University of Notre Dame Top Questions

What is your overall opinion of this school?

Meg

ND is a good size - small enough to recognize tons of people, but big enough that you don't feel like you know everyone. It's really conservative for a university, politically and socially. For example, there is a never-ending debate as to whether or not they should allow the play, "The Vagina Monologues" on campus, which to my knowledge goes completely unopposed at most other universities. If you're pro-choice, you are by far in the minority, in fact I wouldn't tell anyone that. Notre Dame has the most socially awkward 20-year olds I've ever met. You either hook up with people every weekend and then dont talk to them, or you've seriously never been kissed and probably wont until god knows when. Living in a single-sex dorm, the only option for freshman, has good and bad parts. Girls are generally more high-strung and there can be a lot of drama, and the boys can get out of control too. But you can also build strong friendships that would be structured differently in a co-ed atmosphere. Don't have sex, it's against the rules, and a lot of people will judge you.

Chris

School is crazy about sports and academics. School is moderately large, but dorm life creates a sense of community. Most people are relatively impressed when I say I go to Notre Dame. I spend all my time on campus. South Bend isn't much of a college town, but it has restaurants and most anything else you are looking for. The ND administration is pretty good, not overly restrictive, but there are visitation rules and certain items can't be found at the school stores. Recent controversy over the exhibition of the "Vagina Monologues" on campus. The president citing academic freedom allowed it, which bothers some conservative Catholics.

Rachel

I love it here. The atmosphere is incredible, because everyone is so stoked to be a part of Notre Dame. And honestly, I love the reaction people get when I tell them I'm at Notre Dame. It's a school people have heard of, and everyone knows someone who went here: someone successful. There's more school pride here than anywhere I've seen (except maybe for the Huskers, but that's football alone). The campus is a good size. I know enough people that I feel like a part of the school, but there are still plenty for me to meet. Sometimes it seems like the campus is shrinking, because everyone knows something about everyone, but I prefer that over 50,000 students. Our administration possibly over reacts on occasion. I like the way things are run, and maybe it's because they continue to be strict, but really we're harmless. A good joke among students is that you can get an hour of community service for puking in the hall by underage binging, but you can get shot for being caught breaking parietals by ten minutes. Sex is a big deal. I guess that's another stereotype that is perhaps accurate: we don't get kinky in bed, but we know how to party anyway. I'd say more students here than anywhere else don't drink, but those who do can hold their own. Everyone's really stuck up, but that's because everyone's been the best at something at some point in their life, whether it's football or prgramming in C++.

Marisa

Notre Dame is an awesome place. I feel like I'm a part of a bigger family and it is constantly challenging me to be a better or more rounded person. There are so so many things that go on around campus that it rarely feels like there isn't anything to do. I always feel like people are trying to do more and really truly feel like people want each other to succeed. The spirituality on campus cannot be denied and that is one place that I really feel I have been able to embrace since getting to campus. I love going to ISI and the various offshoot groups that go along with it, because they are such amazing people. I feel this is the thing that really makes Notre Dame unique. I like to spend my time in the dorm, with friends, at one of the pools, Legends, LaFun or where there happens to be some event going on. Being on North Quad I don't venture down to CoMo as often as I would like, however, I do enjoy a visit. I absolutely love being able to walk around the lakes and visit the Grotto or even finding a quiet place to study in the library. I spend most of my time on campus either doing homework, going to some type of group or one of the random events that happens to be going on. It has somewhat of a college town feel, but it is not as prevalent as in some areas since people often don't feel that the surrounding area is that great. There is a TON of college pride. I feel that one of the biggest indicator of school pride on a campus is how much University/College gear someone happens to wear or own and I can honestly say probably the majority of students has something that says Notre Dame on it when they are walking around.

Cristina

i love the spirit of community and inclusion that's seen at Notre Dame. ever since day i saw it and it's still present in my every day experience at this university. there's a spirit unlike any other university i have visited. there's unity among the students and we pride on that. you even feel a sense of attachment to the alumni that come and visit. this spirit promotes alumni to donate money to this university. we feel the need to help our community.

