The reason is HC’s new President (first AA and first lay President) who is an excellent leader, strategist and administrator. Raising the College’s profile is a prime objective and he’s making it happen. Increasing the applicant pool nationally, and being less reliant on NE Catholic feeder schools. Becoming a Questibridge school a big plus. There was a time when HC was considered academically superior to Georgetown, never mind BC, which increased in popularity due to savvy sports marketing only in the late 1980s and 90s, not because of any genuine academic superiority. President Rougeau is bringing the school back to where it used to be. Worcester, which has come a long way since bottoming out in the 1980s, will never be Cambridge or Georgetown, but the campus is beautiful and self contained. And I’d argue it’s better than Waterville or Lewiston ME, or Hartford CT, or Poughkeepsie NY… the list goes on. Good hotel recommendation with the AC downtown, as well as restaurant recos. Plenty of very good restaurants on Shrewsbury St, and the Canal Districy is cool & funky. Worcester is 45 mins to Boston, and that much closer too to the Berkshires & Vermont. Route 494 also makes a trip to the Cape very turnkey, probably more so than from Boston crawling down Route 3.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worcester is starting to re-gentrify

We were there last summer and it was still awful.

My DC went to Clark and really liked living in Worcester. Great cheap restaurants. Easy proximity to Boston, RI beaches, skiing.

Clark: depressing campus in a depressing part of depressing Worcester.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worcester is starting to re-gentrify

We were there last summer and it was still awful.

My DC went to Clark and really liked living in Worcester. Great cheap restaurants. Easy proximity to Boston, RI beaches, skiing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bill Simmons was a famous recent alum, and openly regretted going there.

He openly regrets is because of sports

And because of the dearth of dimez in sundresses. For years he advised young men to go "south or west" for college.

Hee! My DH got a full ride there and one other place. He visited Holy across in February and said it was like a glacier filled with sad white Catholic boys. He visited the other place (not south but mid-Atlantic) in April and it was full of girls in sundresses. He did not pick Holy Cross.

Anonymous wrote:Historically HC also had a preference for kids active in Catholic faith and/or community service. I’m not sure if that’s still true but it can skew the admit rates a bit as they are looking for something particular.

Clark WPI and HC all seem to be getting more attention lately. But people have been saying worcesters coming back for a couple of decades and it does seem like a slow roll. My family roots are in Worcester so I’m always rooting for it a bit. It seemed positioned to pull a Pittsburgh, but couldn’t quite make it happen.

My DD goes to Assumption University - another hidden gem that DCUM doesn't care about - if your DC is considering HC (or Nova, or another of the big catholics) and needs a backup (or an option that gives significant merit aid!) definitely consider this school! She loves worcester - lots of cultural opportunities, sports (Woo Sox!), good restaurants, biotech industry (she has interned for two years at a leading bio med company).

Historically HC also had a preference for kids active in Catholic faith and/or community service. I’m not sure if that’s still true but it can skew the admit rates a bit as they are looking for something particular.

Clark WPI and HC all seem to be getting more attention lately. But people have been saying worcesters coming back for a couple of decades and it does seem like a slow roll. My family roots are in Worcester so I’m always rooting for it a bit. It seemed positioned to pull a Pittsburgh, but couldn’t quite make it happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worcester is starting to re-gentrify and I think people have started to look at it harder since BC has gotten so hard to get into. It used to be a very highly respected school but seemed to decline in popularity over the past couple of decades. I'm glad to see it coming back.

This. I think, also, that the 30-40% acceptance rate was a big draw. It was so obviously off.

FWIW, we considered it a low target for my daughter (who did get into BC and other reach-for-everyone schools), and she was waitlisted at HC.

FFS this is called yield protection

Isn’t “yield protection” actually lack of demonstrated interest. Lots of colleges prioritize how much the applicant demonstrates that they WANT to attend there. For a number of reasons. Cohesive, vibrant student body with school spirit for example. Casting it as “yield protection” makes the colleges’ motives sound more sinister when it’s really that the applicant appeared to the college to just throw the application in along with a dozen others. Colleges don’t, nor should they, admit only on GPA and test scores.

In the workplace analogy, I’m hiring the 3.4 GPA grad from UMD who actively networked and sought out my company over the 3.8 GPA from JHU who submitted a resume through career services and not much else.

I do this as well with hiring. However if my choice was someone from a religious private that is small nope public wins

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bill Simmons was a famous recent alum, and openly regretted going there.

He openly regrets is because of sports

And because of the dearth of dimez in sundresses. For years he advised young men to go "south or west" for college.

Anonymous wrote:Bill Simmons was a famous recent alum, and openly regretted going there.

I was a student there at the same time. He had a big profile writing a sports column for the school paper that was a precursor of what he'd go on to make millions doing.

But yes, it will never be a sports school on the level of the SEC schools.

It isn't bad, though, for kids looking for a mix of a traditional New England liberal arts school and (albeit modest) Division I sports.

Anonymous wrote:Bill Simmons was a famous recent alum, and openly regretted going there.

He openly regrets is because of sports

Bill Simmons was a famous recent alum, and openly regretted going there.

Anonymous wrote:

I've been to some great restaurants there.

We're going to the admitted student event in a few weeks. I would appreciate any restaurant and hotel suggestions. Lastly, if you have a DC at HC, what info would you share with perspective students? Thanks.

We usually stay at the AC downtown, so convenient to there:

The Canal District is pretty cool and has the Public Market and great little finds, like the cupcakes at The Queens Cups and Insomnia cookies.
Bocado Tapas and Wine Bar is an up scale funky Spanish restaurant we loved
Lock 50 is good
So many options in that area, just click Restaurants on google maps around there and you'll see what I mean.

Also in other areas:

Deadhorse Hill (Chef Jared Forman from Per Se, Gramercy Tavern, and Momofuku Ssäm)
Sole Proprietor (near WPI; haven't been, but it's always recommended and touted as one of the best seafood places in Mass.??)
Armsby Abbey -- lots of new places along Main Street
Favorite burger place is Fixx burger also near WPI in a converted warehouse area and the original Fuel America coffee house and roastery is in the same complex (really good).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a SLAC with single sex dorms.

So?

mea culpa. My kid is not conservative but does not like co-ed dorms so this unfounded belief made HC sound good for certain people. However, according to a previous poster HC has coed floors and dorms.

I've been to some great restaurants there.

We're going to the admitted student event in a few weeks. I would appreciate any restaurant and hotel suggestions. Lastly, if you have a DC at HC, what info would you share with perspective students? Thanks.

There's something wrong with the process if seniors are allowed to each send dozens of applications to whatever schools, just to chase merit/FA dollars. TO has little to do with it.