The University of Notre Dame is undoubtably one of the finest institutions available today. As an undergrad here, let me share with you both the positive and the negative. We’ll start with…</p>
<h2>The Positive</h2>
<p>1) SENSE OF FAMILY:
This is by far the strongest quality of the school. When you come to Notre Dame, you join a huge family that is bound by an amazing sense of community and brotherhood. You’ll be amazed at the power that being part of the Notre Dame family gives you; doors will open up all over the place. This sense of family leads to a unique culture on campus because it incorporates everyone here: students, faculty, rectors, and staff. </p>
<p>2) THE TRADITION
Notre Dame is steeped in tradition, most famously for our football teams. The Four Horsemen, Rockne, Holtz, Rudy, The Gipper, and the list goes on. Our President Emeritus, Fr. Hesburgh, was recently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress because of his humanitarian and educational achievements. All of the heroes of Notre Dame reflect the same qualities: determination, high morals, and hard work. These examples filter down through the school and provide good role models for today’s students.</p>
<p>3) THE FOOTBALL
Unless you have been to a Notre Dame game here in the stadium, you can’t even begin to imagine what’s it’s like, and I won’t even try to explain it.</p>
<p>4) THE CAMPUS
The campus is beautiful; fall is one of the most spectacular events up here, and the sight of snow falling on the Golden Dome will send shivers up your spine. The campus is large, with trees, old buildings, and long green commons everywhere. There are also a variety of services available on campus, and we function as our own little sort of town. Rarely will you have to go off campus to find something you need.</p>
<p>5) THE FACULTY
The faculty consists of the best of the best. When you take classes here, don’t be surprised to find your professor’s name popping up in the New York Times because the faculty are the experts in their field.</p>
<p>6) THE OPPORTUNITIES
You can make of your experience whatever you want it to be. It’s extremely easy to become involved with whatever you want at this school. For example, I’m an actor (I have done two plays here so far), a journalist for the student paper, an Assistant Scoutmaster with a local troop, and I help tutor homeless children–and I’m only a freshman! </p>
<p>7) DORM LIFE
After your matriculation, you are randomly assigned to one of the single-sex dorms (more on that in the negatives). You are guaranteed housing in that dorm for all four years of your undergraduate study. The result is that each dorm becomes sort of like a fraternity/sorority, which helps allieviate the pressure from not having a Greek system. Each floor is mixed with freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors from all different majors. I’m majoring in Government and Film, Television, and Theater, and my 3 roommates are Pre-med, Computer Engineering, and Civil Engineering, respectively. Instead of having to go to my professor’s office hours for help with my math, I can go across the hall to the math major. It’s a fairly unique system as far as dorms go, and it’s wonderful. Also are the dorm masses, dinners, trips to chicago, etc.</p>
<h2>THE GREY ZONE</h2>
<p>Here are things that people will either like or hate about the school. You decide what you’re looking for…</p>
<p>1) CATHOLICISM
I personally find the Catholic atmosphere here to be a constant bastion of stability and support. Some people, especially the non-religious (as opposed to people merely of different faiths or denominations), might find the atmosphere a little stiffling. It is hard to avoid the Catholic character of the University; indeed, the administration makes sure to emphasize it. My recommendation: if you haven’t tried religion before, here’s a good place to try it. If you already are religious, this is a great place to come to grow spiritually. (How can you not when you have the Grotto right here?!)</p>
<p>2) SMALL CLASSES VS. BIG LECTURES
Some people prefer small classes, some prefer large lectures. It’s really what you make of it. If you want to avoid getting to know your professors, it’s possible (hard to do, but still possible). There is a whole range of class sizes: I go from one class of 12 people to a class of 375. Generally speaking, you can get whatever size class you’re interested in being in.</p>
<h2>THE NEGATIVES</h2>
<p>1) INDIANA/THE MIDWEST
Indiana, in my own opinion, should be given away to Canada (my apologies to those of you who are unfortunate enough to live here). I had/am having a hard time adjusting to Indiana and the midwest since I come from Southern California. The school is mostly from the East and Midwest, so it’s not an issue for most people. Be warned if you come from the West: This place is DIFFERENT!!! I went through major culture shock when I came up here.</p>
<p>2) LACK OF DIVERSITY
This school is a white, affluent, Catholic University. That about sums up the majority of the student body. If you think that diversity might even be a small issue, make sure you think this one through carefully. I was amazed at how the lack of diversity has influenced my impression of the school.</p>
<p>3) PARIETALS
The administration wants to make sure that nobody is having sex (it is technically against school regulations to have sex, believe it or not), so they have instituted a system of parietal (PAH-ri-tals). Basically, all men have to be out of women’s dorms by midnight during the week and 2am on the weekends and vice-versa. It really sucks, but you learn to live with it to some extent. It’s usually not a good idea to try to break them either, so get it out of your head now.</p>
<p>4) SINGLE-SEX DORMS
This policy just plain sucks and shows how the university is, in many ways, still rooted in the 19th century. Don’t look for any change in this policy for many, many years.</p>
<h1>CONCLUSION</h1>
<p>Hope that was helpful. Just a few general notes about college: 1) Don’t pay any attention to rankings. They are absolutely meaningless. Consider: there are 2000 schools in the United States (roughly). If you go to one ranked in the top 200, that’s the top 10%. Go to one in the top 20, and that’s the top 1%. At that point, does it really matter if a college is ranked 42 instead of 20? Not really. The point is, you can get a great education almost anywhere you go. 2) College is what you make of it, so make the best of it.