My daughter is a current student and I can tell you it’s true that South Bend is certainly no LA or Chicago or Boston. But it is a city of 100K people, and like any ordinary city of that size it has plenty of bars, restaurants, shops, movie theaters, etc. Students also go out in surrounding towns like Mishawaka.
ND is set off in that it’s not a “city campus” but it’s certainly not isolated. I don’t agree that ND is like a rural school out in the country. That is a very misleading picture (which you will see if you visit). It does have 2 lakes and 2 golf courses as part of the campus, which add greatly to the appeal of the campus. But the location of the campus is on the north edge of the city. Part of the campus abuts a residential neighborhood. And it’s right across the street from Eddy Street Commons, a small area of restaurants, bars, bank, hair salon, Urban Outfitters, deli, etc. Beyond that, most things are a 5 minute Uber ride away and anything more you need (like a mall or chain store) is a 10 minute Uber ride away. Uber has dramatically changed life on college campuses. My daughter and her friends use Uber constantly to go shopping, out to eat, out for the night, etc.
If you are not someone who drinks or parties, there is A TON to do on campus. Not only in terms of clubs and organized groups, but also signature dorm events, campus events, shows at the performing arts center and all the sports. If you do like to go to parties, then there are definitely dorm parties, but off-campus house parties are equally (possibly more) prominent. Many dorms and sports teams rent houses off campus. This is done privately, so completely unrelated to the university. So similar to a frat party, only without the hazing.
I definitely agree that ND is probably more conservative than most campuses, but that in the current environment, that simply means it’s center/left vs left.
Below are a couple links re ND’s geographic diversity. It really pulls from all over the country, only 30% of admitted students are from the Midwest.
http://wsbt.com/news/local/notre-dae-is-now-the-most-national-university-in-the-country
https://ndsmcobserver.com/2018/04/notre-dame-admits-class-of-2022/