University of Notre Dame | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Jill

Class: Junior
Major: English
Gender: F

High School:
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

One of the greatest things I've learned being abroad is how much I love Notre Dame. And I don't mean it in the sense of I'm going to paint my house blue and gold, get tatoos all over my body, make it mandatory that my kids (in the future) attend Notre Dame... What I mean is Notre Dame has been a WONDERFUL experience for me. I love our campus size; I love how beautiful our campus is; I love how I can walk around by myself at any time of day, pretty much anywhere, and feel comfortable; I love our dorms; I love the opportunities that I've been presented with because I've been at Notre Dame. I've done things I know I'll never get another opportunity to do...I've met some of the most wonderful people that I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life. I also love that we're a Catholic school...but a Catholic school, that, in my opinion, doesn't pressure you to have to be Catholic, but will support you if you are. I love having masses in the dorms, a breath-taking Basilica, and most importantly, one of the most beautiful and touching Grottos I've ever been to. Notre Dame is a place where I just really feel you can learn a lot about yourself and really grow if you take advantage of all there is around you. I wouldn't trade my time at Notre Dame for any other school.

Academic Life

One of my favorite classes I've taken at Notre Dame was a Business Law Class, with Margot O'Brien. I'm an English and Spanish major, so Business Law was a class that I just elected to take and I'm so glad I did. I didn't know much about the class or anything about the professor, but I wanted to take a class through the Business School...I'm also thinking about attending Law School, so I figured this class would be perfect--and it was. The actual business majors in the class weren't too thrilled with our teacher and thought she was too demanding for a class that didn't necessarily help them in their future profession...but I thought she was INCREDIBLE! She knew the law inside and out. She would hand out notes for every chapter and she'd basically be able to recite EVERY detail on those sheets without having to look at them herself. I was blown away by how incredible she was as a teacher, but also how kind and funny and helpful she was outside of class. She really cared about her students and wanted us to do well. Business Law is a class I know I will never forget.

Student Body

I love that the Notre Dame student body is a group of very passionate students. We don't all necessarily support the same things, but whatever our passion is, we go at it whole-heartedly. Those who love sports often become part of the Student Managers for the sports teams--and they put in A LOT of time and are often over-looked for the amount of work that they do. But they do it because they LOVE sports! Those who love politics have the opportunity to be part of groups on campus that support the Democrats/Republicans/etc--or they can join the Student Government and be a part of things themselves. Those who have a strong religious presence in their lives are able to attend mass, sing in various choirs, play instruments for masses, or just lead prayer services within the dorm. For me, I love to bake. Notre Dame, and my dorm, Badin, in particular gave me the means to turn that love into a fund-raising program for our Relay for Life team. Like I said, it doesn't matter what we love, but the fact that Notre Dame students will put their whole heart into it.