Anne

The campus beautiful and the size of the student body is the perfect median between two extremes. People usually are impressed when I say I go to Notre Dame and assume that I must have been brilliant to get in... I spend a lot of time studying on campus, but also I play sports and love to go to Notre Dame's sporting events. South Bend is not really a great town, but it has a lot of restaurants and Notre Dame somewhat dominates it. The administration here is very efficient in handling the affairs of the university- everything seems to run smoothly all the time. The most recent school controversy was over the Vagina Monologues being performed on campus. I do not even need to speak about school pride because people here LOVE the Fighting Irish, not to mention the alumni who come back for years and years. The Catholic character of Notre Dame makes it unique in its focus to use education to better the world around us and become selfless in our actions. I will always remember freshman orientation (frosh-o) with all of the crazy events and of course, all the football games.

Cameron

the ND school size is perfect. But there are too few international students... The location is bad... the weather is horrible...

Katie

Notre Dame really just has a special atmosphere to it. People here love this place so much, and that carries over to huge alumni loyalty (big time bonus!). School size: perfect. you don't feel lost in the crowd, but you're still always meeting someone new. South Bend: awful. middle of nowhere, kind of shady at times. the school tries to keep most of the action on campus, although a lot of the parties are off-campus, Biggest recent controversy: Vagina Monologues. Seriously, let it go already. It happened. School spirit: HUGE. Everyone loves Notre Dame. Frequent student complaints: PARIETALS (opposite sex visiting hours - all the dorms are single gender, which is honestly not as bad as it sounds, and most of the time is a really good thing). Somewhat strict rules on alcohol, but that varies by dorm. The administration can sometimes be viewed as out-of-touch with student concerns...

Erin

-Great size -amazing community -driven and motivated students who are competitive but still supportive -Work hard/play hard -Spiritually active -Service oriented -Great school spirit -the best friends I have ever had

Jess

There's tons of school spirit here - walking around campus, you'll see every other person wearing Notre Dame gear, and everyone goes to the football games. The school is definitely very Catholic - at least the administration tries to make it that way. If you want to be really involved in Campus Ministry, this is a good place to come, but don't be scared away because the majority of students are Catholic.

Kristin

I like the size, people either A dont know where it is, B ask why instead of going to say a UW wisconsin school, or they just ooooo at me. i spend a lot of my time in debartolo and PE unfortunately. though there are many colleges here, not really a college town. that administration seems pretty with-it and genuine, i have had some really good teacher experience. I'd say the vagina monologues were unfortunately the biggest controversy, and other 'liberal' issues. There's TONS of school pride. Its unusual how homogeneous the population is, i think that it can make people feel VERY different when they're really not. Parietals are a common complaint because they're so controlling, and make it hard to ever have visitors from other schools.

Tate

Notre Dame is the best. The spirit and tradition is like no other. It's not perfect, some students complain about how conservative the rules and other things, but I can think of no better university in the world.

Jill

tons of tradition, lots of emphasis on religion and family, a fair amount of controversy with sexuality/homosexuality, not very well connected to the surrounding South Bend areas

Christine

Being from a small town, most people are excited for me when they find out that I go to Notre Dame. This school is very academically rigorous, and it has very interesting student dynamics. At Notre Dame there is an interesting interaction between Catholicism and alcohol. Some students here are ridiculously devout and do not party or drink alcohol, but they also take other aspects to the extreme. For instance, last week a large group of these students staged a very immature and disrespectful protest of the Vagina Monologues. On the other end of the spectrum, there are the people who may be Catholic and go to mass, but they party at least one or two days a week and engage in very un-Catholic behavior. Most of the campus is divided into these two extremes, and it can be very hard to find a middle ground for people who do not fit into those two categories.

Casey

EVERYTHING about Notre Dame is absolutely wonderful! We don't have a college town, but it doesn't bother anyone - our campus have everything that we need, and if you're itching to get off campus there is a good mall and plenty of restaurants in the surrounding area. there is so much school pride here....I don't know anyone here who doesn't love it and want to be here very badly. Everyone else should stop making fun of our football team - they're just jealous that they don't go here. I'll never forget frosh-o, which is the amazing first weekend for freshman and orientation filled with awkward meeting of the opposite sex dorms, etc. Frequent student complaints - reslife, single sex dorms, gender relations. We all complain about it but we know that we love ND nonetheless. I think it's funny how much we complain about poor or awkward gender relations being caused by single sex dormlife, but we take all the benefits of single sex dorms for granted. For example, there is so much spirit in each dorm and they all have unique character, and ALL of them are friendly, welcoming, fraternity/sorority family type settings ---- so I think in the long run we wouldn't give up our unique dorm life for anything - except maybe no parietals? I can't imagine going to any other school - seriously. I get offended when other people don't like ND because it's so much a part of who I am and it's perfect in every way.

