<p>Intel, Google and Microsoft were all at the Fall career fair, hiring, according to our student!</p>
<p>^I don’t know much in particular - my best advice is look at this website: [Department</a> of Computer Science | University of Notre Dame](<a href=“http://www.cse.nd.edu/]Department”>http://www.cse.nd.edu/) and it should give you a good insight - hopes this helps, sorry that i don’t know much about this, hopefully someone else does.</p>
<p>@eulerschest: Ditto to what hawk said. My school doesn’t “officially” doesn’t rank, and I got accepted. I assume they didn’t look at my GPA because it’s just a random number, but they instead focused on my course load and grades. </p>
<p>@hawkswim09: You explained that ND’s atmosphere mostly attracted you there. I probably won’t visit campus, so I can’t experience it for myself, so what else should I know about ND? Like… for example, knowing that no school is perfect, what do you personally think ND could improve? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>Trust me - It took me a while to come up with this list:</p>
<p>Location - No, we aren’t in the middle of no where, but yes we are 2 hrs outside of a major city. This is troublesome for getting to and from campus, but other than that I don’t mind it. We have all the customary shops and restaurants and a newly build apartment/village center. Some mind, but I don’t.
Diversity - No, diversity is not as bad as people think, but yes, Notre Dame is not quite as racially diverse as other schools. Notre Dame is trying to correct this, but it takes a while. However, we have diversity in other ways like was previously mentioned - you could eat lunch with someone who will teach in Africa to poor children, another who will go on a service project to Peru, and finally another who works with talent faculty in a lab - all at the same meal!
Coldness - Yes, Notre Dame is very cold - the first and last months of the year are warm, but everything else is cold. Being from the Northeast, it is not that bad, but for someone from Texas, Florida, or California, then it is cold.
Catholic nature of ND - ND is a Catholic school - we have a beautiful Basilica and chapels in every dorm. However, you are never forced to become Catholic - but there are two consequences of ND’s Catholic nature. 80% of students are Catholic and thereby we are a little more conservative, in general, than other schools. Also, you are required to take two philosophy and two theology courses over your four years.<br>
For humor, our football team did not live up to the hype this year - maybe next year (though now I sound like a Red Sox fan). </p>
<p>Notre Dame is a great school - it is a family and a community at heart. You move in and within a week you and the 12-13 people who you live with on your hallway are your family - you work hard and play hard. The campus is breathtaking with collegian gothic style of architecture and it uses a quad system (buildings make a rectangle). When you drive in you can feel the tradition and aura on the campus. </p>
<p>Here is a website with some pictures: [Locations</a> // Campus Tour // University of Notre Dame](<a href=“http://tour.nd.edu/locations]Locations”>http://tour.nd.edu/locations)</p>
<p>If you have any more questions, please reply. Please note these are my feelings and hopefully we can get some other people’s opinions. Also, if something doesn’t seem right or you don’t like something, let me know and I will explain it more.</p>
<p>I really really want to go to Notre Dame. I’m planning on doing engineering of some kind, probably computer science. How many females are in engineering? I heard there are generally only like two females in computer science per year…
Also, does it seem like everyone at ND is a legacy?</p>
<p>In recent years, ND has been shooting for 25% legacies in the incoming classes. You are only a legacy if a parent went to ND. Uncles, grandparents, cousins don’t qualify. Thus, legacy status helps, but you still need the grades and test scores to get in. You can find many legacies who did not get admitted on this board and others. </p>
<p>The legacies provide a link to the past and ND is upfront in stating its desired percentage, unlike some schools.</p>
<p>Hawkswim has done an excellent job of describing the campus in various posts. We visited many campuses, and Rice was the only other campus that came close to capturing the feel of the ND campus. The feel of a small, close knit residential community, combined with major college athletics and other events is something that cannot be experienced at most comparable universities. The single sex dorms are another plus in many students’ eyes. Guys can be guys and girls can be girls, yet still have ample opportunity to hang out with the opposite sex. My son’s RA is a fifth year double major in aerospace engineering and german and still finds time to play in the band. When I inquired about his job opportunities recently, he told me he was anxiously awaiting word on an engineering job in Texas, but that if it didn’t pan out, there was a possible job in Germany. I inquired a second time and still no word. When my son got home for Christmas, he made sure to tell me that the RA wanted me to know that he got the job in Texas. A nice touch from a young man that I had only spoken to three times. It’s students and staff that like that who help to make Notre Dame what it is, in addition to the beauty of the campus.</p>
