Hi All,
Posting in the Parents Forum for privacy reasons. My rising senior has visited and researched quite a few schools this past year and has honed in on University of Notre Dame as a first choice. She has the stats for it, although we all know how difficult admissions can be for these schools. My question is whether there are any Notre Dame alumni, students, or parents out there who could comment on their (or their child’s) experience as a non-catholic. We aren’t catholic, in fact rarely attend church at all, and Dartmouth has been her first choice for months up until last week. Will her chances for admission at Notre Dame be lower because she isn’t catholic? And if admitted, will she feel welcome and have a good experience there? If it’s relevant, her stats are SAT 1570, GPA 4.0 UW, Subject Tests 750+, lots of APs. Thanks in advance for any comments. This has kind of come out of left field for us, although we did really enjoy our tour there.
Can you ask in the Notre Dame subforum? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-notre-dame/
People have asked similar questions, e.g.: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-notre-dame/1206299-notre-dame-and-non-catholics.html
Moved to the ND forum
My D is a rising junior at ND. She is not Catholic and we are not church-goers. She has loved her time there. The school has fully embraced her, and she, it. If you want to PM me with any specific questions, please feel free.
Same as above, I am a rising junior, non-religious. I kept an open mind going in and learned a lot. I viewed going as an opportunity to learn more about a different side of the world and it is interesting. I do not believe it has any bearing on admission.
My D is a risong soph. non-Catholic. Not an issue. Didn’t matter for admission nor have an effect on her first year. She is a churchgoing Protestant so a University founded by and carrying a very strong affiliation to a religion wasn’t an issue. But not neing Catholic, or religious at all for that matter, isn’t an issue at ND. But it is a Catholic U. There are plenty of reminders, influences, events, etc of the strong ties and importance of the Catholic Church to the University.
ND undergrad population is roughly 80% Catholic – that includes both active churchgoers and “cultural Catholics.” Most people say that the faith-based component of the institution is available as much, or as little, as a student chooses. Every residence hall has a chapel, and all classrooms have a crucifix. There are coursework requirements that reflect Catholic engagement. The student body overall is accepting of LGBTQ students and issues, but at the same time, the administration just recently recognized as an official student organization a group supporting LGBTQ issues and students. The March for Life protesting Roe v. Wade is a big deal, with buses of students going to DC.
So, it really depends on the individual student’s comfort level.