Tate

The family and netoworking you get from the Notre Dame experience is unbeatable.

Melissa

The best thing about Notre Dame is the environment. Everyone here is very friendly, I always see people that I know out on the quad and they say hi to me. Everyone is really passionate about being here, we have a lot of school spirit. Also, the kids are generally pretty smart, but it's not a super-nerdy atmosphere. I think that Notre Dame attracts well-rounded people.

Reese

Notre Dame has enough students that you meet new people all the time but it's also not too big. After you get to know people, you start to see people you know whenever you walk around. And every student is guaranteed football tickets. Notre Dame students work hard, play hard. During the week, most students crack down, but on the weekend students like to let loose and have fun. Most of the time we stay on campus because there's so much to do. There's not much off-campus, but there's always plenty going on around campus.

Tristan

The best thing about Notre Dame is the student body. For the most part we are hard workers, but you can't find many people who are completely obsessed with academics. On the other side, we like to have fun, but we're not out of control either. It's a really good balance. One thing I'd change about Notre Dame is the amount of diversity in the student body. The good thing about this problem is that most of the people I talk to feel the same way, and the University seems to be making an effort to increase diversity, so hopefully diversity will be on the upswing in coming years. Let's see, what else.... there is a lot of school pride, obviously - it's kind of what we do I guess. It's great, and it seems crazy, but when everybody gets into it - which is all of the time - it is a really awesome time. Students complain about a few things, but overall there is a lot of love for this school. Complaints range from single sex dorms to cost of tuition, and a few things in between, but for the most part these complaints are not major. If anybody has any major complaints there is usually someone you can talk to to help sort it out.

Molly

The best thing about Notre Dame is that it really works to educate the entire person and not just the academic aspect. I think 8000 students is a wonderful size. People are often excited when I tell them I go to Notre Dame because they think it is such a cool school. I spend most of my time on campus the dorms or hanging out with friends in the student center. The biggest controversies are popular opinions that the Catholic Church does not agree with, for example The Vagina Monologues. There is tons of school pride. That is probably the biggest aspect of our community. We thrive on tradition and pride. The biggest student complaint are probably the single sex dorms and the hours in which the opposite sex can visit.

Kevin

I love the community of Notre Dame. One odd thing is sometimes the intergender relations are werid, likely a result of the single-sex dorms.

Colleen

The biggest part of Notre Dame is the community life and the unity that surrounds the entire school. I love the fact that most people remain in the same dorm all four years of college and that each dorm becomes basically like a sorority or fraternity at a bigger school. You are given the comraderie of Greek life without having to rush or go through anything. You are immediately accepted into your new home the moment you step onto campus and that is what I love about it. At times I feel like Notre Dame is too large, because I really don't know that many people around campus, but it is extremely small compared to a number of other schools and I am just weird when it comes to size. Along with the unity, there is so much Notre Dame pride it is unbelievable. Everyone goes to football games and pep rallies and it never gets old. We are here to support our teams through winning and losing seasons and that will never change. The most frequent complaints are probably related to Parietals, meaning, after certain hours, no person of the opposite sex is allowed to be in the dorm. However, I like the idea of parietals because it takes the pressure off of awkward situations with roommates and there is no misunderstandings about boundaries or anything. The rules are the same for everyone on campus and it works very well in my opinion.

Natalie

People her always complain about parietals but even though they are annoying more often than not, it can be nice to have some time when its guaranteed to be just girl time, you know when you come in from a night out and you and your girlfriends all sit around and gossip about what happened that night. That's part of what college is all about, forming those bonds with your friends, and in a sense parietals allow that.

Sean

Fantastic. Every time you walk by the Golden Dome or Touchdown Jesus or the Grotto or the lakes or Notre Dame Stadium (see how far down the list football is?), you can't help but think- 'Wow, I am at Notre Dame.' I've gone to other schools both in the Midwest and back home in the Northeast. Sure they have their good characteristics but whenever I say I go to ND, people really give respect for that. Truly a remarkable school.

Kate

The best thing is the sense of tradition and school spirit. I'd change the location; I've lived in South Bend my whole life and it's not too great. It's just the right size. People generally are very impressed when I tell them I go to Notre Dame - it's got a great reputation. I spend most of my time on campus in my dorm or my friends's dorms of in LaFun (LaFortune Student Center). There is no college town here.

