University of Notre Dame Top Questions

The stereotype is either irish descent, very American, or people with blonde hair. In general, the stereotype is somewhat accurate, although there is still a rich mix of different cultures in campus.

I am always amazed at the things the students around me have done with their lives. Everyone was the top of their high school class, did varsity sports, was in numerous clubs, etc, but everyone still has different amazing things that blow my mind, from growing up or going to high school in different countries, to living with your coach hours from home so that you can be tailored into an Olympian. It can be a little humbling when you realize there are varsity athletes who have higher GPAs in harder majors, and on top of that, they're pretty attractive. So they're jerks, right? Wrong, also the nicest people you will meet. You'll find kids chugging alcohol who will become Senators or solve the world's problems. Almost everyone takes working out seriously, as well as partying, and religion, and helping others, and obviously, school. Our lives are pretty darn put together, however, it can be pretty stressful keeping everything perfect. On the other side, we're not very diverse. If you're used to hanging out with groups based on religion or nationality, people still do that here, but know these groups will be limited. Most people are Catholic. People do not judge though. I've never seen any prejudice here, which is part of our other lack of diversity of lifestyle. Drugs are not big on our campus, not because of the rules, but because we're not the kids who do drugs. Most of our campus would say something like, "I don't want a tattoo, but if I were to get one, it would be of Notre Dame" because we are also in love with our school. Most kids want to move to a big city right out of college. I feel like there's no term to describe us, but most people fit into a very similar lifestyle.

If I were to describe the stereotype of ND students, I would say we are athletic, wealthy, Catholic kids who like to study hard and play hard. We are intelligent, have a strong sense of family, and are not very diverse. I would say the stereotype is fairly accurate. There are a lot of wealthy students here, but they are not the obnoxious kind of wealthy. They don't flaunt their money. Everyone is incredibly down-to-earth and students use their money to do amazing things for the global community, which they care a lot about. 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of Notre Dame students are Catholic. That being said, I am not Catholic and I have never felt like the religion was shoved down my throat. Notre Dame is more diverse than people think, and the University is trying hard to make it even more diverse. However, people tend to hang out with people like them, which is unfortunate. ND students are incredibly intelligent and work really hard, even though they all try to pretend like they don't. Although there are no sororities or frats, most students party hard on Friday and/or Saturday and then stay in all Sunday doing homework.