<p>Notre Dame is probably the most respected University in the Twin Cities, atleast from what I’ve heard from people I’ve talked to. Sure everyone has heard of Yale, Harvard, and Princeton, but most people think you’re a rich elite snob if you go to one of these schools. Notre Dame is probably the most popular school at my hs and last year seven of our top ten students went there. Four of them turned down a HYPS for ND. The other three went to Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Stanford.</p>
<p>BTW, UCLA are the Bruins.</p>
<p>1.) As far as big-time sports go in the top 20 universities, the only thing that comes close to ND football is Duke basketball. </p>
<p>2.) Many students who attend Notre Dame are the third or fourth generation of their family to do so. </p>
<p>3.) The sense of community is incredible. Once you attend ND, you are a part of the “ND Family” for life (as cheesy as it sounds, it’s true). </p>
<p>Notre Dame is really a playground for athletic and intelligent (or just VERY athletic) Catholic students.</p>
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<p>ha. </p>
<p>I had heard of ND, but not from my GC. And I didn’t go to a catholic school, I went to a midwest public school that usually sends someone to ND every year. I am not going to UCLA next year, I just know it’s a stronger university, and Cal and Michigan even stronger. </p>
<p>Yeah a lot of people want to go to ND, but not because it is a strong school but because they are catholic and they like the vibe of ND.</p>
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<p>Perhaps people you talk to are just confused. Notre Dame is in South Bend, Indiana. ;)</p>
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<p>It’s certainly a positive, no doubt. But when you are a public school in the largest populated state that gives many applicants a free tuition ride of course they are going to get a lot more applicants. I wonder what university has the most out-of-state applicants?</p>
<p>Here’s another vote for it being inconceivable that a kid who went to a Catholic school never heard of Notre Dame. I’ve lived all over the US and it would also agree that ND is up there with Harvard as the most widely recognized college name in the country–in that you could mention it to anybody and not get a blank stare of non-recognition. A couple generations ago West Point would also be in that category, but not any more.</p>
<p>I never went to ND, but got accepted there for grad school once and turned them down. I’ve visited the campus several times, and it’s an amazing place…beautiful, compact, well-maintained, just the right # of students, etc. The only flaws I can see are the weather is a tad harsh for those who aren’t used to northern climates, and the city of South Bend offers little in the way of off-campus activities.</p>
<p>The “which is better” questions are pointless, as colleges are just too complex to compare in that general sense. It’s even more ridiculous than asking if Elizabeth Banks is “better” than Vida Guerra.</p>
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<p>What a joke. Some of you will remember that after Notre Dame got their asses kicked year-in and year-out they announced a significant change in their football schedule deciding to include ‘peer’ academic schools. Result was to cut down on teams kicking their butts and schedule ‘soft’ teams like BC, Virginia and Georgia Tech to add to the soft lineup of always playing Army/Navy/Air Force. So how has that worked out for them in the new century? Let’s look at games against Catholic school rival Boston College:</p>
<p>2001 Lost
2002 Lost
2003 Lost
2004 Lost
2005 Did not play
2006 Did not play
2007 Lost
2008 Lost (17 to 0)</p>
<p>Notre Dame lost to Syracuse last year AND North Carolina two schools that used to only beat Notre Dame in basketball - back when Notre Dame had a basketball team worth commenting on. Now Notre Dame is scheduling Connecticut in football. After they start kicking Notre Dame around what’s next, St. Mary’s School for Girls? </p>
<p>As far as overall NCAA titles go Stanford, USC and UCLA make Notre Dame look like Our Lady of the Connecticut Turnpike Junior High School.</p>
<p>Current performance isn’t the only factor that determines “athletic prestige” (for lack of a better term). The ND football tradition is something that transcends the current record.</p>
<p>BC may have whooped up on ND for the past decade, but let’s look at the average home attendance in 2008:</p>
<p>USC: 6 games, 520,756 total, 86,793 average</p>
<p>ND: 6 games, 484,770 total, 80,795 average</p>
<p>BC: 7 games, 287,258 total, 41,037 average</p>
<p>Let’s look at student/surrounding area population (not metropolitan statistical areas):</p>
<p>USC: 33,389 total students, 3.8 million in L.A. </p>
<p>ND: 11,603 total students, 107,789 in South Bend </p>
<p>BC: 14,395 total students, 83,829 in Newton, 608,352 in Boston</p>
<p>So… ND has the smallest student population and the smallest number of potential fans in the surrounding area, yet they sell out the stadium for every home game.</p>
