I just offered this to Magnetron by PM, but if someone going to Admitted Students days wants travel tips, what parts of town to stay, good places to eat, let me know.
@Ruby789 yes please! We are going 4/9-10 during my daughter’s spring break. Spending a couple days in Chicago first. Excited! @hpcsa Agenda does look great!
@Kslinky: I love Chicago! You will have a great time there! Since you didn’t ask for any specific about visiting ND, I will guess what might be helpful. First, places to stay. I would recommend either around campus, or in Mishawaka. Mishawaka is fairly close, and has a lot of resources (restaurants, etc.) There are also a number of reasonably priced hotels in Roseland, which is really just north of Notre Dame. That is where I stayed with my now senior daughter during our first visit to ND. These hotels are fine, but since you don’t know the area, I wouldn’t advise staying there for a first time visit, mainly due to the lack of resources there. I didn’t realize all that the area offered when we first visited because we stayed there. My first preference is always to stay at the Morris Inn, but that is the first place that books up.
It could be more difficult to book hotels, as some dorms host their moms’ weekend various weekends, so if you are planning a visit, booking as soon as you can would be wise. Also, you might look into booking hotels for moving in in August. REA people have already been booking their hotels.
A couple of fun things to do not on the agenda:
- Walk (or run) around the lakes - I especially love to walk around St. Mary’s Lake. Views of the Golden Dome are wonderful. If you are lucky you will see the white swans that often swim there.
- The Basilica Museum - I’m sure most visitors will go into the Basilica, it is gorgeous. But it is easy to miss the museum, which is attached and is free!
- Mishawaka - Any Notre Dame student will be visiting Mishawaka during their time at ND. The Super Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond are there, as are mall, movie theaters, a lot of restaurants and activities. If you don’t stay in Mishawaka, you should go over there to see what is available. The last couple of years there has been a lot of development there and new restaurants are opening all the time. South Bend doesn’t have the variety of resources that Mishawaka has, and I don’t think students go there much. The main downtown of South Bend is not close anyway.
- Eddy Street Commons - just across the street from Notre Dame on the south side of campus. Shops, restaurants, etc, that are within walking distance to campus.
Something to ask about that is not on the agenda - The career center! Notre Dame is known for having one of the best career centers in the country. There is so much to think about GOING to college, that it is easy to forget about the end of the four years there. I would also advise asking about opportunities for internships/jobs on and off campus during your student’s time at ND. I didn’t realize the breadth of opportunities students availed themselves of until my students did so. Both had opportunities on campus in their respective interests. I’ve been so pleased, so I think it is something for families to find out about as you make your decisions.
I’m sure I didn’t think of a whole number of helpful things, so anyone should feel free to add to it.
Check out TripAdvisor for some good South Bend restaurants. We like The Emporium, and The Chicory Cafe is a great coffee place. Legends is a restaurant at the end of campus that’s not bad. D is a sophomore and I’ve never ventured over to Mishawaka!
@Ruby789 has great suggestions. I’d also recommend checking out the Grotto on campus. Even if you aren’t religious (and my D really is not), it’s a nice place for quiet contemplation.
OK, I like the Fiddler’s Hearth in South Bend, But the Evil Czech (Mishawaka) is the best place to eat in the area IMO!
+1 to what Ruby said. I might add that, for accommodations, after the Morris Inn, there are the Hilton Garden Inn, and the Inn at St Mary’s, both on the campus of Saint Mary’s College; and there is a Fairfield Inn at the Eddy Street Commons. Any of these three are conceivably a walk to the heart of campus, though not a short walk (about 3/4 to 1 mile). Also, for convenience, check out the LaFortune Student Center for eats and a Starbucks–the dining halls are not at all bad, either.
dining.nd.edu
Does anybody have any idea what day the acceptance letters will come for Notre Dame?
@tombrady22 I’d be willing to bet soon… according to an email I received an hour ago financial aid info is already en route via US mail.
Speaking of said email, does anyone know how accurate the aid summarized in the email is in relation to what is listed in the official letter?
@jsoens I’m not sure but it’s A LOT lower than we were expecting. It looks like my daughter will be going to UF now based on that financial aid email. We’re still planning on attending Admitted Student Days anyway and touring the school just because the campus looks so beautiful and we want to see it in person. We will make our final decision once we get and understand the snail mail. Thanks all for the suggested places to go. Still looking forward to it!
If you’re touring why don’t you take the time to meet with a financial aid counselor? They have special sessions for that sole reason @kslinky
I consider getting accepted at ND to be a privilege. Such a classy and supportive group of people on the thread here.
IRISH forever.
