University of Notre Dame.

[Anonymous]

Notre Dame was one of the first universities to issue a vaccine mandate. CUA remains vaccine optional. That alone illustrates how far apart these schools are politically. Academically they ate in entirely different leagues.

Yes, they're both Catholic. So is Georgetown. Georgetown and CUA don't have much in common either.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Harvard and Yale have Divinity schools still.

[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.

As another alum, these two takes are spot on. Especially the bolded. Ignore most of what you read about ND on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard and Yale have Divinity schools still.

That was the point - highlighting the ignorance of the 12:57 poster.

[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.

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.

As another alum, these two takes are spot on. Especially the bolded. Ignore most of what you read about ND on DCUM.

Yep. I am the author of the first, and I agree with you on the bolded in the second. It really is a great school for the right kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the last 10 years at my kids' Catholic preps I've seen the #1 and #2 seniors head to Notre Dame nearly every year. These overachiever kids don't want to go to Ivies, Stanford, or Duke, they don't even apply to other top universities. It's basically Notre Dame or bust. The school is honestly underrated on US News. Love that kids live on campus all 4 years.

The flaws: Location does suck. Quite literally the worst location, by far, of any university in the top 50. They give too much boost to (rich) legacies. Football players (and other recruited athletes) are idiots, which really calls into question all the so-called campus integrity. They also accept transfers who don't deserve to be on campus. Also, stupid gals at neighboring St Mary's desperately throw themselves at ND boys and pretend they're ND students; it's like Northeastern students pretending they're Harvard Students. Super weird dynamic. And yes, I get St Mary's was a "sister school" back when ND was boys only, but that was over 50 years ago.

Huh? How could you possibly know this?

And the living on campus thing is weird and paternalistic. Yes I know it’s common at private colleges.

It is also inaccurate. My niece and many of her classmates lived off campus junior and senior years and that was typical.
Btw, that’s not what paternalistic means either.

[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 is an oxymoron.

Only among the provincial, closed-minded denizens of DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard and Yale have Divinity schools still.

That was the point - highlighting the ignorance of the 12:57 poster.

Yes, they do, and they're very good Divinity schools as well -- but ND's is better.

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/theology-divinity-religious-studies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard and Yale have Divinity schools still.

That was the point - highlighting the ignorance of the 12:57 poster.

Yes, they do, and they're very good Divinity schools as well -- but ND's is better.

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/theology-divinity-religious-studies

Interesting list. It also shows that many, many of the top schools in both the US and the UK have divinity schools. Yea, the 12:57 poster is a know nothing.

[Anonymous]

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?

The many graduates of Harvard, Yale Duke and Vanderbilt will be surprised to hear this. Not to mention Oxford and Cambridge..

[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.

Wow. Possibly the most ignorant poster I’ve seen on DCUM in years.
Harvard and Yale have Divinity schools still

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the last 10 years at my kids' Catholic preps I've seen the #1 and #2 seniors head to Notre Dame nearly every year. These overachiever kids don't want to go to Ivies, Stanford, or Duke, they don't even apply to other top universities. It's basically Notre Dame or bust. The school is honestly underrated on US News. Love that kids live on campus all 4 years.

The flaws: Location does suck. Quite literally the worst location, by far, of any university in the top 50. They give too much boost to (rich) legacies. Football players (and other recruited athletes) are idiots, which really calls into question all the so-called campus integrity. They also accept transfers who don't deserve to be on campus. Also, stupid gals at neighboring St Mary's desperately throw themselves at ND boys and pretend they're ND students; it's like Northeastern students pretending they're Harvard Students. Super weird dynamic. And yes, I get St Mary's was a "sister school" back when ND was boys only, but that was over 50 years ago.

Huh? How could you possibly know this?

And the living on campus thing is weird and paternalistic. Yes I know it’s common at private colleges.

It is also inaccurate. My niece and many of her classmates lived off campus junior and senior years and that was typical.
Btw, that’s not what paternalistic means either.

They recently changed the rules so that you can't really take part in activities if you live off-campus as a junior and senior.

[Anonymous]

I’m not Catholic and I have no connection to ND, except we watched “Rudy” a few weeks ago and knowing we’d be in Michigan for vacation, we said we’d go see the campus. My 10 year old is a huge college football fan and wanted to see Touchdown Jesus. We went yesterday and it is the prettiest campus I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of college campuses in the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and west. My kid has no interest in going there and I doubt I’ll ever be back, but I’m really glad we saw it.

[Anonymous]

My HS friend's kid got in there (2020) without even applying. Swimmer. Application was a formality.