2 months here - my perspective

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
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<p>OK so... I basically started this thread to let everyone who wants to go to Notre Dame know what they're getting into, because although I get the feeling that the majority of people love it, there can be some issues. I've been here two months, I'm a freshman, so how well adjusted I am so far may change. Be that as it may, I'm fairly sure that I have a fairly good idea of life (so far) at ND.</p>

<p>I'll start off with some pro's...</p>

<p>(1)ND's academics are obviously superb, they were the reason I chose ND over BC. I'm a pre-med major and ND has sent about twice as many students to medical school in the past years as BC, despite a fairly comparable sized undergraduate student body. That and the fact that BC gave me over 6k less in financial aid sent me over to ND.
Anyways so far my classes have been great, I'm also in the honors progam which does lead to some smaller classes with professors who can be amazing. My philosophy and humanities seminars for example have about a dozen kids in each. They are fairly writing intensive, but that depends both on the teacher you get as well as the class. My math class has about 40... and so does my elective (in which the teacher goes off on tangents most of the class, but the test is just on book vocab so it doesn't really matter). Intro Chem on the other hand is a class about half the freshman class ends up enrolled in, so its about 250 people per lecture, and can be fairly difficult if you're not a science person/havn't taken AP Chem. Either way, if you got into ND and really work at it you should be fine. You do need to manage your time though.</p>

<p>Going along with academics the competition at ND is much less than what I hear exists at the Ivy Leagues or some other top tier schools. People aren't stealing notes, or out to sabotage your grade for the sake of the curve. This could be because (in my classes so far at least) there hasn't been a forced curve. I think it also helps that the dorm-comraderie overrides any seriously competitive tendencies, which I'll get to next. Overall, you can't go wrong with ND's academics.</p>

<p>(2)Dorm-camaraderie... now this is a pro that has a seriously negative con to go along with it, single sex dorms. But I'll stick to the positives for now. You'll get to know the guys in your dorm, especially on your floor, very well. I'm in a quad and there's always people popping in and out to watch The Office or work on engineering or for whatever other reason. You also get to know a lot of the upperclassmen because there's no separation in what area they live. They're usually pretty cool about hooking you up with parties and dorm mates seem to stick with dorm mates and look out for their own. I've been at ND two months but I can easily tell how life long friendships are so easily formed here.</p>

<p>(3) Tradition is obviously another aspect of ND that can be a draw, how big that draw is depends on the person. Everywhere you go it is evident that you're at someplace which is special. Whether its from looking up and seeing the golden dome or just looking across south quad there is a certain quality to it that seems like it will last forever. Now that I've said that.. to be honest the whole tradition thing is nice, but it doesn't make a college fun or any better at sports or academics, so that that at face value. If you're into the tradition and history then all the better ND will be for you, if you really don't care much (like me) it doesn't really matter.</p>

<p>(4Football... the minds of many jump immediately to football when they heard the words "Notre Dame." Although our season has been abysmal, the fans are still dedicated and the student section is still primed for cheering. Now to be honest, I'm not the best person to listen to when it comes to football, especially ND football. I love playing pick up with my friends but I didn't really follow football before coming and now that I'm hear I've only gotten a bit more into it (perhaps because of how horrendous we are). So I won't say much more about it because I'm not too knowledgeable and this season is unique in it's terrible-ness.</p>

<p>(5)Other sports such as basketball and hockey are also big, but because their seasons havn't really started yet i won't spout off nonsense about what i have no idea. The same fans are still dedicated though so I'm assuming that the basketball season will be much better than the football. It should also be mentioned that Intramural sports are big at ND and many participate (I've actually joined a progam called bengal bouts, which culminates in a boxing tournament in the spring). Playing a sport isn't a necesitty though.
Alrighty then, I’m sure there are some other pro’s but I’ve gotten bored talking about them so onto the juicy stuff… I should preface that saying a lot of this is probably not true for everyone and it’s just my opinion so please refrain from flaming, at least too much.</p>

<p>(1)First.. the number one problem I’ve had with ND are the girls. There, I’ve said it as bluntly as I could, so sue me. If you’re looking for attractive girls, ND is not the place for you. That doesn’t mean there aren’t attractive girls, because there are, and there are quite a few. But attractiveness and quantity are all relative. Because in comparison to other colleges ND is definitely lacking. I should also mention that I’ve talked to other guys about this and they agree on those accounts regarding girls, so I’m not alone. If you’re a guy at ND, you’re aware that the girls aren’t great to say the least. There are a LOT of not attractive girls at ND. And when there are 4000 other guys also looking to… well either score or go out with or whatever, those same, limited in number, attractive girls, it becomes very tough. </p>

