ND like High School?

<p>Finally, I would like to bring the discussion back to where it started–and that is the experience of diversity in college. Claremarie wisely and accurately notes that many students have “positive experiences” at there respective colleges, and Notre Dame students are some of the happiest students of any achool around. But please, do not pretend to characterize the “Notre Dame experience” as something that it clearly is not–it is not fair to prospective students to characterize the experience as “diverse” in the ways we are talking about it here. You are simply kidding them and kidding yourselves. The academics at Notre Dame are solid and broad, students work hard and play hard, and they do very well in job/graduate school placement; however, there is a lack of intellectual engagement at ND relative to its peer schools and the academic experience is almost entirely “ivory tower” with few real-life correlates as part of the standard educational experience (e.g. courses taught by actual practitioners and not just academics, use of real life resources like museums, medical centers, financial institutions, government entities to enhance the educational experience). The social life at ND is active and engaging–intramurals, intercollegiate athletics, clubs, school spirit, and beer–and that is enough (plenty) for most of the ND students–but what if you want to see a world-class symphony performance or go to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner–oh right, Chicago is right around the corner. The ND students may look different on the outside (finally the school figured out the importance of that one–it was probably the last national university to do so), might have different home addresses, and might prefer a different type of beer, but otherwise, their lives during their undergraduate years are REMARKABLY SIMILAR–and, most people at ND identify that as the school’s greatest weakness as well as its greatest strength. Oh yes, and its 80-90% Catholic–conservative Catholic. Just ask the gay students and faculty at Notre Dame how diverse (or friendly) the school is…</p>

<p>As Notre Dame has achieved greater academic prestige, many of the people affiliated with the school try to make it something or portray it as something which it is not, all in an effort to “compete” with its newly-acquired peers–other schools, including Georgetown, Duke, etc. have similarly gone through such misguided growing pains in the past. Characterizing the experience at ND as “diverse” is misleading, unless you are commenting on the diversity of success/failure of the football team in the last decades.</p>

<p>hoyasaxa1, I see you are new to the forum which is great. We frankly need new members to keep this important resource alive for prospective college applicants. From my own observations here I can tell you that the best discussions are those that contain rich, real life examples and do not rely too heavily on generalization and stereotype. Your posts are riddled with stereotypes and mischaracterizations of the ND experience. You now claim there is a lack of intellectual engagement at ND. I ask you for a third time now, provide concrete examples (not generalizations) to back up your point. You seem to have at least a sibling connection to ND so it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to think of something. If you cannot provide examples then I have to ask, why in God’s name are you on this forum to begin with? You do not see myself or anybody else here frequenting the Georgetown section and spamming it with shallow and frankly juvenile points backed only with a generalized understanding of the subject matter. And of all the schools to test your diversity theory out on, why ND? I mean, why didn’t you post on Dartmouth or Cornell’s forum? As students we are fairly different but I think we would all agree that our communities offer a rich cultural experience that affords us world class educations. For fun, maybe you should start a thread at Cornell’s section and see what the have to say.</p>

<p>“the social life includes “traditional” college venues (eg sporting events, dorm/apartment/townhouse parties, clubs/organizations) as well as all that the town of Georgetown and the city of Washington have to offer (bars, clubs, restaurants, cultural events, Kennedy Center, National Theatre, Arena Stage).”</p>

<p>Well, about that. Bars are off-limits to undergrads under 21, unless they are breaking the law. Clubs and restaurants are expensive – most college students don’t have the funds to visit these on a regular basis unless their families are are providing a heavy entertainment subsidy. As for cultural events – ditto on the money thing, plus most programming at the Kennedy Center is aimed at a slightly older demographic group. My guess is that if you took a random sample of GU undergrads and asked them how many times they’ve been to any of the cultural venues you’ve mentioned, you’d discover that most students aren’t actually taking advantage of these opportunities at all, but are spending most of their weekend evenings drinking with their classmates on campus, at house parties and bars.<br>
The same is true, by the way, for adults who live in the DC area. It’s one of the dirty little secrets of grownup life that work and family responsibilities (not to mention high ticket prices and horrible traffic) prevent most people from utilizing the cultural amenities that big cities have to offer.</p>

