<p>Unfortunately, yes, I do not think that diversity is one of Notre Dame’s strengths and yes, is a weakness. I don’t know the percentages exactly. However, it is not to say that there is no ethnic diversity on campus - I believe the university is trying to fix this. To be completely honest, I would say to visit, talk to the admissions counselors about it, and sleep over - this should give you a hint if there is enough diversity for you. If you are worried that there are no one with socio-ethnic diversity, then that is false, but it won’t be as diverse as other campuses i think. To be honest, I can’t really judge off of other campuses because I haven’t been to others. I would really visit - this should help you determine.</p>
<p>On a few overnight visit dates for new admits, they include a family open house at 7pm. Does that mean the overnights for the student start the evening of the overnight, with a full day of activities starting the next morning? As the father of a new admit, I’d like to tour the campus, but I don’t want to interfere with what I think will be a great introduction to the campus for my son. How does that work? If at all possible I’d only like him to miss a single day of school. I’m sure he’ll love me for that by the way. But if that’s not how it works, there’s no problem. I guess my wife and I will be staying at one of the two lodgings on campus, if at all possible. Thanks for answering these questions by the way.</p>
<p>shyman,
The statistics on black undergraduates at ND are readily available online. Here’s a link comparing ND to other top schools. [The</a> State of Black Student Freshman Enrollments at the Nation’s Highest-Ranked Colleges and Universities](<a href=“http://www.jbhe.com/features/61_enrollments.html]The”>The State of Black Student Freshman Enrollments at the Nation’s Highest-Ranked Colleges and Universities)
For various reasons (especially the relatively low numbers of Catholics among the black population), Notre Dame typically has fewer than 5% black students in its entering class. The university is well aware of the situation, and has made many efforts to increase its outreach to the high-achieving black student population, but right now the numbers just aren’t as high as other top schools. Only you can decide whether you will be comfortable on a campus where most of the students don’t look like you. Which is NOT to say that Notre Dame lacks diversity on other dimensions, such as political views (on how many other college campuses would a visit from President Obama attract such divergent opinions?), geographic origin, academic interests, and post college plans. If you come to ND, your classmates will include young men considering the priesthood, ROTC students preparing for commissions as officers, lots of premed and prelaw students, and many who will spend two years after graduation teaching in impoverished Catholic schools as part of the ACE program. You won’t find that mix at many other colleges that boast of their “diversity.”</p>
<p>Didn’t Condolezza Rice go to Notre Dame?</p>
<p>Balthezar, first congrats on your son’s acceptance to Notre Dame. In writing these responses, I have tried to be relatively objective because it is a serious decision, but trust me Notre Dame is like no other. It is a create college EXPERIENCE. Yes, it may not be the #1 school in the nation, that is a different debate why we are not as high as other schools, but I doubt there is a college will give your son the true college experience that Notre Dame can offer - so there is my little advertising. But back to objectivity (though if someone is really debating and wants to hear more about the +'s of ND please let me know). When I stayed over, I meet my host on the Thursday (in the afternoon) and stayed with him until about 7:00ish and then went to the Open House and then returned that evening to my host. I then stayed until the afternoon of the next day. There are not many “special” activities planned for the Open House other than the actual meeting on the night - though this was very helpful as they have a small Q&A session after with about 20-30 students and faculty from all (or close to all) the departments. You basically just live a day in the life of a college student. To be totally honest, I did the trip over April Vacation because I did not miss any school - but at this point, making a good trip and seeing the campus - which is beautiful - is well worth the time. I have stayed at the Inn at Saint Mary’s which is very close to campus and a great hotel - the best I have heard about other than the Morris Inn. Hopefully, everything will work out. You are assigned randomly to a host unless you request someone I believe - and I am on the list for hosting, so if your son is interested in engineering at all, I would be willing to be his host, just sent me a message. If not, I am sure the host will be fine. Just on a side note, it doesn’t really matter when you arrive the day before the sleep over night or the day after, but your son only gets 2 free meals. </p>
<p>If you have any more questions ask away - I went to the Open House so I should be able to give you an answer.</p>
<p>On a side note, I apologize for the horrible English I used on the title: It should have been “anyone have any questions” lol - doesn’t give a great first impression does it?!</p>
<p>sm74 - yes she received her Master’s degree from Notre Dame in 1975 </p>
<p>and thanks for clarifying claremarie that was a great point about diversity on campus.</p>
<p>Actually, Hawk, he is interested in engineering, and has been admitted to other schools with very highly ranked engineering programs. Although Notre Dame is a top-notch school overall. I’m not sure it’s recognized and/or recruited much for engineering per se. I’d love to hear your, or anyone elses thoughts on that aspect of the university.</p>
<p>Balthezar-actually ND is recruited for engineers by many top companies(GE, Rolls Royce, Lockheed Martin, Booz, Allen, PPG, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and many more). And even in this year’s economy, many were on campus this past fall for the career fair. Try to visit the career center as it is ranked among the top among many colleges while you are here and ask questions. It is, in my opinion top notch! Compare the career center at ND with the other schools your son is considering; as we have found out, (having a SR that has landed a fabulous position already), your college experience will ultimately be worth how strong your resume is, but the career center at your school can play a huge part in assistance. Not to mention the many alums at a lot of these various companies who seem to look out for ND grads! The alumni network is very strong. So, consider all of these issues when evaluating colleges. Good Luck!!</p>