<p>Another thing I’ve noticed (in my limited scope of judging guy attractiveness, I’m a heterosexual male so keep that in mind) is that the guys seem to be considerably more attractive then the girls. This again makes it harder because of the quality competition for those few foxy ladies. The hook-up scene in general is also not exactly roaring, it happens, but it happens much more at other colleges.* This is probably a direct result of…. </p>

<p>(2)Parietals. Parietals suck. Don’t listen to what people say about how it gives the dorms a time for bonding and a nice quiet time to relax and stuff. It does do that I suppose but the benefits of this far outweigh the sacrifice. There’s the obvious result that it can be much more difficult to have girls over for the night because of the risk involved. Sure, people do it, it’s not exactly rare to hear about breakings of parietals. But it does place a damper on things. And it’s also not rare to hear about people being caught doing it, and getting into considerable trouble, it’s not just a little slap on the wrist. There’s also the result that on-campus parties end at 2, since they all take place in the (guys) dorms ( which also doesn’t help the girl situation because having parties in guys’ dorms naturally results in usually more guys at parties than girls.)</p>

<p>(3) Single Sex dorms… a double edge sword. It can lead to better friendships with the guys in the dorm, but the sacrifice for this is terrible. It obviously makes it more work/harder to meet girls, because you don’t live together. Going along with this, it has the result that if you’re just chilling in the room, you’ll basically just be seeing guys all day. There won’t just be much casual hanging out with girls unless you have like a group of friends or some girl friends who you can hang out with. I never realized how much fun girls were just to hang out with until I was at ND for a couple months and then went home on fall break and saw some friends. ND pretty much wants to prevent hanging out with girls, which sucks.</p>

<p>(4) The entire Catholic atmosphere of the school… I realize that for many this is huge plus as opposed to a con. But for me, a very non-religious person, it’s a negative. They tell you there’s no pressure to go to Church, and there’s usually not, but there can be a bit of slight pressure everyone once in awhile. The Catholic atmosphere is also responsible for the parietals, pruder girls, and some pretty strict rules about other stuff. The one thing ND IS lax on is beer for the most part. As long as you don’t walk around with it in the hallways or throw up you’ll probably be fine.</p>

<p>so.. take from that what you want to, it's just my perspective.</p>

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<p>Very interesting post-Are you still happy at Notre Dame? Son is in his soph yr of eng at ND, and when he was home for Fall Break, the subject of whether he was still happy with the choice came up. Even with negatives, he still overwhelmingly said yes (and I don't think he said this out of comfort!). Notre Dame is what it is-and different things to different people. Keep us updated as you adjust further and perhaps find your niche.</p>

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<p>It's good to know that you chose education over attractiveness of the opposite sex. And, thanks for putting down BC, that was very classy. Thanks for posting though, it was certainly entertaining!</p>

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<p>Very valuable post Kenone-your continued presence and posts here will offer good insight as you go through the roller coaster of freshman year!</p>

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<p>For what it is worth, I am a recent graduate from ND and now am a graduate student and teach a large intro course at the number 1 party school in the nation which is known for its attractive student body. That being said, perhaps it is the 5 year age difference and the fact that I am not looking for someone to date, but I haven't seen that big of a difference. I certainly don't think it is as big of a deal as people make it out to be, but that is just my opinion.</p>

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<p>Very interesting post.</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing, Kenone!</p>

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<p>"the guys seem to be considerably more attractive then the girls"</p>

<p>Hahaha, sorry.....but since you've already warned the guys, I may as well warn the girls as well that that statement is sadly untrue...</p>

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<p>I am a freshmen too:</p>

<p>Pros: Agree on 2 (although I have missed out on this because of band. But band has it's own camaraderie), 3, and 4</p>

<p>Cons: Agree on 1. I don't think parietals are a problem Sun-Thurs. Fri-Sat probably sucks, but that hasn't been a problem for me (off-campus).</p>

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<p>Well I didn't get AS negative a response to that as I thought I would... which is good, but to address some points brought up.</p>

<p>"Very interesting post-Are you still happy at Notre Dame? Son is in his soph yr of eng at ND, and when he was home for Fall Break, the subject of whether he was still happy with the choice came up. Even with negatives, he still overwhelmingly said yes (and I don't think he said this out of comfort!). Notre Dame is what it is-and different things to different people. Keep us updated as you adjust further and perhaps find your niche."</p>

<p>As for me being happy, this is really a loaded question because to be honest I just went through a break up with a girl who I'd gone out with for over a year... so that's definitely affecting my thoughts on the girls (she's beautiful, so its hard to compare at ND) and my happiness in general. That's why I wouldn't be surprised if my opinion really changes in the next few months. Right now I'm definitely considering transferring but I havn't made any decisions or anything. I've made some great friends and it'd be hard to leave them, but I might think its worth it, I don't know... We'll see when the transfer applicaiton time comes around.</p>

