<p>If we are paying all of this $$$$, isn’t the most important thing we should be doing is studying? 
And going to daily Mass, of course…(that I am not joking about)</p>
<p>School work is certainly the number one priority. However, I don’t think college is all about “work, church, home”. No, as a matter of fact, I think part of the college experience is to socialize responsibly. Students are best when there is ‘balance’ in their lives. I just think that once I pay all that money, I definitely want my kid to be able to have some fun and enjoy. Life is too short. Everyone needs to take a break, listen to music, meet the opposite sex, dance etc etc etc.</p>
<p>Since you aren’t even a student there can someone else please reply to my question. What do you do for fun now that football season is over at ND???</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>-play in the snow
-hang out with your friends
-go to the SUB movie on weekends
-go to the events at Legends
-go to Eddy Street Commons
-go ice skating
-go bowling
-get creative and come up with something to keep you busy</p>
<p>Thank you. Thats what I was hoping for. That sounds like fun!!!</p>
<p>Basketball games? Hockey?</p>
<p>The parties do get old and the cold weather really does put a damper on “fun”. If you look at list that Alessandra suggested, how many of those activities could you not be doing at home? I hope its clear that ND is definitely a study first school, this is not the place to be coming for a lot of fun to put it lightly. “Keeping yourself busy” is what you do when you’re in prison, not at college. I’m not trying to be a Debbie downer, there definitely are fun things to do, but having been to other college campuses (and not just state schools) ND is lacking in comparison.</p>
<p>It’s true that the surrounding town does not have much to offer in terms of activities. But I also think that students could take more advantage of what South BEnd DOES offer. In addition to the local bars, there are some decent restaurants, bowling, skating, a zoo, go karts, etc.</p>
<p>On campus, there is plenty to do. Besides the things I listed above (and sports, somehow I forgot those!!!) there are always random events happening on the weekends. Look at the Observer online or the events link on the ND home page.</p>
<p>How important is 3+ years of Foreign Language for applicants wanting to go into engineering? A travelling ND admission counselor it is better to take a 3rd year of Spanish than AP computer Science. There is no Foreign Language requirement for a BS in engineering at ND.</p>
<p>All other academic units will meet or exceed ND standards with the rigor of the course will being very high. Will the application go into the reject pile with only two years of a Foreign Language?</p>
<p>Could you do an independent study for the AP Computer Science and still take the 3rd year of Spanish? No, there is no Foriegn Language requirement for engineering and the AP credit that our student had for Latin did not qualify for anything…had hoped that since it did not qualify for foreign language that it might help on the Arts and Letters requirements. It did not. So, the 5 years of Latin with AP credit when admitted to ND was basically useless since student was an engineering major. I suppose it did help with admissions, but our student opted for Computer Science AP as an independent study in high school and had no problems with the AP exam. It might make a difference with admissions having the extra year of language (maybe shows you have pushed yourself!). The AP exam for Computer Science should not be that difficult to self-study as I recall.</p>
<p>loveneweng: Housing policy - you are right to be concerned about the random housing assignments. My son is a freshman and has plenty of seemingly legitimate issues with his roommates. The good news is he loves Notre Dame and has lots of other friends to hang out with. The bad news, he’s stuck for the current year in an uncomfortable room situation.</p>
<p>I know…the housing situation is the one thing that concerns me re: ND. When the tour guide glibly said “I have never known of a roommate situation that was bad”, I thought how much Kool-Aid has she had?</p>
<p>My education and my faith are two of the most important things to me and anything that distracts me from either one is a negative in my life.</p>
<p>Before any of you start chiming in about “how I need to grow and expand my horizons and that is what college is all about” my response is that I choose “to be in the world but not of the world”.</p>
<p>You should really cross your fingers and hope that you end up with roommates who are at least understanding of what you want, especially if you are a male. The only male dorm I can think of that will be free of the kind of “distractions” that you want to avoid is Carroll Hall. If you are female the female dorms are pretty quiet places so you shouldn’t have problems.</p>
<p>In reply to the person who said their son has to stick it out, that is totally untrue. Not many students take advantage of this- but if you go to the the Office of Residence Life located in the main building and explain that you have lifestyle differences and would like to move from your current dorm, they usually will approve your request and take care of your individual needs.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that you can always request a dorm transfer prior to the second semester. I think you can also float for a single as a freshman at this time but I am not positive on this. I think the application becomes available in October. If you want out of a bad situation, this is often a good solution.</p>
<p>My son who is a freshman at ND was told that you can’t change roommates. As parents, we were also told that at orientation. ND’s policy is that you need to work through your problems rather than avoid them. So don’t plan to change roommates. I would imagine that if the problem was HUGE they would do something, but the RA told my son that he needed to live with it.</p>
<p>loveneweng: A few questions to ask yourself: Where else will your faith be nourished and grow as much as at Notre Dame? Where else can your faith grow while you receive one of the best educations in the world? Despite the roommate issues, I don’t think my son would want to be anywhere else. Also, my older son is at another Christian college where they match roommates with an extensive questionaire. He’s told his brother that there are plenty of roommate problems there too. So just because ND is a random draw doesn’t mean you WILL have roommate problems. And even if your college of choice matches you for a roommate doesn’t mean you will be a good fit with each other. You might still have roommate problems. I prayed a long time for a good roommate for my son. Since he has issues with his roommates, I have to conclude that God wants him to grow in new ways because of this situation.</p>
<p>I know people who have changed dorms between semesters due to roommate issues, and people who have found ways to avoid their roommate when they were having problems by unofficially living in a friend’s room.</p>
<p>Also, don’t expect that you will have problems. While issues may arise with randomly-selected roommates, you may end up living with some who you get along with or can at least tolerate! It is likely that your roommate will respect most of your wishes or that you can come to some sort of compromise so you are both happy. Be positive and don’t go into this expecting the worst.</p>
<p>My daughter and her roommate hit it off right from the start and have become close friends. They are living together again this year, their second, and plan to live together their junior year. For her, the random assignment of a roommate turned out to be a very positive thing. I wouldn’t use fear of a less than perfect roommate match weigh too heavily in the decision to attend or not! You might just make a life long friend. I think my daughter has!</p>
<p>Thanks, Hawkswim09, for hosting this thread. Can you please tell me when students admitted via RD are notified of that decision? Thanks.</p>
<p>rckpgh,
You may have already seen this on nd.edu…</p>
<p>"The Regular Action process at Notre Dame is also non-binding. Three decisions are possible following the Regular Action process:</p>
<p>Admission to the University
Denial of Admission to the University
Waitlist</p>
<p>Students will receive one of these decisions by the beginning of April and, if admitted, are required to send in a confirmation card and deposit by May 1. Students who are denied admission to the University may choose to attend another four year institution for one or two years and then apply to Notre Dame as a transfer student. Students who are waitlisted will receive a final admission decision by mid-June. The Admissions Committee waitlists students who would be viable candidates for admission should additional room become available in the First Year class.</p>
<p>Our S was waitlisted in Early April via admissions letter and was offered admission via phone call from Maureen 2nd week in May.</p>
<p>Hope this helps, good luck and keep the faith!
GO IRISH!</p>
<p>Thanks WestPaND. I had seen that info before but since I consider early April to be the first week, that doesn’t leave alot of times for accepted/deferred students to take one last look at their schools before making a decision and putting a deposit down.</p>