The University of Notre Dame

Date: Sep 08 2013
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I had a mixed experience at Notre Dame, but overall I am very glad I attended. I think that the average student body, social life, and administration was terrible, but I met some extremely great people and the faculty is top notch.

My department was extremely accessible and high quality. Teachers were very knowledgeable and eager to help students. Although it was a small department that the university was not known for, we had great classes that exposed us to many topics and the field and prepared us for success. After talking to students from other top schools, I realize that the academics could have been somewhat more rigorous. At no point did I feel like I was in a weed out class, and was encouraged all the time. My department was extremely useful for getting jobs, there was always a semester job available, recommendations for summer jobs that were abundant, and leads (which ended in offers) on jobs after graduation. Notre Dame has a great network that is very willing to help you out. The one issue I had with our department is that resources seemed misplaced, which was the administrations choice, not my departments/schools. The university got rid of the engineering computer lab which was commonly full of all kinds of engineering students and I spent several all-nighters in. This became grad student offices. The lab was replaced with computers in the engineering library (maybe 30 in total for the whole engineering department). It clearly wasn't a financial issue because at the same time a new engineering building (without a computer lab) was constructed.

The social life was not very conducive to someone who is not obsessed with football. Everyone goes to football games, and it was not until junior year that I realized nothing negative would happen to me if I didn't go to the games. It is assumed that you will go to football games, and people will not understand if you don't want to, especially as a male. There is not much to do at the university besides discuss what ESPN characters said in the dining hall and getting drunk in dorms/house parties (don't get me wrong I enjoy drinking very much).

There isn't much alternative lifestyle at Notre Dame. I did not enjoy the social life at Notre Dame for a while. As a freshman I thought something was wrong with me for not loving football because there did not seem to be any other option. It took a while, but I found Great friends who did not care about sports/the ND culture and realized that the environment at ND is not the norm. The vast majority of the student body is conservative, gay rights and alternative lifestyles aren't very welcome. This isn't helped by the university's archaic rules on gender relationships. The opposite sex is not allowed to be in any of the same sex dorms after midnight on a weeknight, or 2am on a weekend, which doesn't help a developing adult become independent and learn their own boundaries.

It is clear that Notre Dame's number 1 priority is football, not catholicism, not anything else. The bookstore is atrocious, it's all football paraphernalia that are extremely overpriced, not actual books. I've never seen some much of a cult atmosphere, people love buying branded Notre Dame shirts/posters/cups that bring in tons of money. The school is run by alumni, the football crazed alumni come first, catholic crazed come second, any other interests get drowned out. The tailgates are fun, but you realize that the allegiance isn't just something to talk about on game days, people are really serious about it and will defend Notre Dame to a fault.

There are some very great social service opportunities at Notre Dame. Every break there will be a volunteer trip open to anyone to build houses or serve the poor. Notre Dame funds many summer service learning programs (SSLP) to help out underprivileged communities in the US and abroad. I had the opportunity to go to a project similar to this in Asia which really opened my eyes to some global issues. This drastically changed my perspective and piqued my interest in worldwide interest that would not have happened otherwise.

The relationship between the university and South Bend is very bad. There wasn't much around the university to go to when I started as a student, so most people stayed on campus except to go to bars or the mall in mishawaka. Eddy street gave the students a few options, but it was all chain restaurants, nothing local to make students want to venture into south bend. There are great bike paths, restaurants, shops, and volunteer opportunities in south bend, but i don't think most students recognize this. Students refer to people that live in south bend as townies, which is meant as (and I find) extremely derogatory.

Overall, I think there are amazing academic and social service opportunities at Notre Dame. But someone attending ND needs to be discerning and look outside of the socially acceptable opportunities if they don't see them as satisfying.