<p>"It's good to know that you chose education over attractiveness of the opposite sex. And, thanks for putting down BC, that was very classy. Thanks for posting though, it was certainly entertaining!"
Haha, yes I actually did choose educaiton over attractiveness, and those were both considerations when I finally made the decision... I actually was pretty set on going to BC but my parents eventually convinced me otherwise because of the reasons I already stated. I wasn't putting down BC, it's a great school. I was just stating the simple fact that ND has sent about 250 or so students to med school every year while BC sends somewhere in the mid 100's (forgive me for not remember the exact statistics but it's about double). I'm not sure if that's because of less interest in medicine at BC or because students with lower GPA's are discourgaed from applying but it's definitely true. I also talked to a college advisor before deciding and she told me that ND has a considerably better science program, which is evidenced through MCAT scores. Whether that's a statement on the school or the students, I don't know, I'm not the advisor. I was simply told that ND prepares its students better for med school and the MCATs, and that played a major part in my decision.</p>

<p>"'the guys seem to be considerably more attractive then the girls'</p>

<p>Hahaha, sorry.....but since you've already warned the guys, I may as well warn the girls as well that that statement is sadly untrue..."
Haha, well I'm not going to argue with you on this one, I'm not a girl, so I'll defer to you. I do notice that there seem to be more guys at parties than girls though, so the ratio is usually in the girls' favor.</p>

<p>"Cons: Agree on 1. I don't think parietals are a problem Sun-Thurs. Fri-Sat probably sucks, but that hasn't been a problem for me (off-campus)."</p>

<p>Yeah I'd probably agree. It can be really difficult to find something going on on the weekdays so the 12 o'clock parietal don't really matter then. As for the off-campus parties, they can be good, especially since parietals don't apply, but it can also be annoying paying $6 for a cab there and back.</p>

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<p>kenone breaking up with your girlfriend is a very hertbreaking experience that is not uncommon freshman year and it does color your perspective on a lot of things. Adjustment is very hard first semester all by itself. I hope you can feel more in tune before the semester ends I am sure you will by the end of the school year. No school is perfect if your eye is truly on med school you probably made the right choice,. Good luck to you</p>

11

<p>"the guys are more attractive than the girls"</p>

<p>hahaha that made me laugh pretty hard--not because it's not true (I don't know if it's true) but because that is a gutsy thing to say haha</p>

<p>what dorm are you in?</p>

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<p>"As for the off-campus parties, they can be good, especially since parietals don't apply, but it can also be annoying paying $6 for a cab there and back."</p>

<p>Designated drivers or walk in groups. I have done each about 50/50.</p>

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<p>If most of the ND women are as horrible as you say and the competition for the "foxy" ones is so tough, you wouldn't want to be hooking up with anyone who would have you, right? </p>

<p>So why the complaints about parietals, single-sex dorms and prudish girls? ;)</p>

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<p>Going to an all-guys high school, the thought of having girls in class again alone excites me. I guess it just depends on where you're coming from. Single-sex dorms seem like no big deal to me. Again, that's because I go to a single-sex high school. </p>

<p>In all honesty, I think the biggest con I can foresee with ND is that it's close enough to home that if the 'rents get lonely, I'm essentially obliged to visit them.</p>

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<p>Great post! I'm at UVA but came very close to going to ND. Thanks for your honesty. I've been very happy at UVA, of course I have some of that new person anxiety that you describe at ND. I've been a little tormented about whether or not I should have gone to ND-I was thrilled to gain admittance, after I had been deferred in the December before. So your post was a nice one to read. The grass is always greener somewhere else!
If you do transfer, think about UVA! The girls are beautiful (despite my posting name--I'm a southern gal) and the weather is great!</p>

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<p>I don't get the impression he is unhappy/transferring.</p>

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<p>"Right now I'm definitely considering transferring but I havn't made any decisions or anything. I've made some great friends and it'd be hard to leave them, but I might think its worth it, I don't know... We'll see when the transfer applicaiton time comes around."</p>

<p>This is a quote. Copied and Pasted.</p>

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<p>As you have just learned, I didn't read the entire thread carefully...</p>

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<p>I'm guessing the girls don't think much of you either big guy.</p>

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<p>no no, mombot, u must've missed the part about how beautiful his ex-girlfriend is! haha... with such good looks you'd think he would be able to get the few attractive girls here and even convince them to break parietals with his seductive ways so none of his cons would be an issue... haha</p>