Cameron

The best thing about Note Dame would have to be the atmosphere. It's just the feeling you get once you get on the campus. It is probably one of the defining factors that made me choose to come here. It made me feel at home when I came to visit and not it truely is my home. The one thing that I would change would be the number of African-Americans that attend the school. The black presence at Notre Dame is almost non-existent and I feel more needs to be done to cater to the needs of minorities on the campus. One of the most annoying things people ask me once they find out that I attend Notre Dame is if I play a sport. As an African-American student, it always seems that in order for blacks to attend college, they must do a sport. I take pride in the fact that I am a student first. I, as well as the there students and the student/athletes are intelligent.

Annie

Best thing: community, great networking, beautfil campus One thing I'd change: its location; there's NO college town Size: just right Reaction: They're usually impressed and say something, often snide, about our football team. Where on campus: in the dorms No college town Administration: too Catholic Recent controversy: whether or not to have the Vagina Monologues on campus; whether the administration should try to keep its faculty mostly Catholic; whether the administration should recognize a Gay-Straight Alliance student club School pride: Yes Unusual: All dorms are single sex. The opposite sex cannot be in a dorm after midnight on weekdays and after 2 am on weekends. Strictly enforced in girls' dorms but not in guys' dorms. Experience: studying abroad in France for a year Frequent student complaints: single sex dorms and visiting hours; the weather

Chris

Best Thing About Notre Dame: Everyone here is amazingly brilliant, kind, hard-working, active, and excels at something. One Thing I'd Change: Location, location, location (we have two Winter Semesters) School Size Is: Just Right (8,000 Undergrads) People React to Notre Dame: With, "Wow, congrats! I wanted to go there..." I Spend My Time: Outside my dorm room; there's tons to do on campus! College Town: "What College Town?" South Bend has some great eating places, the College Football Hall of Fame, and that's about it. Chicago's 90 minutes away. Notre Dame's Administration: Could care less about the students, but for the most part stays out of the way. Biggest Recent Controversy on Campus: "The Vagina Monologues" being performed on a Catholic campus. Lot of School Pride?: Let's just say people wear their class rings to class as early as the start of their junior year. People here LOVE almost everything Notre Dame. Anything Unusual?: Our housing situation; everyone lives on campus in single-sex dorms, which are more like sponsored frats and sororities. Interhall sports here are crazy. You get to know people really well; it's a new home. One Experience I'll Always Remember: Too many awesome ones, but definitely singing on stage in front of 4,000 people during my dorm's Keenan Revue. Most Frequent Student Complaints: Parietals! Latin for visiting hours, it means men & women can't be in the same dorm room from midnight (2am on weekends) to 9am. There's no campus curfew or anything, but you can't watch a movie with your girlfriend at 12:10am on a Tuesday.

Roberta

The people and traditions are the best things about Notre Dame. If I could change one thing it would be ResLife, the strict discipline system. The school's size is exactly right. You get to know a lot of people, but not everybody knows what you did last weekend. I spend most of my time in COMO, a student resource center, or in my dorm. "WHAT COLLEGE TOWN" applies to here, I would never venture into South Bend for fun. They are building a stip around campus that will be like a mini college town. I love the professors at Notre Dame, most are either really funny and witty, so nerdy that they are cute/funny, or really understanding/helpful. TON of school pride...Notre Dame is life. I will always remember the home/away football games, and dining hall experiences.

Laura

Notre Dame is unlike any other university in the country. I realize I'm slightly biased as a student, but for me this school is my home. If you let Notre Dame change you and help you grow, if you let it into your heart, it will transform you. I am my best self while I am here, b/c the atmosphere and most of all the people will do that to you. Even though there's over 8000 undergrads, you are never left behind, and it becomes a family immediately. There is a lot of school pride: people have commented how ND students wear hoodies and hats and shirts that say Notre Dame around campus, and how you don't find that at a lot of schools. Parietals and the single-sex dorms can sometimes be a source of misgivings, but it helps make the school what it is and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Betsy