<p>And as for internships and other so-called “real-world experiences,” the truth is that MOST students at both schools still spend MOST of their time taking classes, on campus, from faculty members. An internship is an occasional thing, and many ND students take advantage of summer breaks for such programs. Field trips to museums and the World Bank are nice, but they are not essential to a solid education. </p>

<p>In the end, as someone else pointed out, there are many fine schools where students can get an excellent education. Georgetown is one of them. Students choose Notre Dame because they want an excellent education on a beautiful campus at a school that has embraced its Catholic identity. They have also chosen a school with a diversity of viewpoints and beliefs that more closely resembles the country as a whole rather than the “ivory tower” of academic life.</p>

<p>You don’t know what you’re talking about. Georgetown students go to the Kennedy Center and concerts all the time (reduced ticket rates for students, etc., and the fact that you would see the offerings at the Kennedy Center geared to an older demographic shows the narrowness of your cultural/intellectual experiences and interests), classes are often held at specific venues throughout the city (eg. art history classes at the National Gallery, government classes on the Hill, etc.), people go to the bars, clubs, and restaurants throughout the city regardless of age—you are completely misinformed and speaking without any knowledge of reality.</p>

<p>Internships and work experiences aren’t “occasional” or “summer” things at real-world universities like Georgetown–they are hardly “field trips”–they are essential and integral parts of the undergraduate experience–your comments are just proving my point about the values and focus of the ND experience.</p>

<p>Please inform me of all the wonderful Ethiopian restaurants in Cambridge, MA.</p>

<p>The two that I am familiar with are Asmara Restaurant, 739 Massachusetts Avenue, and Addis Red Sea, 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, both in the heart of Cambridge. Have you been?</p>

<p>I feel a lot like the OP, haha.</p>

<p>I’m a senior and I have pretty much enjoyed Catholic high school so far, but I am definitely ready to move on.</p>

<p>Now, I know going to Notre Dame and most other schools will provide a lot more freedom than we get in high school, but for me personally it is too similar to high school. </p>

<p>I go to school in the midwest and I only live a few hours from Notre Dame, and for a while it was my dream school and I was semi-obsessed with it. </p>

<p>But I really don’t like the bubble atmosphere that many talk about with ND, most students seem to like it, adds to the community. I don’t think I’d get bored, but IDK, I can resonate with what hoyasax1 says when he talks about the advantages of living/going school in or right next to a big city. I guess that is why I am drawn to other schools like Georgetown, USC, UMCP, Northwestern, Penn, etc… but I am considering some other more rural schools, though a lot of those sometimes have a lot of natural beauty, which somewhat makes up for being in the middle of nowhere. </p>

<p>Plus South Bend isn’t exactly the place most 18 year olds what to spend their college years. But it is not that bad, plus Chicago is only 2 hours away. </p>

<p>But I don’t know, I’m so confused right now in what I want, but this thread did sound eerily similar to the mini arguments I have with some of my friends that are obsessed with ND haha. </p>

<p>I guess I’m just wanderlusting, and I’m a midwest transplant, so I don’t really feel a connection to stay here, though I have some family clumped around Chicago and parts of Ohio, but like I said I am not from here.</p>

<p>Sorry, didn’t mean to take a dump on ND, I’m still applying there and will definitely give it a hard look if I get in, but needless to say my obsession with our lady of the lake has cooled quite a bit.</p>

<p>Wild, you didn’t mention what your interests are. There are some good schools in the NE that you may like. Holy Cross: 1 hr west of Boston in Worcester, 3000 students, LAC. Boston College: bigger, in Boston. Colgate: LAC, miles beyond the middle of nowhere. Good Luck.</p>