University of Notre Dame Top Questions

The academics at Notre Dame are very high quality. Professors are good and generally open to meeting with students who need help. People take studying seriously, but there is not too much of a competative atmosphere. The majors at ND tend to be very broad. Unlike a big state school there are not as many specific major options.

All my professors know me personally. Kids study anywhere from an av erage of 1 hour (business majors) a day to 14 hours a day (for the hard sciences, engineers and architects). Class participation is very common and students very often discuss intellectual topics at meals or in the dorms. Pre-med students are competitive, the rest of the students like to see classmates succeed and professors help foster this attitude. My most unique class was either Latin dance, fencing, or a class on J.R.R. Tolkein. Often professors invite students over for meals (especially thanksgiving and easter if the students have no where to go)

Classes are very difficult-professors are top quality and offer challenging courses. Students like to engage in intellectual discussion at all times.

Academics are taken seriously at Notre Dame, but I have never felt overwhelmed by the expectations, even though I was a chemical engineering intent. Classes vary from large lectures to small seminars; more of the freshman classes are lectures, whereas upperclassmen get to take more smaller classes. In the lectures, professors usually don't know who you are, but they are still accessible if you want to talk to them. Professors in small classes are very friendly and you can get to know them pretty well. My favorite class so far has been my University Seminar, a class freshmen are required to take. The classes are a variety of subjects, but they are all small, discussion-based classes with significant reading and writing portions. Mine was called "The Self and Society in American Poetry." Some of the discussions blew me away. We also got to write our own poetry and everyone shared their poetry with the class in some of the coolest moments of the semester. The professor also had our whole class (about 15 students) over to his house for dinner one night. This class was one of the reasons I decided to switch into the Program of Liberal Studies, a Great Books major in which all the classes are in the seminar format. I realized that I thrive off discussion of big ideas with other people, as opposed to just sitting in a chair and having a professor talk at me for the next 50 minutes. The Program of Liberal Studies is a unique opportunity at Notre Dame; it is a cross-disciplinary major in which students read the "Great Books" and various other primary texts, discussing everything from philosophy to political science to literature to psychology in the classes. This is one of the majors that is geared more towards learning for its own sake, along with most of the other Arts and Letters majors. The engineering, business, and pre-professional tracks are more geared towards just getting a job after graduation.

I love studying at Notre Dame. The classes are challenging, but in a good way. If you don't like to work or don't like to learn, you really don't belong here. Students study a lot, but there is still plenty of time for extra curricular activities and relaxing with friends, especially on the weekends. Professors do learn your name, and class participation is almost always required. Most of my classes are small, which I love, but you do have to attend class, do the assignments, and be ready to answer questions/discuss the readings/voice your opinion. The intellectual conversations often carrry on outside of the classroom too, either with your peers or with your professors. Most of the professors I have had are very open and love talking to students outside of class.

There are a lot of small, individualized classes which is great for learning. I would say most professors learn all the students' names unless the class is a very large lecture (which aren't too common to begin with, which is great) There is a lot of academic competition but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It can help people grow and not just be content in their comfort zone.

my professors do know my name and i have not had any really huge classes. my favorite classes are my architecture classes because they are very interesting to me. my least favorite was my first math class that was hard and very impersonal. there are tons of intellectual conversations outside of class and it is clear that everyone her cares about their grades and works hard at school. I don't think that many people are competitive, and many people like to talk and contribute. i have never felt threatened in either of these respects. My major is AWESOME. the architecture program is so unique in that everyone travels to rome junior year to learn.

Intimate classes, no matter how large teachers tend to know everybody. Most classes are challenging, they require a lot of work but teachers reward you adequately. I always feel like the work is worth it. I'm in the business school which was recently ranked #3 undergrad business program in the nation, which is awesome.

Obviously, we are held to really high standards.

Not many of my profs know my name, but that's because I'm still in large base courses that everyone takes (ie Bio, Orgo, etc.). Class participation is very common. The most unique class I've ever taken was my first semester freshman year, called "Love in Traditional Chinese Culture."