<p>I had originally planned on applying to ND, but now I'm not so sure. The more I research, the less sure that would be happy there. What worries me most is a pervading sense of religious conservatism (~82% of students are Catholic). </p>
<p>I honestly have nothing against Catholics, and I am far from liberal, but I don't really like the Bible thumping/homophobia grounded in the Bible/extreme pro-life/etc. things I've heard about ND.</p>
<p>Do students have any insights into Notre Dame life in this regard?</p>
<p>I am the parent of a student that graduated in Spring, 2010. At no time did our student feel that “Bible thumping/homophobia grounded in the Bible/extreme pro-life, etc.” invaded our student’s life. I cannot imagine what you have heard! Yes, you are required to take two theology classes and two philosophy classes. This is college and you should be willing to expand your thinking…again, these requirements had no issues for our student (and our student is not Catholic!). Try visiting the campus and really speaking with students that are currently enrolled to gain a better perspective, instead of relying on what you have “heard” about ND. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!!</p>
<p>i live near ND and go there all the time for games. I have at least 5 really good friends that go there and they have never had an issue with the worries that you mentioned. As a whole ND is a really good school with a great alumni network, beautiful campus, and fun atmosphere. However, South Bend isn’t much of a college town and most students live in dorms for up to 3 years. The dorms at ND become like a fraternity, each dorm is really close-knit. You should definitely go on a campus visit.</p>
<p>I feel like I’ve answered this question a million times (I’m sure you could uncover some of the old threads in a search), but I hate it when people get the wrong idea about Catholics or about ND, so here goes:</p>
<p>82% of the students are Catholic, that’s true. But I think that you’re confused on 1. what exactly what Catholics are like in general and 2. the broad spectrum of Catholics that exist. Of the 82% of students that are Catholic at ND, you’ll see those who wear chapel veils and are only truly happy if mass in is Latin and those who are Catholic in name only and haven’t seen the inside of a church since their baptism. Most of those will fall somewhere in between. I’d say about half of the Catholic students will attend mass in any given week (although my estimate may be way off since there are so many masses around campus that it’s hard to keep track of how many people go). There are wonderful religious opportunities for those who want them (for anyone from the veil-wearing-Latin-mass-lover to the lapsed Catholic), but they are easy to avoid if you so choose.</p>
<p>As for you specific concerns, I have not found Catholics in general to be prone to “Bible thumping.” We mostly leave that to the evangelicals… And if someone is a good Catholic, they can hardly justify being homophobic. While you won’t find any gay pride parades or a large GLBQT community at ND, I can tell you that most people I know were pretty accepting, either having no moral qualms with it or choosing a more Catechism-based attitude- which, although more on the conservative side, is still not homophobic (if you’re unfamiliar with it, see #2358 at [Catechism</a> of the Catholic Church - The sixth commandment](<a href=“http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm]Catechism”>http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm)). As for extremely pro-life people, you will find more of those at ND. And that’s true across political lines. Many of the politically liberal at ND will stay conservative on that issue. But there are definitely pro-choice students as well and I promise you won’t find any bat***** insane, Randall Terry types among the students. If your concerns about that come from the Obama debacle in 2009, rest assured that the students were NOT the ones going crazy over that. Those who disagreed with the choice did so in a calm and rational manner, and most students were actually happy or indifferent about the choice.</p>
<p>Yes, Notre Dame has a distinctly Catholic atmosphere, so if you hate Catholics, stay away. But you say you don’t, so you should be good on that front. And it’s much more conservative than most colleges out there, but that just means you’ve got more of a 50-50 political split instead of a 99-1 breakdown, which I think fosters much better political discussion than the alternative. At least that’s been my experience based on the schools I’ve attended (liberal high school, Notre Dame, and a semester at the U of M medical school).</p>
<p>I hope that helps!</p>
<p>Obama spoke there; I’d hardly call the institution overly conservative.</p>
<p>Honestly, I go to a sister high school of ND (founded by the same people), and I’ve never found it to be like that. Like any university, you have a bunch of young people trying to expand their thinking. If something killed ND for me, it wasn’t the religious appeal. It was, instead, the complete lack of a Greek system and a dry social scene after football season is done. I think it’s a great school, and was damn near going to apply ED there but now it’s pretty much off my list.</p>
<p>I’m not saying they don’t have a social life…I have a few friends that go there and when I visited the parties were actually pretty fun. It just wasn’t what I could get at a school like Vanderbilt though. South Bend really is in the middle of nowhere, so there’s not much to do.</p>
<p>Awesome school, AMAZING campus, cool tradition. I’d visit and see if it’s for you.</p>
<p>The more I think about it, the less I feel ND would be a good fit for me</p>