Lovely community and great school with access to Holy Mass daily with a beautiful area. God bless.

Such an outstanding school! If your son is curious, hard working and driven this is the place for him. The Cistercian monks bring a sense of peace and a grounding for the boys. Their vow of stability means they will be there long after the boys leave to make their mark in the world. The education and facilities are top rated. These boys leave prepared to enter the best universities in the country and excel. The faith formation is amazing as well. read more

I believe that Cistercian jumpstarted my intellectual life. Already a precocious and intellectual boy in 5th grade, Cistercian pushed me to the next level, as I learned Latin, read C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and was won over by the camaraderie and competition that single-sex education brought into my life. Tucked away on a beautiful and quiet property in Irving, across the freeway from the University of Dallas, Cistercian provided a retreat for boys to become men to become leaders of the free world. As would prove to be the case later in my education as well, I owed this opportunity to Hungarian monks who had fled to America after the communists had muscled their way into Eastern Europe. I'm also grateful to all the benefactors who enabled me to attend; at the time my family was really struggling financially and I won full scholarships both years I attended here. read more

Amazing school with caring, dedicated and extremely knowledgeable and engaging teachers. Highly recommend.

One time when I was in first form, or fifth grade for you non europeans, a classmate of mine of this estimable institution decided to heat up a Rice Krispies treat wrapper in the microwave. What ensued disturbed the peace of the lunch room: a parliament of sneering 5th grade boys with white polos and gray shorts cheered on in uproarious pandemonium. I found myself contributing to the bedlam that ensued more than others in the group. Although we were creating a collective uproar, my precocious leadership compelled me to bellow the loudest yawp of the group. Although I was a mere spectator, our formmaster, whom I will call Fr Jim pulled me aside and singled me out as the chief culprit. My raucous response likely drew the type of unwanted attention that all misbehaving first formers were accustomed to receiving. He claimed that sometimes witnesses to crimes fair worse than the perpetrators. My penance for this crime was copying 20 pages of the Bible by hand. Despite all of this, the other 7 years were ok. I would have given it 0 Stars, but the pizza from the pizza sale was phenomenal. read more

In the past, there have been several negative reviews for this school, but for some reason they all got deleted. That's why you'll see only positive reviews at greatschools website. Some deleted comments mentioned the problem with bullying at Cistercian. Also, in the past some students have been humiliated by their form masters. In the application package they ask what your religion is, church you attend and baptism information. If your child is not a member of a catholic church, baptized, or your child doesn't go to some of the catholic feeder schools in Dallas then it's very difficult for the applicant to get accepted here. On the good side, this school teaches Latin for the full 8 years program which no other school offers and it's particularly strong in religion (subject taught by the monks from the abbey). read more