Nightlife?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>As a potential entering freshman, I've narrowed my choices to Notre Dame and Georgetown. In every way: size, relative strength of business school, Catholic affiliation, high sports spirit, the two schools seem very similar. And yes, I know the differences too, city vs. suburban/rural environment, tight-knit community, secularism vs. heavy Catholicism, parietals vs. no parietals.</p>

<p>But as far as the academic and other "important" concerns go, I consider the schools to be essentially equal. I don't want to debate this. I DO want to hear from current ND freshmen and/or upperclassmen with input on nightlife/party scene at Notre Dame. I'm coming from New Jersey, near the shore, and I go out pretty much every weekend. They're just high school parties but I drink a good deal, I wanted to know if the upperclassmen are accepting of freshmen at their parties, and how much of a party culture there is at Notre Dame. Any input is appreciated.</p>

<p>Basically, I'm asking: how are the parties (specifically for freshmen)? And how strict are drinking + parietal rules enforced?</p>

2

<p>If you haven’t already, join the ND Class of 2017 Facebook group. We’ve had many discussions on this.</p>

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<p>I’m not a current student so I don’t know a whole lot, but I’m a current high school senior who stayed on campus for a weekend in February. When I was there, I saw/heard quite a bit about the party scene. From what I saw and what my host told me, most freshmen stay on campus for the dorm parties where people drink as much or as little as they want and some people don’t drink at all but he said that people are pretty accepting of others and what they choose to do. I also heard that in the guys dorms the rectors are pretty relaxed about drinking but it depends on the dorm. After freshmen year more people start to go off campus to party but I don’t know much about that. Hope this helps. If you have other questions I could try to answer them from the experience I had on campus, but I’m sure a current student would know a lot more</p>

4

<p>Parietals are strickly inforced. Breaking them you have to go before Du Lac, basically court. It is a very serious infraction to break parietals. That said, every dorm has 24 hour lounges where you can hang out.</p>

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<p>We know a lot of ND students, and from what they say, the alcohol seems to flow pretty freely, though the penalties for alcohol, drugs and sex are strict. A student was kicked out for a term and had to petition for readmission because they had a gram of pot in their room. Kids get around parietals – no opposite sex in the room after hours – in all kinds of ways, but there is the fear, and threat, of punishment if caught. </p>

<p>Not much of an underage bar culture, from what my kid’s friends say. More dorm and off-campus parties.</p>

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<p>Can any current student expand on what days students tend to party and what the hookup culture is like</p>

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<p>^cengel1996</p>

<p>Really??? These things are what you are concerned with regarding your future college? </p>

<p>Spending close to $60K a year to drink and “hook up”?</p>

<p>How sad…</p>

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<p>The earlier comment about “going to court” is completely bogus…</p>

<p>I do not drink (I hate the taste of alcohol), but during a visit I talked to one of the leaders of the student government, and they laid it out pretty fair and simple:</p>

<p>If you are caught drinking on campus, which rarely happens unless you drunkenly walk into one of the dorm administrators, then you get a “ResLife” or something similar where you appear in front of a group of University officials and you get a slap on the wrist. IF you are caught more times then more serious results follow.</p>

<p>I’m actually not at all a fan of the drinking culture because I got the impression that it is huge. The overall impression I received is that rectors would rather have the kids doing those typical college things in the safety of the dorm instead of out in South Bend or off campus, so they tend to turn a blind eye. If you look up “100 things you need to know about Notre Dame” on Google they have some articles that go into the party scene at great depth.</p>

<p>It’s definitely not my cup of tea, nor anything I would get into, but I get the appeal and I hope this helps! I hope to see you up at ND in the fall!</p>

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<p>@loveneweng</p>

<p>Having fun in college while getting an excellent degree is something that is important to me… I’m sorry that your definition of fun does not coincide with myself and like 70% of all the other students going to college. And if you honestly think that hooking up and drinking are my main concerns with my future, than why would I be commenting on a Notre Dame post about these things and not just looking for the nearest alcohol filled state school?
Work Hard, Play Hard.</p>

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<p>From what we hear from my son’s friends, there is a double standard between alcohol vs. pot. Lots of freshman drink, to excess, on campus. As I said, we know a student kicked out for a semester because they had a small amount of pot in their room. As for hook-ups, again, from what I hear – there are relationships and there are hook ups. The fear of parietals leads to some strange encounters (port-a-potty on game day) which are not, in my mind, healthy for young people. Prohibition against pre-marital sex seems to put a damper on things.</p>

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<p>As a current freshman…
First, alcohol on campus: If you aren’t making a complete ass of yourself in front of an RA, AR, rector, etc., you’re good to go. So, if you’re at dorm parties, stay in the room, don’t mess around in the hallway. Basically, a blind eye is turned if you’re not being blatant about it. </p>

<p>Dorm parties: This is mainly a freshman thing, and it gets less acceptable to attend the older you get. Dorm parties are always in the male dorms. Dorm parties are always dark, cramped, hot, sweaty, but you go anyways. These are mainly only on Fridays and Saturdays because of parietals. </p>

<p>Parietals: Parietals are pretty strict. So after 2 am (or whenever the RAs come around jangling their keys), everyone either heads to Reckers, Taco Bell @ LaFun, or off-campus. You do not want to get caught breaking parietals.</p>

<p>Off-campus: There are quite a few house parties on weekends (swim house, lax house, glee club house, etc. etc.). So, you’ll always be able to find a cab at main circle to take you to one of these on weekend nights. The only thing about going off-campus is that you need to be more careful because Indiana does have excise police who are out to get the underage drinkers. That’s why Notre Dame is so lax about alcohol - they’d rather have it on campus than you getting in trouble with it off. Also, if you’re of age, there’s Fever, Finny’s, CJ’s - actual bars that are frequented (wednesday), Thursday-Saturday.</p>

<p>Hookups (for the guy who asked): A Notre Dame hookup is usually defined as just making out. But you certainly couldn’t call every hookup here an ND hookup. Just don’t get caught having sex by your rector/rectress. Especially after parietals.</p>

<p>And, there’s a zero-tolerance policy for drugs.</p>

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<p>HeresaT – thank you for that honest assessment, our son has many friends at ND and that is consistent with what he tells us. But far better to hear it from someone actually there.</p>

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<p>“The only thing about going off-campus is that you need to be more careful because Indiana does have excise police who are out to get the underage drinkers.”</p>

<p>Well, it’s not the ONLY thing one needs to be careful about. Though it is true that some of these “houses” are magnets for law enforcement, excise or otherwise, because after a few beers some kids do really stupid things that attract the attention of the neighbors who call the police. At that point, all bets are off and mom and dad will be getting a call from the police station. This happens more than you might think. Even worse, from a parent’s perspective, is that the drunken kids leaving these houses, and off-campus bars, are magnets for criminals. And, of course, the drunken girls are magnets for drunken boys who are sure that they wanted to have sex with them. </p>

<p>These parties are best avoided unless one attends with a group of trusted friends and makes a pact to leave with them. And carries the number of a trusted cab driver in his or her cellphone.</p>