@DryMango we definitely will. We signed up for all of the Admitted Student Days sessions so we will see what they have to say. We were just surprised because we heard that Notre Dame is very generous with their financial aid monies, but my daughter actually received a lot more from UMiami. We are just so thrilled that she even got in because this was definitely one of her reach schools. In the end, she will wind up where she is meant to be. Selfishly I want her closer to home but if we can make ND work and it’s what’s she really wants, we will. Listening to everyone on this thread has made me want this for her even more, because this truly seems like a great group of people that I would want her to surround herself with.
@kslinky U Miami gives a lot of merit aid. And if your daughter got in to ND chances are she’s a strong applicant and U Miami would love to lure her with money (Miami is a great school…just very different than ND!!). So I’m assuming ND’s package just includes need based and U Miami’s has some of both? My older daughter who probably would not have been accepted to ND (she didn’t apply) got 25K per year from Miami in merit aid two years ago. She’s at BC now. No merit aid there either.
@collegemomjam she got $10k University scholarship and $3k campus employment from ND. I ignored the loans they had listed. She got $19k scholarship and another $3k in grant monies from UMiami and would also get $3k if she goes to a FL school. Nothing from UF but it’s also 1/3 of the price of ND and UMiami. If she absolutely falls in love with ND when we go, (which I’m expecting will happen) we will see what we can do, I just don’t want her graduation from college with debt. Thanks for the info!
@kslinky it sounds like she has some great choices! I hope it works out for her! I’m surprised she didn’t get more from Miami…but sounds like you are in state and maybe they are trying to lure more kids from other parts of the country? We are in NJ and a ton of kids got into Miami this year (one with a big merit scholarship and she did NOT have ND stats, not even close!), some were big surprises to me. Interesting.
@collegemomjam yes we’re in FL, just about an hour north of UMiami.
Don’t feel bad about your daughter. Notre Dame can be pretty tight with financial aid. Last year my sister got four year total scholarships from Creighton, Marquette, and Gonzaga of $80,000 each ($20,000/yr). Notre Dame gave her zero and just offered loans and work study. Granted most would argue Notre Dame is a better school and worth the money but the frustrating part is that Notre Dame also has more endowment money than those three schools combined! You would think they would be more generous (like Princeton which has a “no loan” policy").
And though they say their average student debt is around $25-27k, you should ask what the average debt is of students who actually have student loans. The average debt they report includes all students, even who have none (because their parents have money, they are on athletic scholarship, or are on generous scholarships for other reasons).
If you don’t think you can afford it, I wouldn’t visit because you’ll fall in love with the place. Then you’ll really agonize whether you think it’s worth a ton of debt to attend. Some people think ND undergrad is a real opportunity. Others argue that you’re better off passing up ND and saving your debt for a great graduate school later on. It’s a very personal and unique decision for each family’s situation.
@collegemomjam
If she visits ND, she will fall in love with it.
Have fun at the visits! My daughter is in her first year there and it was the absolute perfect fit and choice. She has gotten involved in some very cool activities and her teachers and dorm staff have been amazing. And ditto on the comments about the Career Center – the resources at ND are pretty phenomenal.
I will say we were very pleased with the financial aid package. We are solidly middle income and her package from ND was very close to what was being offered by other institutions. They had her loans a little higher than we would like in her original package (they offer an ND subsidized loan) but she was later called by the local alumni association for a scholarship interview which she received and that replaced the ND loan ($4,000 a year/4 years = $16,000!) In addition, my daughter received 7 other scholarships and when we got her revised package in June the grant money from ND went up $400 instead of down. Very happy.
Also for those of you visiting April 23/24 — the annual Blue Gold football game will be on April 22nd. It will be a very fun weekend and a great way to see the school spirit. And on Sunday, April 23 at 3:00 is a free one hour orchestra band concert by the University Band.
“If you don’t think you can afford it, I wouldn’t visit because you’ll fall in love with the place.”
If you aren’t willing/able to pay the tab, don’t waste your time/money/emotions by visiting campus. There’s just no point.
ND’s financial model is to act like the Ivies. High expenditures per student (which is why it is so great to go there), almost no merit money, and only need-based financial aid. Net result is that ND has a LOT of full pay students. It can get very expensive for donut hole type families.
ND’s average net price for undergrads with income above $110k is $41k. That is similar to Duke and Dartmouth ($42k). Harvard is $37k; Stanford is $36k. That tells you that the financial aid money at ND (and Duke and Dartmouth) thins out more quickly as the family income rises as compared to HYPS.
For a family making $200k or so, ND is going to be about as expensive/unaffordable as it gets. A kid who can get into ND will have a good shot at getting merit money at schools pretty comparably ranked (Vandy, Rice, WUSTL, Emory, USC). And be assured of getting serious merit money at schools ranked just a little bit lower. It is what it is.