University of Notre Dame Top Questions

Students, administration, and professors are very very conservative.

That most grad schools want to see at least a 3.0 GPA. That the living situation makes it harder to have platonic friends of the opposite sex. That college is the time to go on road trips - and that not every weekend needs to be spent at off campus parties. That there is a lot of money that is up for grabs in the way of grants and study abroad projects. That talking online does not constitute a relationship! That just showing up to class is a big part of getting good grades.

I wish I had known how much aid I would actually be getting and how hard it would be to find a job on campus that would pay enough to actually help with the cost of enrollment. The university is one of the wealthiest schools in the country with an alumni network that will do anything for it. With the support from alumni, the university could afford to give more aid to students or at least, lower the tuition cost. Unfortunately, aid here is not very much, and student employment is limited.

the single-sex dorm is a very difficult environment to meet guys and there is a huge lack of dating on campus

I knew that Notre Dame was a Catholic school, but I didn't realize that it was VERY Catholic. I'm not Catholic myself and I grew up in a fairly liberal environment, so there are definitely occasions where I feel on the outside, or like a minority. I think I still would have come here, but I would have liked to be more prepared to know that the school is very conservative and Catholic-oriented.

how to get involved with things on campus sooner

I wish that before I attended Notre Dame I had a better idea of what I wanted out of the school. I wish that I had taken advantage of all of the opportunities available to me when I first arrived. Perhaps a better knowledge of what I wanted to gain and what I wanted to be involved in would have prompted me to get involved sooner. I also wish that I had known just how hard college was going to be before I arrived.

The school isn't full of nerds and how you live your life is your business. No one expects you to go to mass everyday and spend everynight in the library. Kids here are smart and work hard, but we have fun too.

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