<p>^great story - and these are not uncommon </p>
<p>in terms of engineering, I have heard that there have been an increase in females in engineering in general - I can comment about this more when I start my first engineering class, but from my friends in engineering, it sounds like females are making progress, though I am not sure about the computer engineering. </p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>maybe you could check out this website about female engineers [Notre</a> Dame Women’s Engineering Program](<a href=“http://www.nd.edu/~engwomen/]Notre”>http://www.nd.edu/~engwomen/)</p>
<p>I will also add that professors at ND make it a unique experience as well. Our student has just shared with us an e-mail from a professor with compliments on a job well done. We were all quite surprised that a prof would take the time to write such a nice e-mail esp since the course was out of our student’s major, yet fulfilled a requirement. From what our student has shared with us, profs are genuinely interested in the students and want to help students succeed. I really cannot think of one prof that student has had that was not available or that student felt had been unfair or non-caring. Perhaps others can comment on their experiences with professors. I do know that our student’s friends at other colleges rarely talk about any of their professors. </p>
<p>numbersguy–we, too, visited Rice and it was a very close match. I remember that when the final decision had been made to attend ND, Rice admissions contacted our student and wanted to know what choice had been made. They then inquired as to what attracted our student to ND. I think Rice must know that they have lost students to ND for many reasons. Rice is a fine university and I think if you asked our student, it was a <em>very close</em> second to ND. Our impressions were almost identical to yours!</p>
<p>That’s so interesting; ds’s no. 1 choice is Rice, but we haven’t visited ND yet.</p>
<p>a quick comment about professors - I had one top-notch professor, 3 very good professor, and one ok professor. The major difference between them is their ability to communicate the information. My ok professor was in mathematics and if you went to office hours, he was a genius, just had trouble communicating the information in a class of 50. Overall, all the professors have the credentials and are top-notch in their fields-the trouble with some is their communication - which is why office hours are available.</p>
<p>My freshman engineering-intent D also chose ND over Rice. Wife and I thought Rice was a perfect fit for her, but D was persuaded by the strong sense of community at Notre Dame. No regrets so far. Hard to go wrong with either of these schools.</p>
<p>Well now that the offer of admission for my son is beginning to sink in, and the stun is beginning to wear off, I realize that I’m going to need financial help sending him there. I’d love him to go, if he wants to. We’re certainly going to visit, but I just look at the cost as being really insurmountable at this point. I’m not poor, nor am I a CEO. I feel like I’m in the donuthole. Too rich for need-based aid, and too poor to afford the cost myself regardless of what FAFSA says. Maybe I’ll get yet another part time job to be able to afford this.</p>
<p>I realize that the sticker price is not the bottom line, but I’m really worried that I won’t be able to give my son the education that he’s earned. That is very sobering.</p>
<p>^I realize this will be of little relief, but depending on the campus job that your son gets, he can earn about 2,000 a year, plus about 3,000-4,000 if he gets a good summer, so this can be about 20% of the tuition - this may help - also apply for as many random scholarships as possible - Dunkin Donuts, and others - your counselor should be able to give you a list - I say apply to as many as you qualify for, even a couple thousand makes a huge difference. </p>
<p>Best of Luck!</p>
<p>*a good summer job</p>
<p>I can’t think of a professor that I’ve had in three semesters who wasn’t genuinely interested in getting to know his or her students outside of class. The professors are the thing with which I have been the most pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>hawkswim09-- thank you taking the time to answer my question and everyone else’s! </p>
<p>However, I’m a little disappointed about the financial aid. My fam is in the same predicament (more or less) of that of Balthezar’s, and it just makes me so sad thinking about it.</p>
<p>Don’t freak out yet about the financial package. Bottom line is that ND starts with the EFC and works from there. We were very excited to find out that it was actually less expensive to attend ND than a state university. Financial aid person at another university put it nicely: “Our job is not to make it easy for you to afford college X, but to make it possible.”</p>
<p>I am bumping this thread up because I think it has some good information – anyone have any more questions?</p>
<p>Are the people who pursue architecture already Rembrandts at drawing?</p>