University of Notre Dame.

[Anonymous]

I think nearly every ND alum I know was a legacy via dad and/or grandpa. They clearly give a huge boost for legacy status (I think they even admit this?). And maybe this is just my orbit, but tons of lawyers' kids.

[Anonymous]

Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too conservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it'll be difficult for a university that is explicitly aligned with a religion, any religion, to be considered truly elite in this country.

Especially those not just aligned with a religion, but go even further and have divinity schools.

Didn’t Harvard started as such?

Yes, and the key is that it is no longer, and has not been for a long time.

Harvard has a divinity school. So does Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think nearly every ND alum I know was a legacy via dad and/or grandpa. They clearly give a huge boost for legacy status (I think they even admit this?). And maybe this is just my orbit, but tons of lawyers' kids.

They give a bigger boost than most school, absolutely. And they don't deny it. But, still, nearly 80 percent of each entering class is not legacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too conservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

Another ND alum from the same time period here. It wasn't exactly Berkeley then either. How do you square being "way too conservative" with Biden, Clinton, and Obama all handily winning mock elections? Are you bemoaning the fact that there are actually conservatives on campus? Because there sure were in the late 80s too.

Or are you talking about the administration?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too conservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

Another ND alum from the same time period here. It wasn't exactly Berkeley then either. How do you square being "way too conservative" with Biden, Clinton, and Obama all handily winning mock elections? Are you bemoaning the fact that there are actually conservatives on campus? Because there sure were in the late 80s too.

Or are you talking about the administration?

Didn’t Obama speak at a commencement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too conservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

Another ND alum from the same time period here. It wasn't exactly Berkeley then either. How do you square being "way too conservative" with Biden, Clinton, and Obama all handily winning mock elections? Are you bemoaning the fact that there are actually conservatives on campus? Because there sure were in the late 80s too.

Or are you talking about the administration?

Didn’t Obama speak at a commencement?

Yes. Some crazy alums tried to stop it but the administration held firm. Then the school refused to invite Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too co

It is refreshing to get an honest response here.nservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too co

It is refreshing to get an honest response here.nservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

There have been lots of honest responses from ND grads on this thread. Lots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too conservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

Another ND alum from the same time period here. It wasn't exactly Berkeley then either. How do you square being "way too conservative" with Biden, Clinton, and Obama all handily winning mock elections? Are you bemoaning the fact that there are actually conservatives on campus? Because there sure were in the late 80s too.

Or are you talking about the administration?

Didn’t Obama speak at a commencement?

Yes. Some crazy alums tried to stop it but the administration held firm. Then the school refused to invite Trump.

My son decided to attend this school vs. Brown exactly because of this. Brown was way to left and he didn't feel he could express feelings that might have been even slightly right of left. There is more balance at Notre Dame politically for sure. It is more real world in that sense.

[Anonymous]

I used to feel neutral about ND but the proliferation of these threads on DCUM and the weird hate from some corners combined with the honestly often childish boosters (some of whom must be still in school or recent grads just based on the level of defensiveness and immaturity) has totally turned me off. Why would I want my kid to go to a school about which people have such divided feelings? It doesn’t seem worth the drama. Also don’t want my kid being pegged as a narrowly defined type of person, which it seems is common with ND. Some of that seems like the kind of nasty stereotyping common in the college world (I recently heard someone describe everyone at Dartmouth as a rapist, for a pretty terrible example that I know for a fact to be really untrue). But some of it also seems to be because ND is so focused on a narrow demographic for recruitment? Again, just doesn’t seem worth it.

It seems like a great school academically and I have personally know a number of terrific alums, but this is way too much baggage, and a lot if it the school brought on itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A prestigious Catholic school in one of the most depressing and soul sucking areas of the country.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame alum here. It’s gotten way, way too conservative and politically inactive. We purposely swayed our kids from applying although DH and I both loved it in our day. (Class of 1987). Notre Dame has changed.

Another ND alum from the same time period here. It wasn't exactly Berkeley then either. How do you square being "way too conservative" with Biden, Clinton, and Obama all handily winning mock elections? Are you bemoaning the fact that there are actually conservatives on campus? Because there sure were in the late 80s too.

Or are you talking about the administration?

Didn’t Obama speak at a commencement?

Yes. Some crazy alums tried to stop it but the administration held firm. Then the school refused to invite Trump.

My son decided to attend this school vs. Brown exactly because of this. Brown was way to left and he didn't feel he could express feelings that might have been even slightly right of left. There is more balance at Notre Dame politically for sure. It is more real world in that sense.

But nobody turns down an Ivy for Notre Dame! Nobody!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to feel neutral about ND but the proliferation of these threads on DCUM and the weird hate from some corners combined with the honestly often childish boosters (some of whom must be still in school or recent grads just based on the level of defensiveness and immaturity) has totally turned me off. Why would I want my kid to go to a school about which people have such divided feelings? It doesn’t seem worth the drama. Also don’t want my kid being pegged as a narrowly defined type of person, which it seems is common with ND. Some of that seems like the kind of nasty stereotyping common in the college world (I recently heard someone describe everyone at Dartmouth as a rapist, for a pretty terrible example that I know for a fact to be really untrue). But some of it also seems to be because ND is so focused on a narrow demographic for recruitment? Again, just doesn’t seem worth it.

It seems like a great school academically and I have personally know a number of terrific alums, but this is way too much baggage, and a lot if it the school brought on itself.

Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to feel neutral about ND but the proliferation of these threads on DCUM and the weird hate from some corners combined with the honestly often childish boosters (some of whom must be still in school or recent grads just based on the level of defensiveness and immaturity) has totally turned me off. Why would I want my kid to go to a school about which people have such divided feelings? It doesn’t seem worth the drama. Also don’t want my kid being pegged as a narrowly defined type of person, which it seems is common with ND. Some of that seems like the kind of nasty stereotyping common in the college world (I recently heard someone describe everyone at Dartmouth as a rapist, for a pretty terrible example that I know for a fact to be really untrue). But some of it also seems to be because ND is so focused on a narrow demographic for recruitment? Again, just doesn’t seem worth it.

It seems like a great school academically and I have personally know a number of terrific alums, but this is way too much baggage, and a lot if it the school brought on itself.

I think there is a lot of love hate relationships with a lot of colleges.
In this regard ND is nothing special.