University of Notre Dame.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience goes back 20 years to when I was in college but others have agreed with my description. Catholic families send their children to both ND and CUA. The preppy conservative oldest child goes to ND. The youngest child in the family that is more adventurous and more left leaning goes to CUA.

My sense has always been the opposite. CUA is *way* more conservative and religious than ND. And academically they really aren't in the same discussion. Replace BC with CUA in your sentence and you might have a point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience goes back 20 years to when I was in college but others have agreed with my description. Catholic families send their children to both ND and CUA. The preppy conservative oldest child goes to ND. The youngest child in the family that is more adventurous and more left leaning goes to CUA.

My sense has always been the opposite. CUA is *way* more conservative and religious than ND. And academically they really aren't in the same discussion. Replace BC with CUA in your sentence and you might have a point.

NP. CUA is way closer to ND in terms of religiosity than BC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience goes back 20 years to when I was in college but others have agreed with my description. Catholic families send their children to both ND and CUA. The preppy conservative oldest child goes to ND. The youngest child in the family that is more adventurous and more left leaning goes to CUA.

My sense has always been the opposite. CUA is *way* more conservative and religious than ND. And academically they really aren't in the same discussion. Replace BC with CUA in your sentence and you might have a point.

What does that have to do with anything? I know a family whose older kid goes to Dartmouth and the younger one goes to Patrick Henry.

[Anonymous]

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.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are double legacies. Two applied, one got in and didn't go after concluding it didn't make sense economically given other options. Would have liked it there, but no regrets.

South Bend is a dump but ND is on the outskirts of town and most students stick to or very close to a beautiful campus so it doesn't seem to matter. Dorm assignments take the place of greek life. The large majority of students were high school athletes and leaders. The large majority were raised Catholic and many attended Catholic schools, but they're not all super religious by a long shot. It's not accurate to say the school is conservative -- Obama, Clinton and Biden all won mock elections handily -- but there are more conservatives on campus than most top 25 schools. Many but not all students come from wealthy and UMC white families, but the school has an Ivy League sized endowment (nearly 10 times larger than Georgetown's) and is generous with financial aid. Students work hard and play hard. Football is king.

This is all accurate. I would just add that church attendance is relatively high and free thinking is encouraged.

Also, DCUM absolutely hates it.

This forum is majority Jewish and Indian helicopter moms.

Stop it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience goes back 20 years to when I was in college but others have agreed with my description. Catholic families send their children to both ND and CUA. The preppy conservative oldest child goes to ND. The youngest child in the family that is more adventurous and more left leaning goes to CUA.

My sense has always been the opposite. CUA is *way* more conservative and religious than ND. And academically they really aren't in the same discussion. Replace BC with CUA in your sentence and you might have a point.

What does that have to do with anything? I know a family whose older kid goes to Dartmouth and the younger one goes to Patrick Henry.

Huh? Neither Dartmouth nor Patrick Henry are catholic schools.
ND, BC, and CUA are all Catholic schools, and part of this discussion is a comparison of "how Catholic" schools are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience goes back 20 years to when I was in college but others have agreed with my description. Catholic families send their children to both ND and CUA. The preppy conservative oldest child goes to ND. The youngest child in the family that is more adventurous and more left leaning goes to CUA.

My sense has always been the opposite. CUA is *way* more conservative and religious than ND. And academically they really aren't in the same discussion. Replace BC with CUA in your sentence and you might have a point.

NP. CUA is way closer to ND in terms of religiosity than BC.

Wrong.

[Anonymous]

Great academics, great environment. The nicest, smartest, and happiest people I know are ND grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Great academics, great environment. The nicest, smartest, and happiest people I know are ND grads.

Thank you father……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are double legacies. Two applied, one got in and didn't go after concluding it didn't make sense economically given other options. Would have liked it there, but no regrets.

South Bend is a dump but ND is on the outskirts of town and most students stick to or very close to a beautiful campus so it doesn't seem to matter. Dorm assignments take the place of greek life. The large majority of students were high school athletes and leaders. The large majority were raised Catholic and many attended Catholic schools, but they're not all super religious by a long shot. It's not accurate to say the school is conservative -- Obama, Clinton and Biden all won mock elections handily -- but there are more conservatives on campus than most top 25 schools. Many but not all students come from wealthy and UMC white families, but the school has an Ivy League sized endowment (nearly 10 times larger than Georgetown's) and is generous with financial aid. Students work hard and play hard. Football is king.

I'm an alum, and I would say this is the best description of ND I've ever seen on DCUM. It's definitely accurate. I'd also add that it has a focus on undergrad teaching that you often don't see in the top 25 schools, which is a huge benefit. Plenty of juniors and seniors doing serious research with professors, and the campus is small enough that you can get involved in multiple things. The students who end up at ND were the ones who were enthusiastic in high school - in addition to being great students, they went to the school play and cheered on the sports teams and ran for student council and won the "citizenship award". ND is not the place for the brilliant kid who say in the back of the pep rally sneering and making fun of it.

Also, you should basically ignore anything you read about ND on DCUM. Most posters simply can't grasp students being happy living in the midwest, and can't grasp that a Catholic school can also be a excellent academically.


I’m also an alum and agree with both of these descriptions. Domers are enthusiastic citizen-joiners. If you’re not the type, it’s difficult to be on campus surrounded by it all. The bolder is the reason my legacy DC didn’t even want to apply. Cynicism was going to get him nowhere on that campus and he didn’t want to pretend it was worth suppressing his real personality.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

You are both closed-minded individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has a 9% admit rate, so hardly anyone can get in.

It's 14% not 9. Still very low.

[Anonymous]

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?