"new" ND parents- October break/feedback on your freshman's experience

galwaymom · 11-02-2009, 07:41 AM

Did he or she come home for October break, and what has their experience been so far? For me, my son is loving it- academically (volume of work in engineering is big, but he's handling well), EC wise, and socially. His only issue is the very long travel time getting back and forth, virtually an all day affair with the bus rides and flights and their attendant delays, etc. But he says it's a small price to pay. The majority of his HS friends are still in our home area so it was nice for him to reconnect with them while he was home.

One nice surprise for my son, and us- the rector in his dorm is a young priest, and a basketball player. He has gotten a group together from the start of school to play regularly. It is also my son's passion, so that was a great start to his bonding there! He says the priest is the best player on the team, earning his utmost repect, lol! Regular Mass attendance was clinched right there, music to his mother's ears

! We are really happy for him.

sm74 · 11-02-2009, 08:02 AM

Son loves it. Very warm and inviting -classes are challenging but fair-residential system is ideal, while our son's hall has a party reputation he finds plenty to do and has alot of fun as a non-partier(non-drinker). Football games are a blast.

kevdude · 11-02-2009, 01:02 PM

Your son lives in Keough, huh? Father Pete is one of the coolest guys on campus, and his Bookstore Basketball team is regularly ranked in the top 10.

Marie51 · 11-02-2009, 01:31 PM

My S is still adjusting. I don't think he has found his group per se, although he is busy all the time. He is also in a dorm with a reputation for partying (I wonder sm74 if our boys are in the same one). He does not drink. Since break he is starting to connect with other students who share that, but it did take a bit to find them. According to my S, they are a tiny minority. Yikes! His faith is being undermined in his favorite classes rather than challenged and deepened which I find shameful. (He calls me every week with something new!) The positives. He enjoys his new subjects, the opportunties to learn new activities and play section sports and on interhall teams. The football games are fantastic! He enjoys the camaraderie in his dorm. He is excited to meet people from all over the county and international students. Overall, he is happy to be attending his dream school!

numbersguy · 11-02-2009, 06:37 PM

My wife found that our friends with students at large, state schools are jealous of the single sex dorms at ND. My son and his dorm mates have bonded as only men living together can. They have plenty of opportunities to interact with the ND women, but are free to be themselves in the dorm. I'm sure the same applies in the female dorms.

galwaymom · 11-02-2009, 06:46 PM

Agreed, numbersguy, the dorm situation is ideal.

kevdude- you are right, my son is in Keough, and Father Pete is the man!

tjd · 11-03-2009, 06:04 PM

D is a freshman in engineering, enjoying ND very much. Workload seems to be challenging but not overwhelming. She had a good time visiting friends over break, but was excited to go back as well. Agree with the other posters about the dorms: peace of mind for the parents, but D finds it preferable as well - allows her to bond with other girls in a way she probably would not otherwise, and allows her to leave the parties behind when she wants to. Dad wishes ND was not quite so far from home.

bitti1 · 11-04-2009, 05:23 PM

a good topic for any potential parents.

at this time last year, our D had ND down some on her list of "first picks". she was fortunate to land acceptances at several of her higher-placed dream schools ( MIT, U chicago, etc ). however, after visiting them in the spring, she was not enamored of them, and quite distraught. that changed after her long weekend visit to ND. someplace on her list of things she desired was a certain character/quality of under-grad experience that she had not fully identified - it existed as perhaps a know-it-when-i-see-it type of deal. she saw it at ND. coupled with a very generous fin-aide package and her mind was set, with great ( tho surprised ) enthusiasm.

she has loved her experience thus far. ND has provided precisely the blend of challenge, breadth of opportunity, and dream-like quality of undergrad experience she always hoped could exist. quite literally a dream come true for her, so far. she has never been happier in her life she has said, and it shows. having had the chance to attend her previous first-pick schools and letting that go has not been an issue at all - she feels she has found the perfect spot for herself. as parents, we could not be happier for her, and feel that whatever it is that ND does, they certainly know how to do it.

notre dame AL · 11-04-2009, 06:49 PM

What a great post^^! The years will fly by fast--tell her to enjoy every minute!!!!

MImama · 11-04-2009, 10:38 PM

bitti1 -

Can you tell any more about the generous fin-aid package? My biggest worry is that D will be accepted and we'll have to say "sorry, costs too much"

bitti1 · 11-05-2009, 08:10 AM

MImama. believe me when i say that i was in the same position as you. the way things worked out for us was this:

we received the advice that it best not to overly worry about this early on, and instead direct your energy at perparation, and finding the best fit, and of course pusuing every available fin-aide scholarship oppourtunity. also to have a nice fallback plan. then let things work out as they will. easy to say, hard - very hard to do, i know.

in a general sense, our little experiment of 1 revealed a few impressions. the first was that the 'elite' and/or private schools generally do offer an aide package that came in under what the FAFSA-driven state school system ( in-state ) worked out to. schools such as ND, and u chicago, MIT, and various other private schools all beat the in-state aide package, when it was all said and done.

