<p>I'm just a junior but notre dame is my first choice right now. i was just wondering if people could list any problems with or negatives about the school so i can see both sides.</p>
<p>There is very little I don't like about Notre Dame. However, here are a few of my complaints.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Class size- perhaps it is just my major but the classes are larger than they should be, even in upper-level courses. Most of my 300-level psych classes have at least 100-150 people. It isn't horrible, but I don't like it.</p></li>
<li><p>Tuition</p></li>
<li><p>Without going into specifics, there are a few profs with tenure that shouldn't have it. They are easy enough to avoid, however, and aren't a big problem. The faculty here is still top notch.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That is about all I can think of for now but I hope that helps. Overall I love it here!</p>
<p>Without getting too specific (mentioning names or giving anecdotal evidence), could you just elaborate a little more on why you believe some professors at ND shouldn't have tenure? An issue of flat-out incompetence, academic dishonesty, or unprofessional behavior?</p>
<p>This is the first time that I can recall that someone has found a blemish on ND's top-notch faculty. </p>
<p>I'm sure whatever it is, it's probably not a big issue, but nonetheless, I'm curious.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, Irish. I'm very grateful for all the insight you have provided.</p>
<p>i'll echo irish's statement...there's a couple of faculty who i've run across who I kinda find myself asking how did they get tenure. Then again it may just be that their teaching style and my learning style didn't mesh</p>
<p>I will even mention a name because of my experience. The worst professor I have ever had is Thomas Gresik from the Economics department. The man didn't care about his students and pretty much made it known. He also mocked us after his impossible tests (btw, I did have one of the highest grades in the class, so it isn't just sour grapes). The kicker for me though was that I emailed him asking for help on a concept and he sent back a response that said "read the book" and nothing else.</p>
<p>Basically there are a few professors who are at ND because of their research and not their teaching and it shows. This is not the majority by any stretch but it does happen some. Also, there may be a professor or two in Theology who sells his beliefs as Catholic doctrine even though the Vatican has come out against his views and called his book "unfit for teaching." </p>
<p>Just let it be said that the professors at ND are top notch and I really have been impressed. That being said, there are a few bad ones and you just have to avoid them. You can avoid them, however, so it really isn't a problem.</p>
<p>thanks for your input</p>
<p>thanks irish</p>
<p>anyone else?</p>
<p>okay i started this awhile ago and was wondering if any new people had input. thanks in advance.</p>
<p>South Bend isn't the greatest college town, and there's not a student-dominated shopping/eating area next to campus like those at other schools. Having said that, ND has a lot going for it - few, if any, schools seem to inspire the loyalty and bonding with its students that ND does. That seems a lot more important than less convenient shopping/restaurants.</p>
<p>Irish, I was surprised to read your post about the size of your upper level classes. For a private university, I really didn't think there would be that many intro. level courses of that size, let alone at the 300 level.
Do you know if this is unique to your area (psychology), or if it's the same in other disciplines, such as engineering?</p>
<p>I think it is unique to my major. For psych, small class sizes really aren't essential and it is a HUGE major anywhere you go, so it is just the way it seems to work. I don't think it is that way with Engineering and a lot of other disciplines, which is shown in the averages that ND publishes.</p>
<p>Creighton, where I went before ND, had smaller class sizes for the upper-level psych classes but the professors weren't nearly as good. I feel that I still get an excellent Psych education with the larger class sizes, which was confirmed by my score (and the scores of my friends) on the Psychology GRE exam. Again, I can't imagine it would be that way in Engineering, but even so I think the quality of the professors at ND can counteract large class sizes.</p>
<p>lol, Thomas Gresik</p>
<p>I was looking at his ND Today page and every review was negative. Right now he has a class (ECON 20011) with all 24 slots open. Thankfully I DARTed before I had to take him.</p>
<p>I love ND, but since your asked.
Weather.
Not easy to get to.
If you are not a dedicated Catholic, the emphasis on the Catholic Church could get to you.
Stricter rules than most places.
If you don't like rah rah stuff, you will find it hard to avoid there.</p>
<p>i think people stress too much about the weather and nd's catholic character. personally i come from a place where's it's like 80 degrees all year long and adjusting to south bend's weather has been no problem at all! just cover yourself up and i guarantee you'll be fine! noww.... if you suffer from season affective disorder that might be a problem because there'll be a few months where you'll see the sun only like twice a week. but even then, it won't be nearly as hard to endure as some people make it seem.
about notre dame being catholic and strict or whatever... c'mon people! you;ll only get bothered if you're not tolerant of other people. personally im catholic, but i wouldnt consider myself the extreme devoted type... not at all. and i have never felt any pressure whatsoever from anyone here to be more religious in any way. not even from teachers... my bio teacher last semester was a priest and the few times he mentioned God or religion was to either tell a joke or share a story. this semester im taking theology and my teacher so far hasn't been like enforcing catholicism to us. yes we're learning about christianity and whatnot, but we're not being pushed to be more christians or to act in a certain way.
when i first came to notre dame i completely expected something else.... i thought it'd be way more restrictive, wayyy more pushy about being catholic, and i dont know... this forum in particular made me imagine it in a very erroneous way. notre dame is not like that... yes it takes its catholic character very seriously, but it would never pressure anyone to do anything. yeah there are priests living in the dorms (guys' dorms) but they never go to ur room to preach or ask you if you're going to go to mass or anything. yeah we have parietals... but ive come to learn that so do many other universities (a&m for example) which are considered major party schools. and anywho u have so much hw that by 12 you';ll either be too tired to have any girls in ur dorm or too busy with homework! and on weekends, don't worry about it... at 2 am u'll find something else to do and i assure you you'll have fun.
notre dame offers a great, healthy and fun environment where im sure just about anyone is able to fit in... from the studious religious boy/girl to the craziest party person ever who goes out every night and is happy with a 2.0 gpa... im sureee ull find ur niche here. ull definitely not party as u would in austin or elsewhere given that south bend isnt the hottest city in US, but im sure it'll be enough to keep you happy. whatever ur personality or mentality, im sure ull find someone like yourself here and ull enjoy notre dame. honestly, i think i couldnt be any happier elsewhere and im most definitely not what you would consider a typical notre dame catholic student!</p>
<p>I'm actually looking forward to the weather</p>