I guess the school has changed. I feel it is known for nursing too?

Fairfield was thought to be a good school and also seems in the rise.

Fairfield has quietly had a very steep move up into the higher echelon of catholic schools in the northeast. Strong strong and loyal alumni network in business probably puts it at the villanova level, which would have been crazy to say as recently as 5 years ago. Great president and administration has bolstered the rep, where leaders like Roth at Wesleyan have done the opposite. Half step under BC, and half step or more above Fordham, St Joes, Holy Cross etc

I went to Fairfield. It’s a beautiful campus in a fairly wealthy town that has a seedier side near Bridgeport, where sacred heart is. I doubt kids from the two campuses ever interact. Fairfield U kids live at the beach after sophomore year or the townhouses. Beach is for the partiers, townhouses are for the less cool but they still have parties but they are looked down upon by the beach kids. No frats.
Fairfield has an excellent business school with great placement in Boston, Stamford and nyc accounting firms. Most kids are from Ct, NJ, NY and MA.
Villanova is obviously much harder to get into.

Villanova unless you desperately need to be in CT. This is a no brainer.

Anonymous wrote:first two are up and coming hidden gems in Ct, while nova seems to have an established reputation driven from basketball fame.

Feel Fairfield will open the most doors in NYC finance as the alumni network seems extremely strong, but i expect nova to be good there also. And kiddo thought Sacred Heart kids seemed most fun loving and happy, although Fairfield kids apparently live on the beach after frosh year! haha I guess they take off season vacation homes on the LI sound.

help! need pros and cons and to know what my kiddo needs to take into account, good and bad

Are they admitted and choosing for this year? Or thinking about where to apply in the fall?

IMO, Villanova has had its rise. There was a thread on it a few days ago ... DCUM does not love. It's a wonderful school. The couple of years after they won the national basketball championship, it became much more selective. That tapered off and I've heard the acceptance rate is a little over 30% now. They have a nice balance of Greek life and other social life. Lots of school spirit. Religion if you want it. A recent sex abuse coverup just came to light, though ... will probably ding the reputation a bit.

Fairfield, you are correct, it's DEFINITELY on the rise. I heard 25% acceptance this year! I have had many family members attend, all LOVED IT. No dings.

Sacred Heart, I am not familiar with, but it truly does not have the name recognition of the other two. If your kid got accepted to all three, I'd recommend one of the more selective ones.

first two are up and coming hidden gems in Ct, while nova seems to have an established reputation driven from basketball fame.

Feel Fairfield will open the most doors in NYC finance as the alumni network seems extremely strong, but i expect nova to be good there also. And kiddo thought Sacred Heart kids seemed most fun loving and happy, although Fairfield kids apparently live on the beach after frosh year! haha I guess they take off season vacation homes on the LI sound.

help! need pros and cons and to know what my kiddo needs to take into account, good and bad