The best thing about Notre Dame is the community of people who make up the student body and staff. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly and it makes Notre Dame a really fun place to be. People want to be here and they want to learn and grow and have fun and it shows! I think our campus is just the right size because it's not too big where you feel overwhelmed and alone, but not too small where you know everyone else's business and feel like you are constantly seeing the same people. Being from California, most people don't even know where Notre Dame is and don't understand why I would want to go to a school where there is snow and bad weather. People on the west coast or people who haven't heard of or visited Notre Dame in general just don't get it. They don't understand what an amazing place this school is and they don't understand how happy I am to be here. It would be nice if Notre Dame had a town to go with it, but South Bend is not really the nicest place and that is what makes the campus community even better. The campus is closed to the surrounding and there are no cars or streets running through it which makes you feel secure and safe. It is also nice because everything is easy to get to and all of the people you want to be with are within a reasonable distance. The farthest walk to any building on campus is probably 10-12 minutes which is really convenient. Notre Dame has more school pride than any place I have ever seen or heard of. I love the fact that by just going here you automatically belong and are part of a group that loves you and respects you. Tradition is a very important part of Notre Dame and it shows in many campus wide activities and sports. The dorms at Notre Dame are amazing, they are old and full of character, but still really nice to live in and each dorm has its own activities, dances and traditions which make everyone's dorm experience unique. The most frequent student complaints probably have to do with our rules, because Notre Dame is a Catholic University and has strict rules regarding members of the opposite sex in dorms and alcohol policies but in the bigger picture these are really only minor issues that students get over pretty quickly.

Chris

Notre Dame is full of ultra-conservative, close-minded, and sometimes downright mean people. But since the university prides itself on its Catholic nature, everyone feels ok about themselves because, you know, God loves us.

Brett

I love the size. It's perfect. It's big enough, but small enough to know a lot of people, and be able to say hello to people as you go to class. I'd change the strictness...sometimes I feel like I go to a high school boarding school instead of college due to things like parietals. When I tell people I go to Notre Dame, usually they say something along the lines of "wow." I spend most time in my dorm or at work when im on campus. What college town? There's always controversy about being able to perform the vagina monologues on a catholic campus. The school is pretty conservative. TONS of school pride. In fact, I would say it is THE school for school pride, esp. with football.

Betsy

The people at ND are awesome, they have their heads on straight but still know how to have fun. I think it's the right size, because you can still meet new people senior year. Most people freak out when I tell them i'm a ND grad. it's looked upon very highly. "What college town?" Tons of school pride.

Brian

Notre Dame's administration don't consider the students wishes enough and should listen more to what we have to say and spend money on important things rather than renovating the campus constantly.

Eric

The best thing about Notre Dame is it's Irish tradition of the Golden Dome. The whole idea behind it's Catholic tradition and idenity. There is not one Catholic school in the nation that has HailMary on their roof. The other best thing about Notre Dame is it's strong tradition of having a good football program and a great stadium. I also like the college experience the people their are very loyal, very kind. It's a difference between Harvard University and Notre Dame. The one thing I would change about Notre Dame is that it's a gated university and a private university. It is only open to the public in certain areas. The full campus they do not allow cars onto it. You have to park far away to access the university and many parking spots are not marked for students. It is not a public university meaning the scholarships are limited. The teachings allow Christian teachings and the books are full of crap sometimes. Most of the stuff you read is so conservative and it doesn't relate to normal life. People react and ask me if I am rich if I go to Notre Dame. I tell them no I recieved a heavy amount of scholarship money because my grades were very good. I also tell them they should consider sending there families to Notre Dame because it's the only campus where you can spend time with people you might actually like. I spend most of my time in LA-FORTUNE Dinner Area. It is nice to have like 5 restraunts available till late at night. It also has starbucks. It's a nice place to sit and relax and read. They also have 18 flat screen TV's so people can watch the games and stuff if they want to. Notre Dame is not a college town school because it does not have frat houses and it does not allow drinking. The only college town thing about it is football weekends when the public comes in and brings in the parties. The big thing is tailgating on football game days where you can cheat and get free booze for minors. The Administration at Notre Dame is a pain in the ass. When I first came to Notre Dame they only accepted 10 percent of freshman applicants. The Adminstration also made it hard on Holy Cross College Students. Many student's follow the RUDY TRADITION. They want to start early at a smaller school. They made the requirements tougher by making students take higher math classes and etc. The Adminstration is also most of the time Priests unless your visiting the financial offices. The Adminstration feel is that there ripping off students to attend their university by charging no where close to what other schools do for tuition and books. There were three controversies on campus. One was the recent Pro-life movement, laying of the crosses. Notre Dame claims to be a Catholic school and many people are not simply pro-life. There are many pro-choice Catholics they believe what there doing is not polite. So there were recent riots and most of the time its been peaceful. The student Observer has had many attack ads out. They secondly suspended a player last year on the men's basketball team for drinking at an off-campus party. It cost the Notre Dame team the season because he was an all-america athlete. Lastly, Vigina Monaloges is played on campus for a play. Their has been many protest including articles in the student newspaper. There is lots of Notre Dame student pride but most people are together by Faith. The most unusual thing about Notre Dame is it's policy called Brital's. The adminstration makes it manditory for all student's to leave there dormitory doors open if students are having actvities with people of opposite sex. Meaning if your having sex with a female or with another student. There is not privacy unless you go somewhere where your not noticed. Notre Dame has a no tollerence policy.

