As I have been recently admitted to Notre Dame, I’ve become curious about all of their Residence Halls. I know they are separated by gender, and there are 30 total. I’ve tried to get more information about them on the website, but it’s very vague. I’d like to know which of the female residence halls is the best (in your opinion) and how the whole roommate and residence hall process works in general. It would also be nice to know the characteristics of each of the female residence halls too.
Thank you so much! 
Room and roommate assignments are generally random. I know there are a few female dorms that are considered STEM dorms w here they assign first year STEM intents, the idea being that with the support of other STEM students, the women are less likely to drop the STEM majors. (This was a trend the university had been seeing.) You can also get “pulled” into a dorm if, for instance, a sibling is in that dorm. (FWIW my '19 daughter had no interest in being pulled into her '17 sister’s dorm. More a function of wanting to have her own path than the dorm itself.) As far as the “best” dorm, it’s subjective. Flaherty and Ryan are the newest and considered the nicest in terms of the physical plant, but the dorm culture at ND is such that your physical surroundings will matter much less over time than the community you are a part of. Some of the oldest and least posh of the dorms have the strongest communities.
Check out YOutube; there are tons of video’s on there that the different dorms put out introducing you to their building. each one has it’s own culture that seems to come out in those video segments
Thank you for the information ejcclc! I didn’t know that the dorms were random, but at least that less stressful than having to choose between so many residence halls. RangerJerry, thank you, I’ll make sure to check those out on YouTube!
Your dorm is like your sorority house, and the women in it, your sisters! Because it’s random, there is not competition and its much more accepting. You will likely love your dorm! (Lyons, of course, is the best!) Enjoy the next four years at your home under the dome!
Since I was in Lyons too, have to say it’s worth a vote. Such character with the arch, and the view of lake.
You can find information on each of the dorms here: http://studentaffairs.nd.edu/division-directory/residential-life/residence-halls/
Second the thought that your hall becomes like a sorority! Colors, mascots, brother dorms, rivalries…and funny enough, everyone thinks their hall is the BEST! So, don’t worry about it! You are lucky-it’s a great housing system.
My DD has loved her 3 years in her dorm! She is a rising senior and will be an RA next year. The halls really do create a sense of inclusion and become a family with a feeling of unity.
Do the students stay in the same hall same room for all 4 years?
@Fiona1997 Usually students will stay in the same hall, but as you move up in class (i.e sophomore, junior) you get a better choices for rooms, so most don’t stay in the same room. People usually meet their closest friends in their dorm, so they want to stay near them and won’t change dorms.
Howard has a very tight-knit community given how small it is. One important note - many of the older dorms without A/C have mold problems. If I remember correctly, Molly Seidel (4x NCAA champion in track) had to transfer dorms because she was coughing up blood her freshman year. See: http://www.runnersworld.com/college/molly-seidel-ive-been-hearing-about-that-stupid-curse-for-years
Yikes on that story!^^
FWIW, my daughter is in a dorm with no AC and never had any issues with mold, nor have any of her friends. Same with her male friends in dorms with no AC. This is the first she (or I) have heard of that.
@suzy100 I have definitely heard about issues in Lyons and Alumni. I’m sure there are others that I am not aware of.
I have a daughter in Lyons. No mold problems that I (or she) is aware of.