ND's was the best ( and not the be-all nor end-all - several were close enuf ). why this is, or was i do not know, i have heard many explanations. additionally, there are the various outside scholarships and so forth that apply. it is not surprising that the kids who gain acceptances to these kinda schools are also in line to do well for themsleves in that arena. there are generous people/organizations in this world, who wish to help kids, it turns out - who knew ?? negociating all this outside stuff that comes in later becomes more complicated, but in the end the fin-aide people at ND proved themselves to be extremely helpful in working toward a final package that was nothing short of amazing to me. in that ND rivalled the aggressive helpfulness of the smaller schools, and stood out from the other 'elite' schools who seemed to take a more take-it-or-leave-it stance. again, why this is/was i do not know, perhaps it is different from kid to kid. but that is definately the way it was for our D. they certainly gave the impression that they wanted her to be there, and appeared to be doing all they could to make it so. i have come to conclusion based our experience that this stand-out level of helpfulness and inclusiveness is simply how ND does business - who they are.

the hard part is the waiting. in our case our D's final set-up did not come together until the day before the infamous may 1st acceptance 'cut-off'. in truth it went past it a bit. and, you really do not even enter the first phase of this part of the process until Mar/Apr ( !! ). i worried incessantly, and needlessly. my wife was much calmer about it than me, and i supppose the both of us, along with the hard work and drive of our D and some fabulous help from outside sources all made it work together. but again, in our case the assistance from ND itself was head-and-shoulders above any of the other similarly-positioned schools throughout, once we got down to it.

i hope this helps.

aristophanes · 11-05-2009, 09:43 AM

I've been through the college selection process several times, and in retrospect I realize that most of the stress was unnecessary; ultimately everything worked out well. Regarding Notre Dame in particular, three of my children applied and all were accepted. The first went elsewhere by necessity, because another prestigious school offered ten times as much in grant aid. With the second, ND's offer was the best, but there was a slightly less generous one from a school that was a better fit. The third was offered a full scholarship at another excellent private school, but Notre Dame's package was still good enough to make going there possible, and ND has proved to be a perfect fit (absolutely no regrets). It's clear to me that over the past several years ND has made great efforts to increase grant aid, and it's even clearer that the place is extremely well-run.
If your child is lucky enough to get in, it seems unlikely that you could go wrong by choosing ND. If he or she doesn't, or you aren't able or willing to pass up better financial aid, life will go on (you heard it here first). But truly, Notre Dame is a wonderful place to spend four years.

sryrstress · 11-06-2009, 04:18 PM

To echo the above posters, over the last two years I have become increasingly convinced that ND has a stand-out level of inclusiveness and helpfulness, and that the place is extremely well-run. Now S1 is a junior and S2 is at a regional campus of our state university. These points have *really* been driven home now that I have a comparison college...

notre dame AL · 11-06-2009, 05:08 PM

As I am certainly not a new parent, but I too can echo the sentiments in the above post--it only gets better, IMO, as time goes by, esp w/regards to the way ND operates. For ex: our student is on track to graduate this spring 2010. Student received a letter this past summer from dean of school confirming the number of credits student had attained, and number required for graduation-this is well in advance of expected graduation date. Everything was on track and it was noted that this was an unofficial inquiry, but nonetheless, a nice summary to indicate what may or may not be missing with regards to graduation. Thus giving our student plenty of time to make up for any mistakes or lack of credits to insure correct graduation. An acquaintance at our state U was not so lucky. Three weeks before graduation the student was informed that credits were missing. Parents of this student had already made plans for graduation and student had accepted a job contingent on graduation. Needless to say, the student did not graduate at the appointed time. What a disappointment to all! Of course, one could argue that it is indeed the student's responsibility, however, it appears to me that ND is going to insure that their records correspond with the student-well before graduation.

As I posted earlier, tell your freshman students to embrace every minute of ND. It will go by so quickly--ours has enjoyed it!

PS-Hope this doesn't sound like a thread hijack!!

North2South · 11-09-2009, 01:57 PM

I don't want to break this thread, but since your sons/daughters have obviously been accepted to ND, would anyone be willing to share their general stats (ie SAT scores, no of A/P clases, early action or not, legacy or not and any other pertinent admission criteria), I have a family member applying this year. If you don't want to post here, please feel free to respond to me directly through a private response. Thanks and it is interesting to read the experiences you kids have had at ND thus far. Good Luck to them and you all.