Brett

One of the best things about ND is that you get the feel of a big Division 1 school without feeling like a tiny fish in a huge pond. Classes are still small, you still recognize a lot of faces as you walk around campus, but you have the resources, school spirit, and facilities of a huge school. South Bend is definitely lacking in any kind of college town atmosphere but there are still some student friendly areas and the ever popular Club Fever.

Kim

The best thing about ND is the sense of community not only among students but also among alumni and people all ver the country who are Irish fans or just respect the school. We never lock our doors here (i have no ideas where my keys even are) and i can leave my laptop out in the middle of the social space all night without being worried in the least that something will happen to it. People just respect one another for the most part. If I could change one thing I'd make people less scial akward (apparently that's what single sex schools do to you) and make moreof a party scene. 8000 undergrads is a perfect size; big enough that you always meet new people, but small enough that you can usually find someone to sit with in the dining hall if you go over alone. Most common reactions when people hear I go to ND: 1) "You must be really smart" or 2) "What's wrong with your football team this year?" Definately "what college town"! South Bend is pretty gross all around. Houses near campus get broken into fairly often, and there's seriously nothing to do in "the Bend". In all honesty, the administration has a large stick up its ass. They need to remember that just because we're Catholic doesn't mean that we're living in the Middle Ages. They compromise a lot of the college experience trying to make the school as holy as humanly possible. The biggest recent contrversy for literally the past three years has been if "The Vagina Monologues" shuld be allowed to be perfrmed on campus. A lot of people think it goes aginst Catholic values and think it will sully the pristine little minds of students with horrific references to female anatomy. There's a ton of school pride!!! Especially during football season. There's A LOT of unusual things about ND....one of them sits next to me in Italian. One experience I'll always remember will be the Michigan State game my freshman year. We went up to MSU for it, and people were so rude all day (there's not an ounce of class on that campus). We were losing really badly for the first half and it was freezing cold and pouring rain, but in the fourth quarter we made one of the biggest comebacks in college football history and beat them in their own stadium. All the ND fans were jumping up and down, screaming, and higging people we didn't even know and we were all soaking wet. It was one of the most fun nights I've had here.

Stephanie

The best thing about ND is by far the people. I know that I've made better friends here than I thought was ever possible. The worst part? The weather. But if you're considering even applying here I hope you're smart enough to know it's in Northwest Indiana... it gets REALLY cold here.

Lindsay

Notre Dame's size is perfect. Its small enough that you can walk anywhere on campus and recognize classmates or friends as you walk, but big enough that you can avoid people if you want. Notre Dame's location, however, is all wrong. It is located in South Bend, Indiana, a city that could use some financial and moral help. However, students don't often need to venture off of campus, and rarely do, except for the occasional "Meijer" run. What's worse is when "the gray" sets in around mid-November. The gray is a term endearingly used by students to describe the perpetual cloudiness one grows accustomed to until March. When winter hits, it hits Notre Dame hard, and students are often forced to walk on ice, through snow, against the wind to class, causing students to wonder "Why did Father Sorin have to choose this location? Couldn't he have gone west to California?!" When I tell people I go to Notre Dame, they usually respond with excitement. Notre Dame has such close-knit networks, and there are lifelong fans throughout the nation. Everyone has heard of Notre Dame, known someone who went here, or at least seen "Rudy." The best thing about Notre Dame is its intense sense of tradition. You know when you come here and sing the Alma Mater after your first home football game that you have just embarked on a truly unique college-experience, one which will unite you with thousands of people throughout the world. If you don't go here, it is hard to understand just how important the traditions are, and how significantly they will impact your life. Contributing to this sense of tradition is that a large percentage of students here have parents, siblings or grandparents who were students here. Students without any legacy refer to themselves proudly as "first-generation Domers," as another ND stereotype is that it is more difficult to be accepted if you do not have any legacy.