University of Notre Dame Top Questions

Academics at ND are very involved and all the professors know how to teach to the student body. Overall, academics play a very large role at ND both inside and outside the classroom. Kids are genuinely interested in learning.

My professors are AMAZING. Hands down, the most intelligent people I have ever met and ever hope to meet.

Classes range in difficulty. Like any college you can find your "easy" classes, but if you want to be challenged intellectually Notre Dame can support that easily. Every student is required to take a freshmen year seminar. In these classes you get to know a small group of people very well, and get a break from the giant freshmen lacture classes. As you become an upperclassmen, classes get smaller and you get more individual attention. As a business student, I have found that the average ND student is more competitive with themselves than with others. There is a lot of teamwork in in the business and engineering schools. You are pushed academically, but in comparison to other schools, the competition is not cut throat. There is the occasional letdown with some intro classes. But at the same time, you do find a few gems. My theology seminar has so far been one of my favorite classes at ND. Also, as an ND student, you can take classes at Saint Mary's. However, it is a bit difficult to get the right credits for them.

I had a terrific Intro to Finance class during the spring semester of my sophomore year - my teacher was Carl Ackermann, and he had memorized facts about everyone of his 400 students (whom, after a week of class, he had memorized each and every one of our names). His class was interesting, and you could tell he was putting in 200 percent everyday that he taught. Fantastic memory.

Yes, most of the professors know your name. It depends though, in the larger lecture classes they might not. Although I have had professors in huge lecture classes that made it a point to still know every student´s name. My favorite class was probably Survey of Spanish American Literature II. It was with the best professor ever, and it really made me love Spanish American literature and it made me want to study and learn as opposed to it being something I simply had to do. Students study fairly often, but it depends on the student. We study hard, but we play hard too, and I make sure to have fun and not study all the time, but I still get my work done. Class participation is fairly common, although it depends on the structure of the class. Some classes are formulated to emphasize and require class participation. Yes, students do have intellectual conversations outside of class. It´s really common to hear people in the dining hall debating politics or Dante or religion or discussing anthropology or explaining some theory or another. I have intellectual conversations with my friends every day, and it´s something that I love about Notre Dame, that the students engage in these kinds of conversations outside of class. I love the academics at Notre Dame; I love being challenged intellectually. I love the faculty and I love my classes.

challenging but extremely high quality and rewarding

relationships with professors are entirely possible, you just need to initiate the contact. You freshman year, you're always in at least one or two small classes. Class participation is usually common in the Arts and Letters track, but the bigger biology classes are lectures with small tutorials.Students intellectually discuss things outside of class, but they're not very competitive. I once took an African Francophone class which I thought I'd hate, but actually loved!

I feel that academics at Notre Dame are very well set up. Freshman cannot declare a major- instead they enter the College of First Year of Studies. There are a lot of general requirements- math, science, history, literature, theology, philosophy..., so there are normally larger classes and the professor is not quite as familar with all the students, however, in smaller classes, the professor does know students by name. Obviously, being a strong academic school, a lot of outside class time is required.

most professors don't know names, but a good number do. students study often, but there are also some who dont study at all. class participation is generally high as a result of the academic nature of the student body. the academic requirements are rigorous but not so much so that there isnt room for electives. sometimes i think that education at notre dame (for some students and professors) is more about getting a job than learning, even though the university posits itself as a liberal arts school.

F**** HARD, INCREDIBLE, PASSIONATE, STIMULATING, AMAZING