<p>Not to toot my own horn, but I was admitted to MIT and choose ND over MIT because of the college experience. College is a time to get a degree, but also to build friendships and grow as an individual, and I think that Notre Dame is one of the best at this. Notre Dame is opening a brand new multi-million (and stress the multi) part engineering hall that will be prime for research and hopefully bring a lot of top notch professors. However, ND engineering professors have won distinguished awards (I know an aerospace professor just was named to a distinguished board). Yes, ND isn’t known as an engineering school, but the school itself is growing and developing and in a couple of years, I would not be surprised if ND is thought of great engineering school. I think that a lot of people at ND think it is, just the outside opinion isn’t there quite yet, but this may change. I actually and going to really get involved next semester, but definitely visit - I would not suggest to anyone to rule out ND without visiting. Also, another reason why I chose ND over Ivies and schools like MIT is that at top schools it is ultra-competitive and students do not help one another on homework for fear that you will beat them at a test or something. ND is a great community and family and the college experience is second to none. Plus we might start being good at football. I will definitely be in touch.</p>
<p>I have a question. What others schools did you apply to and why made you choose Notre Dame over them? I’m a little worried about ND’s location, I consider myself very “east coast”</p>
<p>Ok, brace yourself for a long read!</p>
<p>I applied and was accepted to Notre Dame, Syracuse, MIT, RPI, and several others, but those where the top 4. I was looking into possibility of architecture or engineering, so they all matched one or the other. I visited MIT and it seemed very unsocial and there did not seem to be a great community feeling among students. Also, some of the living accommodations including food service did not seem to be very good. It also seemed to be ultra-competitive to the point of sickening. The I visited RPI which was a great school. It was extremely hilly. However, it was a great school, but again I did not see the community and great college experience there. Syracuse was a great school and their admissions counselors were very accommodating. However, it seemed like it would be very, very cold, and I just did not see myself living there. When I finally visited ND, it immediately felt like home. When I walked onto campus, I could see myself living and studying there. There were students talking and conversing to each other more than other campuses. At the dining halls all the students were talking and discussing and you could sense the community feeling. All of the students were very accommodating and helpful. There was some sense of tradition and aura that I felt tied to when I went on campus - this is why I strongly suggest you visit your top choices, especially ND. I think once you get on campus you can tell if you envision yourself living and studying there. Then when I got accepted, I visited and slept over a night. The sense of community and family in the dorms was unbelievable. I made friends with my host and his friends right when I got on campus and I felt part of the group. It was amazing how friendly and helping the students are. The college experience itself was amazing as well. Notre Dame just seemed to be the perfect fit. I felt at home and it was a great overall college experience that I wanted to be a part of. </p>
<p>I am not quite sure what you mean my very “east coast.” I would say that being from the Northeast, the weather has not been hard to adjust to. I would also say that there is a diverse student body with students from every part of the country. My neighbor is from California and people from my hall are from Colorado, New Jersey, Virginia, Missouri, Texas, Boston, Puerto Rico, Michigan, California, etc. </p>
<p>If you want any more help, let me know, and if I did not explain the “east coast” problem, let me know. </p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Hi! I have a question 
I am one of those who is not a big fan of foreign langauges. However, I want to major in political science and I know I will have to fufill a language requirement as part of the college of arts and letters. how much language will I have to take? And do you have any suggestions and/or reccomendations on which language to take? I’ve taken Spanish and Latin - not really thrilled to continue, but open to ideas.</p>
<p>THANKS!!!</p>
<p>Academy_Girl: From what I can see you would be required to take 1-3 language classes, though for political science, I think you can get away with only one. I don’t really know much about the language requirements on campus, I can find out and let you know. However, it would seem like an introductory Spanish course would be able to fulfill this requirement and if you have taken Spanish before, it should be relatively easy. </p>
<p>I will try to find out more and let you know - latest would be when I get back to school so I can ask in the First Year of Studies. </p>
<p>Best of Luck!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your response! Everyone is just so helpful - I guess it’s ND : )</p>
<p>Also, does anyone have any info on ND’s Navy and Army ROTC. I have 4 yr scholarships through both and was wondering if anyone has had experience with the detachments?</p>
<p>THNAKS AGAIN!</p>
<p>I believe Arts & Letters (assuming poly sci is in A & L) requires “intermediate proficiency” (ND’s term) in one language–and they mean that to be 3 semesters of one language, assuming a student comes in with no foreign language AP credits. S is student and I believe above info is accurate–anyone who knows otherwise please correct me!</p>
<p>^ that is probably right, I am not too confident on anything Arts and Letters related - but for political science, knowing a little of another language might help!</p>
<p>My school has recently decided not to rank. How will that affect how Notre Dame views my GPA? Note that my AP and SAT scores are pretty good.</p>
<p>Eulerschest it will not hurt your chances. They can not count something against you if it is out of your hands!</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>Can you give me any information on the computer science program at Notre Dame? And do you know if Silicon Valley companies recruit compsci grads?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>