<p>That’s because the students have nothing better to do in South Bend and because everybody chooses the school for its sports and Catholicism. </p>
<p>Not in as caustic a tone, but when you have a campus that is as isolated and insulated as ND’s you’re going to get more football attendance. Especially when you have a much more self-selecting and homogenous group than the other two schools.</p>
<p>Additionally, for the above chart, USC and ND’s undergraduate enrollment only differs by >4000, I think that is notable. </p>
<p>Also, ND’s football record pales in comparison to the rest of the big 10 schools, such Michigan’s 108k average home attendance and Penn State’s similar record. The ND football tradition is great, but it is difficult to argue that it is greater than Michigan’s or even USC’s.</p>
<p>Tallsaint s does have a point.</p>
<p>The Texas A & M Aggies and Michigan Wolverines are god-awful in football and haven’t been impressive football teams for many years.</p>
<p>However, noone can deny that Michigan and Aggie fans are among some of the most passionate and crazy in all of college football. Those Aggie yells are ridiculous and laughable. And Michigan is so bad that Sam Mcguffie left them because he wanted to play for a better program.</p>
<p>Another good example is Army. Army football is generally bad, but it’s prestigious.</p>
<p>"Wow I have never seen a dumber thread in my life. If there is one person in the United States of America or even the world who says that UCLA should be mentioned in the same sentence as Notre dame clearly can’t get into a community college. College undergrad #1 UCLA will always be under Berkely’s shadow, and Berkely doesn’t even compare to ND. #2 There is no way you went to a catholic school and have not heard of notre dame, it’s not possible, unless you went to a school for the blind and deaf, what have you been living under a rock? come on now. Have you heard of Harvard, Princeton, Yale any of these schools ringing a bell, because Notre Dame’s name is just as popular as these schools, it’s not quite in their rank however it’s close. #3 UCLA is good but no where near an ivy internationally, international students don’t tend to attend public universities, although there is nothing wrong with them. International students come to America mostly for the reason to take advantage of their private education, if they wanted a public, they would stay in their country. #4 Ever think that maybe the reason a catholic school in Shanghai is ranked low is because it’s catholic and Shanghai’s religion is pretty much anti-catholic. Overall that was a terrible post for you, I’m sorry, just regroup and get them next time. I just looked and your the OP huh? I mean it’s common knowlege ND is better if you werent willing to hear that you shouldnt of posted it.</p>
<p>Ballet girl, that list is rediculous, stop talking.</p>
<p>I’m sorry to be a jerk but come on guys, no one who wasnt hidden behind a computer screen would say in their right mind that UCLA is better than ND. Unless they want to go to a Community college, then by all means.</p>
<p>Come on guys, lets get real here, I know you can sound as rediculous as you want because it’s not your real identity that looks like an idiot when you say something like “UCLA is a better school than the University of Notre Dame” or “Ive never heard of Notre Dame” I mean come on, kid if someone who says something like that got into UCLA then its clearly not better lol. stuff like that makes the school look bad.</p>
<p>I think we’re forgetting the reason this site exists, so that we can help prospective students with their college choices, not make it seem like your school is the best school in the nation? What’s next ummm…arizona state is better than harvard?"</p>
<p>Soxfan, to address #1 sure Berkeley is better than UCLA but both Berkeley and UCLA are stronger academically than Notre Dame even in the undergraduate level. Graduate level, both UCLA and Berkeley blow Notre Dame away by 10,000 miles. To say that Berkeley does not compare to Notre Dame is just foolish. Berkeley has the second best engineering program and one of the best business programs for undergrads. For everything else, I’m sure Berkeley is still better than Notre Dame. Much the same can be said for UCLA. Although UCLA does not have a business program for undergrads it does have a undergrad engineering program and thats significantly better than Notre Dames.</p>
<h1>2 I’m sure there are lots of students who go to Catholic school just because their parents forced them to. Many probably do not like the Catholic school they are at and have no desire to attend a Catholic University. They will probably look into some good secular privates and some publics. To say that its absurb for someone not to have heard is not far fetch. I would believe that 90 percent of Catholic HS senior by free will have no desire to attend a Catholic University. And I disagree that Notre Dame name is as recognized as Princeton and Harvard. To say that a Catholic university appeals to most Americans (Catholicism is minority when it comes to religion in the US) is pretty illogical.</h1>
