<p>I am going to be taking part in an international exchange programme with my university this year and I will be going to the University of Notre Dame for a year from England. I have a few questions about Notre Dame and college life in general:</p>
<p>1) Will I get a typical American college experience at Notre Dame?</p>
<p>2) How easy is it to go from South Bend to Chicago frequently?</p>
<p>3) What is transportation like in South Bend? I won't be driving.</p>
<p>4) What are the girls like at Notre Dame? I'd like to date some American women but most ND students are Catholics apparently. Are they ultra-religious? I am agnostic do will I fit in?</p>
<p>5) I have until September to firm ND as my 1st choice. I got accepted to all 4 of my choices for my year abroad: Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, St. Olaf, and Hunter CUNY. Would I be better going to one of them?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t have much experience with Notre Dame, as I just went there for a football game once. The campus is rather religiously oriented, but there was plenty of school spirit at the game I attended. Its not as religious as say BYU, but I’m sure if you are tolerant you will enjoy your time there. Chicago isn’t too far away, but its a decent drive. I would think that if you wanted to enjoy the sites, you might want to make it a weekend trip.</p>
<p>I’m sure others will be able to fill in the gaps, but I figured I’d share my limited experience.</p>
<p>Hi. Notre Dame was one of several schools I was accepted to, and bearing in mind it has been a year since I researched colleges, I will try to recollect as best I can.</p>
<ol>
<li>Notre Dame isn’t going to be the “normal” or “average” American college experience because the school is very predominantly Catholic, and unlike many “Catholic” schools such as Georgetown, the university enacts some policies that adhere to the tenets of the faith. </li>
</ol>
<p>However, while they are stricter on some things, they are more lax on others. From what I’ve read, while Notre Dame has parietals and single gender dorms which make dating (etc) harder, the university is not strict on alcohol enforcement compared to many other religious schools such as Brigham Young University.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>South Bend, and Notre Dame, are a little isolated. However, it shouldn’t be too hard to go to Chicago. </p></li>
<li><p>No idea, sorry.</p></li>
<li><p>Most, but not all, students who go to Notre Dame are Catholic. And the school has a definite conservative atmosphere. I wouldn’t say all Notre Dame women are ultra-religious. And as long as you are open-minded being agnostic shouldn’t be a problem.</p></li>
<li><p>Those are some very different schools. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about CUNY. Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and St. Olaf are all very respected and very different schools.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My guess is that Vanderbilt would be closest to the “typical” American college experience. St. Olaf is a liberal arts college, which makes it unique in the group. Notre Dame is probably the best known out of the three, especially among Catholics and midwesterners. </p>
<p>Take everything I say with a grain of salt, I’m sure there are many more qualified to answer your question here. All are fantastic schools and I don’t think you can really go wrong.</p>
<p>1.) I don’t think there is a “typical American college” because there are so many different colleges.
2.) I live in the area between those two cities. I THINK there is a metro train rail that can connect between the two cities. But I’m not sure at all. But assuming you’re taking a car, you’re looking at about 1 hours and 35 minutes trip.
3.) I assume there will be a bus system based on my school. But seriously no idea on that one.
4.) Lol funny question. Well this generation is more tolerant to thing like religious differences and the likes, I’m sure you can find someone to date.
5.) Don’t know. But college is what you make it.</p>
<p>There are buses and trains between South Bend and Chicago. It is not hard to get here (I am in Chicago) from Notre Dame since a lot of the students come from Chicago.</p>
<ol>
<li>Don’t know</li>
<li>Ew, Chicago</li>
<li>Car</li>
<li>American Catholics are pretty liberal and may as well be agnostic too. Very few non-ancient people are devout Catholics in this country.</li>
<li>Vanderbilt is in Nashville, a cultural center of the South what with all the music. And it’s a big city instead of a small town.</li>
</ol>
<p>I should also point out that the “typical American college experience” is a creation of the media to a certain extent.</p>
<p>Hi, I’ll be attending ND this fall, and I also live right between Chicago and South Bend</p>
<p>1) ND has stellar academics, a huge sports culture, and (from what I’ve heard) kickass parties–it’s a special place, nothing typical about it. Please also note: while many students are Catholic, religion is not pressed on you at all (its a very welcoming environment). </p>
<p>2) Don’t worry, the South Shore train line runs straight from South Bend to the middle of Chicago. And Chicago is an awesome city, full of great restaurants, sports, museums, and shopping (just to name a few things).</p>
<p>3) ND is a closed campus, so everything you’ll need is right on campus. If you want to go into South Bend, though, you can always take a cab or hitch a ride with a friend who has a car. A bike is also useful, but not necessary. </p>
<p>4) Sure, there are probably ultra-religious girls at ND, but there are also tons of fun, open-minded ladies who are as pretty as they are smart. </p>
<p>5) Of your other choices, Vandy definitely jumps out. That’s a great school too, so be sure to compare it with ND. </p>
<p>Good luck with your program, I’m sure you’ll love it here in the states!</p>
<p>1° Depends on what you call “typical American college experience”. If you mean “football = big deal”, yes. Notre Dame’s football players are treated like little gods. There are dorms, a big campus, parties, etc. (Watch Monsters University, the environment is well reproduced, and if you replace scarers by football players you have an idea. :p)
2° Depends on what you mean by “frequently”. If you mean every other weekend, I’d say not. You’d probably go twice in a semester and during Fall break unless you wanted to spend Fall Break elsewhere. Compared to the UK, though, there are few breaks and they’re short. How often do you go to cities located about 150km from where you live in the UK (300km roundtrip)?
3° you won’t be going anywhere “in South Bend”. You’ll be staying on campus and taking hte shuttle to South Bend from time to time, usually to restaurants or shops (and, if you’re 21+, bars, although most students party on campus). South Bend in itself is not a very interesting city although it’s one of the big cities in Indiana.
4° compared to England, Catholics in the US are more conservative and more religious. Think Ireland v. England on the matter. They actually practice, especially family, and pay “tithes”. In addition, this influences how many view politics, especially the matter of legal abortion (which is still debated in the US). At Notre Dame, due to the religion-based rules applying to all students (including non Catholics) most students are religious and observant, and many take their faith seriously. There are many religious on-campus groups. As an English agnostic, you’d probably find all that exotic or burdensome, and they’d probably find you charmingly exotic/weird/deluded but that’d be blamed on your coming from the UK.
As for dating, it does affect how women view “proper” behavior and it may affect in particular how men and women view premarital sex. This may not be an issue wrt actual behavior but it definitively is discussed in Bible Study groups at the college level.</p>
<p>5° School often starts in August, so I’m not sure how you have until September, unless you come in January 2014 for a semester only?
As for the different schools: Vanderbilt has the best academic reputation and is in a big, thriving city (Nashville). St Olaf is a national liberal arts college (meaning you could take many interdisciplinary seminars and classes in a variety of subjects) with terrific math, science, music programs, quite liberal and tight-knit atmosphere, about 45mn from Minneapolis-St Paul. Hunter CUNY is a public college that suffers from budget woes (large classes, overenrollment, resources…) but it’s in NYC.</p>