Do you have any questions about ND? - Page 2

Anticipation16 · 01-06-2009, 09:53 PM

Oh that sounds cool!! Thank you for your help! Well, do students tend to be more conservative or liberal? Or a healthy mix of both?

atsen · 01-06-2009, 09:58 PM

ND in comparison to other universities is somewhat conservative, mostly due to the catholic faith. However, the student poll this year showed that the overall student body is leaning toward liberal. It was a close poll, though. So in general, it's a pretty healthy mix. It's not overly prevalent and students don't seem to be enthralled in politics (I've suspected that this is mostly due to the "ND bubble") but it is still there and students do still keep up to date on what's happening outside of the bubble.

eph19 · 01-06-2009, 10:31 PM

jmmmom, the difficulty of making the marching band is very dependent on one's instrument. Most of the brass sections are pretty easy to get into, while piccolos and drumline are very difficult, with somewhere around a third of auditionees making the band. Hope that helps.

c-high 09' · 01-07-2009, 07:16 PM

how are the professors at ND? are most of your classes big or small? thanks again for the info.

atsen · 01-07-2009, 08:30 PM

Excellent question c-high 09'. Where to begin? Well, my chemistry professor is pretty cool. His name is Alexander Lappin and the character Shrek was created after him. He's a really nice guy and although his tests are difficult in comparison to the other professors, he has really great curves. Also, he's easily available via email. The class is pretty large, my largest class actually with about 200 students per section. There are multiple sections taught by other professors as well for general chemistry.

My next favorite professor is my theology professor, Jon Foreman. If you ever take Intro to Theo, try to get him! He's not a big stickler on grades and he puts the final online simply because he doesn't like the idea of giving a final but he has to anyway. The theology classes are generally kept to about 30 people per class.

My English Univ. Seminar professor is a lovely woman named Barbara Green. She's a very gracious woman and her goal is to make everyone transition into college smoothly. There were only about 20 of us in the seminar which is standard for the seminars but we were all girls.

For my Spanish class I had a graduate student named Emily Difilippo teach our class and she was really easy to get along with which was helpful since the class was so early in the morning. She even brought cake for us on her birthday! The class was small, about 15 students too.

My professor for my calculus class was not so great. His name is Debraj Chakrabarti and I had much difficulty understanding him in class. The class was fairly large however (50+ students?) so after a while I stopped attending class since I wasn't improving after my tests.

Note: For large classes such as chemistry and calculus attendance is not required. However, for the smaller classes, attendance is and tends to be an integral factor into the grade. I've never been one to ever skip class in high school but for calculus I spent the time teaching myself and surprisingly brought my grade up. It takes discipline though and I wouldn't strongly encourage it but there are undoubtly people who don't always go to class and still do very well.

Anticipation16 · 01-07-2009, 08:38 PM

What are the students like? I know thats a pretty broad question, but if you could give me an idea of the student body and the general feeling of everyone that would be awesome.

atsen · 01-07-2009, 09:39 PM

Another great question Anticipation16. I'm going to be completely honest with you. My first impression of the students here was surprising because I found that everyone, literally, everone that I met was genuinely nice. The minute that I walked into my dorm and met my roomate for the first time, it was already like I knew she was going to be my best friend. Then everyone in my hall came to introduce themselves. Initially I expected to make the majority of my friends through my classes and although that was somewhat the case, most of my friendships come from my relationships with the people within my dorm. Since there are no fraternities or sororities, each dorm acts like its own fraternity or sorority. There is an immediate sense of family, especially since we have a nun and a father. Notre Dame is definitely not a place that has cutthroat competition. In fact, it's quite the opposite. People don't want you to do terrible. They encourage you and help you up. I've always been somewhat competitive in high school and since I've come here, my competitiveness has gone away. My motivation has not, but I really feel like the students here are sincere and honestly wish you to do well here. You'll find that there are study groups everywhere and Notre Dame tries to immediately influence first year students to join study groups that they create at the Learning Resource Center. Coming from a private christian school, I also think that the catholic influence has much to do with the general student friendliness and overall student pride. No one that I have met here ever says that they dislike being here. Everyone that I have talked to says that they have loved every minute of it. I know I probably am making ND sound like paradise, but the student friendliness is what separates ND from other universities. Trust me, once you come here, you won't regret it.

atsen · 01-09-2009, 09:38 AM

Anyone else have any other questions, feel free to ask. I'm also available via email: atsen@nd.edu

nstar19 · 01-11-2009, 02:31 PM

Although you're not a business major, I personally am having a tough time deciding between UIUC (I'm a contender for the honors program there) and Notre Dame. Since I want to go into accounting, UIUC would be amazing, but Notre Dame has an outstanding reputation as a business school too. Plus, UIUC is much much cheaper with all of the scholarships, and I'm a little worried about the amount of aid ND will give me. Do you have any advice for what I should do?

atsen · 01-11-2009, 03:05 PM

If you haven't already applied, go ahead and do so. ND does not give any merit-based scholarships but they do help with financial aid. I wasn't eligible for financial aid because my parents make too much (but at the wrong time...I'm going to have to take loans later because of my siblings). I've heard, though, that ND tries to do the best they can to help you out.

The best advice I can give you, though, is give the Office of Financial Aid a call: 574-631-6436. They would be the best people to talk to.

shellzie2006 · 01-12-2009, 08:27 PM

@ atsen- what do you mean "because the dorms are single-sex, gays/lesbians must stay in a single."? As far as I know that isn't policy. I'm pretty sure if they found out about two people who were dating shacking up, they would put a stop to it, but I know gay people at ND who are in doubles in their dorms.

Anticipation16 · 01-14-2009, 05:53 PM

Thanks for answering so many questions! How many libraries does ND have?

atsen · 01-28-2009, 07:18 AM

ND has 8 libraries. There is the Hesburgh library, the Architecture library, the Art Image library, the Chemistry/Physics library, Engineering library, the Kresge Law library (undergrads are not allowed to study there), and the Mathematics library. If you're scoping out places to study, there are even more places. LaFortune has some great study spaces as well as Jordan Hall of Science and the Coleman-Morse Center. Most people study in their dorm. I study everywhere but my favorites are the Architecture library (not many people know about it but it's absolutely gorgeous), LaFortune basement, and Hesburgh basement (for serious studying). Besides that, each dorm has a basement where people can also study.

kevdude · 01-29-2009, 05:07 PM

As an addendum, I know a lot of other schools boast more libraries, but I want to let you know that the Hesburgh Library was, for a long time, one of the largest collegiate libraries in the world. The system as a whole is one of the top-100 general (i.e. not specifically collegiate) library collections in the world. Also, the library has a vast interlibrary loan system with most of the library systems throughout the country.

We also have, specifically, the largest Irish Studies library in the United States, if that interests anyone at all.

kumitedad · 01-30-2009, 02:25 PM

One question is about the surrounding area. What is South Bend like as a college town? More importantly (at least to my S) is there a good Chinese or Filipino Restaurant there?

thanks in adv