The University of Notre Dame

Date: Feb 27 2004
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
I transfered into ND and I could not have imagined a smoother transition into a school. The awesome dorm system (where each dorm is like a frat sans pretenses: dorm pride, dorm parties, dorm events, dorm fundraisers for charity, dorm athletics) allowed me to make incredible friends with great ease. Even though basketball and football have been lack-luster this year, the vibe at the games and the student pride are overwhelming. I love the people here.

This is definitely a school for the spiritual, but strict religious conservatism is confined to a small minority of students. Something like 85% of the kids here are Catholic, but I don't think nearly that many are regular church-going Catholics. Either way, I know a bunch of non-Catholics and apostate Catholics, and none of them feel opressed or even left out of anything. Political conservatism isn't as oppressive as I had heard either…except in the political arena of abortion. This place turned me pro-life, and I'm pretty liberal. There are more democrats and liberlas here than you might think, but even a good portion of them are strong pro-lifers. So…just don't go here if you are a pious-atheist crazy liberal hippy pothead.

The party scene here is pretty awesome in my opinion. But supposedly it changes every 5 years or so as the University strives to find a balance. They get strict, people move off campus and so do most of the parties. People move off campus, they get less strict to try and make campus appealing again. Then the party scene on campus thrives again. Anyways, you can actually drink in the dorm (no hard stuff) and throw parties in your room. These types of freedoms are rare at colleges these days. But then there are parietals…Bah. These types of restrictions are rare at colleges these days. Easy to get around and a blessing if your roomie has a girlfriend, but an overall pain in the ass and a curse if you get caught.

Academics: I did the Program of Liberal Studies on a whim, and it is the most amazing thing in the world. It is basically a great books education. You know, like at that one school St. John's College where all they study is old books. The professors are brilliant and just incredible teachers. The classes are phenomenal. Look into PLS it if you think it's a sin that everything you learn in college is founded on ideas that date back thousands of years, yet all you ever get is watered down background history about how these ideas affected the contemporary wisdom you're learning.

Extras: There are tons of clubs. Something for everyone, except for the few gay kids, but I think that's on the verge of changing since ND got Princeton Review's #1 ranking for least tolerant of alternative lifestyles. The boxing club with it's annual Bengal Bouts tournament is an untainted slice of that romantic Fightin' Irish culture that cynicists claim has been sold-out. A must for x-wrestlers and other athlete/masochists.

I've been unhappy at a school before. It was a top 50 school with a great rep. I know that no one school is perfect. But choosing to swtitch to ND was the best decision I have ever made, and I don't even come close to fitting that damn ND student stereotype. Picking PLS as my major comes in as a close second. There is something about ND that's special, unique, intangible, whatever you want to call it—it's here. Check it out, and come if you get that feeling. GO IRISH, BEAT CYNICS