<h1>3 is completely false. I bet some internation CollegeConfidential member can attest. People come from all over the world to attend UCLA, Berkeley, and Michigan as graduates because they are great research schools. It is also the reason why they are ranked so high on the global scale. For internationals, its all about the quality of education they can get and surely those three school provide excellent education. Schools like UCLA do have better reputation in some countries than lets say Dartmouth or Brown. Thats a fact that some member of this forum can attest to as well.</h1>
<h1>4, that has absolutely nothing to do with the world ranking conducted by Shanghai University. That ranking is based purely on research output. I can see how a for profit ranking based company may be subjected by the influence of money but why in the world would a university be biased when it comes to ranking. They don’t charge people to see their ranking which US News does. Several great universities are ranked low on that list because they are just not research universities, an example would be UVa. Ever think that Berkeley, UCLA, and Michigan are underranked because they are public universities. I think you need to reconsider your foolish post.</h1>
<p>To call UCLA a community college is by far the most stupidest thing I have ever heard. It’s acceptance rate lower than that of Notre Dame’s. If its community college then why is it ranked number 25 for national colleges. Students from UCLA go on to be great and successful people. Not only are they smart but they care about the world and community. Most students volunteer and do stuff to raise money for charities. As for sports, UCLA has the most national championship of any university.</p>
<p>Clearly you’re the one who is foolish. No one in their right mind would call UCLA a community college. Even I said that Notre Dame is a respectable University.</p>
<p>I can agree that the students who choose to attend Notre Dame are more than likely interested in football, or, at the very least, will be by the time they graduate. But even if every undergraduate and postgraduate student attended a game, that’s only 14% percent of the crowd. </p>
<p>Michigan, Penn State, and other Big 10 schools have excellent football traditions as well, arguably better than ND’s, that can’t be denied. I think that part of ND’s charm is that they have school spirit similar to a large state school in a much smaller private school environment (and Catholic, of course).</p>
<p>college undergrad, maybe if you can read you would see that soxfan didnt call UCLA a community college, he said anyone who said UCLA is better the ND is probably someone who can only go to a community college. Which i mean is true, this thread is rediculous UCLA is a tier 2 school, ND is a tier 1. There’s no comparrison between the 2 of them. UCLA is berkely’s safety, ND is safety to know one. I hate to bring it up but…ND is private, UCLA is public.</p>
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<p>As Notre Dame alums cringe from embarrassment.</p>
<p>I have no affiliation to ND, however, unfortunately it is a fact, our private schools are far superior to our public. Obviously Michigan is the best public school, Berkely could be around there and thats about it for tier 1 public schools, then you could probably say UCONN, UCLA and Illiniois. I mean none of these compare to the private. Unfortunately thats the way it is, if you want the best education in America, you have to pay for it. And when you go to ND you’re getting it from the best</p>
<p>Private schools are not inherently better than public schools. Michigan, Cal, and UCLA are far stronger than all but the top few privates. Any departmental, research, or income measure will show you that. </p>
<p>Private schools are simply able to offer a more niche environment because they are smaller and private while public schools cater to a wide swath of the population.</p>
<p>Sam McGuffie left Michigan to play for Rice. He needed to be closer to his family for personal reasons. The Michigan faithful all wish him well.</p>
<p>Quote: ‘UCLA is berkely’s safety, ND is safety to know one. I hate to bring it up but…ND is private, UCLA is public.’ </p>
<p>UCLA is not Berkeley’s safety school, as Notre Dame is not Northwestern’s safety school. Lots of kids, like myself, choose UCLA over Berkeley for some reasons. </p>
<p>I think the academic qualities of UCLA and Notre Dame are about the same, not one is obviously better than the other. Someone who’s saying something like ‘Notre Dame is on the different level from UCLA, so anyone who compares Notre Dame with UCLA should go to the community college’ is insulting Notre Dame, not UCLA, by showing how ignorant Notre Dame student (or alum) can be.</p>
<p>BTW, not Berkely, but Berkeley.</p>
<p>I am wondering if we could get back to - What is it about Notre Dame that people love?</p>
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<p>You think RichRod can turn it around that fast? </p>
<p>But seriously, do the Maize and Blue have a quarterback? Last I heard, they were trying to bring Greg Paulus in.</p>