University of Notre Dame Top Questions

The academics at Notre Dame are very tough, especially in the engineering and science fields. Class sizes range from large lecture halls where class partisipation is difficult to small seminar style classes of 12 people. Each freshman is required to take a writing seminar and a university seminar which give 1st year students the ability to have small classes in the introductory level. I think the Notre Dame education will be very helpful once I graduate and search for jobs because employers respect the academic rigor or Notre Dame.

As an Arts and Letters major, I have pretty good interaction with my professors and am able to take advantage of many of the learning beyond the classroom opportunities my two fields of History and Film offer.

i have both large lectures and smaller classes. the majority of my professors know me by name. my favorite class was a lit seminar by father malloy, president emeratus of nd. it was an awesome class, and he was a fantastic professor. my least favorite class is calc, becuase i dont like math and my professor is dry and not the best. students study alot. sundays and during the week, especially before tests. students are not too competetive academically. we like seeing each other suceed as well. the most unique class was my community based first year comp, based in service learning. i dont spend alot of time with professors outside of class, except office hours during studying before tests and exams. nd's academic requirements are good, well rounded. except i dont think science majors should have a foreign language requirement

a lot of the profs do know my name. they're all really intelligent and friendly. students aren't very competitive. they want to help each other.

The academic experience at Notre Dame depends heavily on your choice of major. Generally, legitimate science majors (i.e. not Pre-professional majors), architectural majors, and engineering majors have the toughest courses of study in terms of sheer time commitment. As a science and art double major, I get to see both ends of the spectrum - if you can finish a project on time in an art class, you are guaranteed an A, which is nice because Biology takes up the brunt of my study time. On the other hand, I've never had an art class with more than 20 students whereas all of my non-laboratory science classes have been large lectures. This doesn't deter the professors from making a very sincere effort to get to know all of the students. Particularly in large lecture classes, going to visit a professor during office hours can lead to fascinating side discussions that make the visit well worth your time. Notre Dame likes to tout the fact that they are a liberal arts college, but I often feel that the credit requirements limit you to focusing on what you need in order to get a job later. The Career Center on campus is fantastic as far as helping you to prepare for interviews and job/graduate school applications.

All classes are taught by professors--it's really fantastic! Most of them have a desire to know their students, though some are better at remembering names than others. Most of them love teaching and will join their students for lunch at the dining hall or even invite students to their houses for dinner.

Classes at Notre Dame hold students to a high level of expectations, and students spend a good portion of their time studying, although many students find that they are also able to balance other activities well with the amount of classwork. The vast majority of Notre Dame's professors care deeply about their students and the learning process, even if it is a professor of a large lecture. The business school is currently ranked #3 of undergraduate business schools in the country, and prepares its student well for future careers.

Students are competitve but that's true everywhere. The classes are great and the professors really care about how you do in and out of the class. The requirements are all pretty good except the required theology and philosophy (both seem pretty useless with theology being worse than philo).

Challenging, especially as an engineer. I work my ass off. Not too competitive, at least not in any cutththroat sort of way.

In engineering, I only knew a couple of professors. In PLS, I know them all. My favorite class is Great Books Seminar. My major, PLS, is very participatory.

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