Party + Social Life at Notre Dame?

Hello CC,

I am a current senior in HS that applied to Notre Dame. I have been doing a lot of research on the student/social life at ND, and have come across MANY mixed opinions/reviews across forums and websites. I was hoping to ask a few specific questions here and have them be answered by current ND students or recent grads.

Info about myself: I consider myself very outgoing and very social. I love meeting people, and really love big social events, especially sports games and parties.
(Before I get into this, let me say that partying is NOT my only concern with college. I already understand that Notre Dame is an excellent school with excellent programs, so I don’t really need any reassurance/discussion on that end. That being said, I am an adolescent and I do like to have fun).

To current students: How wild (and I mean “wild” in every sense of the word) does ND get? What are the dorm parties like? Are there ever any big house parties? Average size? I have seen comments that vary in describing the party scene as “comparable to some state schools” or, contrarily, as “absolutely abysmal.”

Also… (and I hate to ask this…) I have read that the “hook up” culture at Notre Dame is a bit… different. I have read posts on the University website stating that premarital sex is not allowed and can result in punishment. I have also read on several forums that sexual hookups are very very uncommon and face judgement from some other students. Truthfully, this concerns me a bit. My family and current community doesn’t really have any problem with the idea of premarital sex (especially in college) so I don’t know if I would experience culture shock upon attending ND.

Is sex really that uncommon at ND? I honestly find it somewhat hard to believe that a grand majority of college students would commit to complete abstinence, but I suppose I could be wrong.

Maybe I am getting the wrong impression that ND is super super strict – I understand that internet opinions can often be very extreme and inaccurate. Still, any discussion and explanation from students and grads would be very helpful.

Thanks all.

Alright I’m here to help.

First of all the saying is that Notre Dame has a drinking culture, not a party culture. This is completely true. Want the true ND party experience? Cram 15 people into your bedroom with some Bud Light, turn off the lights and blast some music. Seriously, that’s every single dorm party. And be aware that every party is in guys dorms. Nobody’s quite sure why but rules are enforced in girls dorms, but not really in guys.

Wild house parties exist, yes, but you need to know the right people. If you’re an athlete you’ll be fine.

As for the sex scene, Notre Dating is definitely a meme. Athletes rule all, especially the football team, if you’re on it you can pretty much have whatever girl you want. And you can steal a girl from whomever you want, no joke. If you’re not an athlete it’s going to be considerably more difficult ngl.

It seems like their is two camps at ND for relationships. Some people you meet a girl, date her all four years and end up getting married, hence the whole “ring before spring” joke that gets thrown around, but this isn’t exactly common. The other, more common type is you hook up with a girl once or twice, and then you never speak about it again. People don’t really tend to ostracize you for getting lucky, well some of the more devoted Catholics might, but people also tend to keep that hush hush.

I’m a parent chiming in here and will try to answer your question from a perspective that might help! Two of my kids attended ND, and both talked of experiences with friends and roommates that involved people ofthe opposite sex, hook ups and spending the night~ I can honestly say, that I think ND might tend to be a little more of a “committed relationship” thing when it comes to sex, but in the end is not very different from most schools. Good/bad whatever, the smart kids at Notre Dame are pretty typical in this way from what I have seen and known. Good luck to you~

My D is a student there and has dated/“talked to” several young men during her time there and not one of them is an athlete. None of her friends are dating athletes, but a number of them are dating and some just hook up. You do not need to be an athlete to have a girl interested in you.

Oh for sure I don’t want to give the impression that it’s impossible to find an SO if you’re not an athlete. There’s way more female students than male athletes. It does give you an arm up though, as I know of a guy whose girl dumped him after three years after being dmed on instagram by a football player.

Another parent chiming in here if that’s OK. My daughter is a student. I’m sure the above description about dorm parties is correct. Although my daughter has mentioned that sometimes there are several rooms on the same floor having a party. I have personally walked past a men’s dorm that had music and lights blaring out of every window on the floor on a game weekend and have wondered how it doesn’t get shut down. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Although it’s true they only happen in the men’s dorms where the alcohol policy is much more lenient for some reason. There are plenty of off-campus house parties. Not only do some of the sports teams rent a house off campus to have parties, but some of the men’s dorms do also. Plus houses rented by seniors who have moved off campus, and they frequently invite lower classmen from their old dorm. My daughter is friends with guys from 3 different dorms and has referenced hanging out with them at off campus house parties. So I don’t think you need to be a girl to get in. But you probably do have to know the people who rent the house. Which I would think would be the case at any school. There is truly as much or as little social life as you want, from students who party all the time, to those who party just on weekends, to people who never party. It is what you choose to make of it.

ND’s social scene also includes trips to bars and clubs in town. Club Fever (Feve), Brothers, O’Rourke’s, the Linebacker (the Backer), CJ’s, Corby’s etc. As for relationships, it seems, as someone else noted, that there are both casual relationships and long term ones. The “ring by spring” is still a thing and contrary to the above noted commentary, not all athletes are dogs.