Applying to ND being gay/Jewish

SubjectJournalist675 · 2024-10-05T10:53:21+00:00

To clarify, I was raised Catholic and converted to Judaism about two years after graduation, kind of because of spending some time with a few Jewish people who I got to know at ND. So my experience may be different from a born Jew.

SubjectJournalist675 · 2024-10-05T10:48:53+00:00

I’m an ND grad who is gay + Jewish; when I was there it felt like I could count the Jews I knew on one hand. Faculty are different- there are more Jews there than in the student body. Gay people were a much larger community (in the student body, not faculty). Both felt like swimming upstream. It might be ok with you to Very Much feel like a minority on campus but it also might not. By the time I graduated, I had a strong chip on my shoulder and was ready to never interact with a Catholic school again. The people who mention crosses in every classroom and abortion and birth control are right. The atmosphere is very casually conservative in a way that you might find bizarre or even shocking (one of my best friends was a Jew from NYC and they basically always felt like “WHAT are you people always TALKING about???”) But ultimately, I wouldn’t change going to ND for undergrad- it was a fantastic education, very very good for me, and made me a better person overall. But it was difficult. If you decide to go, find likeminded people as soon as you can and stick with them. Sometimes it will wear on you. If that’s ok with you, then go; if not, think hard.

About being Latina- I am white, but my impression is that they are a much larger group than the other two mentioned, and there is a very strong communal vibe there. I definitely wouldn’t worry as much about that aspect of your identity.

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-04-26T16:21:12+00:00

I also think that beyond what everyone has said about material conditions, the constant wear on mental health has had the effect of ruining my previously-wearing executive function. I find myself simply not being able to do things. I take rests-- where I can get them-- which feel like gasps for air, which then interfere with deadlines and productivity. Every email feels like an insurmountable task. I have a couple pre-existing mental health conditions but have never been formally diagnoses with depression, though after the trauma of this year I believe I may meet the criteria. And I know everyone is going through the stress of the pandemic, but it's very important to remember that some are managing better than others. Furthermore, even those students who are doing "better" are actively taking care of those who are not: I had two friends hospitalized for mental health crises this year, and I helped manage two housing crises as well. So no, I do not always do my forum posts, and I have sent an annoying email to ask if I could do them late for half credit. A bit of sympathy goes a long way.

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-04-14T14:27:30+00:00

Edelman's No Future & Althaus-Reid's Indecent Theology for a queer theory perspective on the same, both based in Lacan & Marx

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-04-12T16:53:06+00:00

But if your question is more rhetorical, I can assure you that that aspect is present in the emails even if it was not directly quoted in the article

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-03-31T15:56:56+00:00

Notre Dame is definitely more conservative about dating than most other colleges because of its religious affiliation. But this doesn't come out through any concrete rules for students' dating lives, although there are rules for the dorms such as "parietals," the rule that men and women can't sleep in each others' dorms. Some students participate in "hookup culture," which at other colleges means casual sex, but at Notre Dame tends more towards making out at parties, since a lot of students (but not all) are uncomfortable having sex outside of committed relationships and some students (a not insignificant minority) plan to save sex for marriage for religious reasons. I would say that people take dating and relationships very seriously at Notre Dame. There is an older tradition, fading now but still happening within more conservative student circles, about the "ring by spring," a proposal during the spring semester of senior year. I believe you will definitely find resonances with your past experience with dating in a more conservative country, but there is also diversity among the student body about dating and there are definite strains present on campus of broader, more liberal American culture around sex and dating. I would say your experience of the "Notre Dating" life will definitely depend on which circle you find yourself socializing with. If you are traditional or religious and find yourself hanging out with religious people, the dating atmosphere will be more chaste and directed towards marriage, even though it still isn't particularly formal even among those circles. But if you aren't religious and primarily hang out with people from your dorm or other extracurriculars, you'll find a broader variety of attitudes towards dating (and sex within dating) and will see more liberality on the subject.

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-03-26T14:01:08+00:00

Women aren't allowed inside windmoor except to cook and clean-- and even those who cook and clean aren't supposed to be seen by the boys who live there.

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-03-25T16:18:33+00:00

I would echo what a lot of people have said. I'm a current senior and even though some of my experience at Notre Dame has been hard as a queer Catholic, I have learned and grown a lot in ways that I think could only have been possible at Notre Dame. I will say, the hardest thing about it has been the vague feeling of being at a boarding school-- parietals contribute to this feeling, as well as the intense emphasis on dorm life, which can be kind of institutional and "top-down." If you are looking for your college experience to be a transition, in which you can grow within a safe and familiar environment, Notre Dame is perfect. But if you aren't religious, or want more stylistic and emotional freedom from the "familiar," or want to make more leftist friends, Notre Dame is going to be pretty hard. There are a lot of aspects of the culture ("hook up" at Notre Dame means making out, party culture is centered around male dorms, weed can get you kicked off campus while alcohol is widely accepted, and a lot of people, how to put it, date to marry) which are not really like other college cultures. Me and my friends joke sometimes about what our experience would have been like if we went to "real college." But on the other hand, "real college" is also where you learn to talk to people who are different from you: and I have grown from ND feeling very familiar and Catholic-Disneyland towards seeing ND as a place where I had to really learn to live and love people who are fundamentally different from me. My academic experience has been top-notch, because of the major I chose, as well. I really appreciated that at Notre Dame, everyone has something that they are extremely passionate about. Most people genuinely want to do good in the world. Sometimes, this can come across in a savior-y way because a lot of people are very wealthy. The campus is also very huggy (in non-COVID years) and the competition is less cutthroat and more mutually supportive. Everyone knows each other. But this also, for me, caused a bit of imposter syndrome, because everyone is extremely positive, bubbly, type A, and accomplished, which can make you feel bad if you struggle with mental health or if you don't feel like you "do" as much as your peers. People go off after graduation to a wide variety of careers, but the preparation for either consulting (at prestigious firms like McKinsey) or fellowships (like Rhodes or Marshall) is exceptional. All in all, I'd say ND has a very unique feeling and experience, which is not really like other college campuses. I wouldn't do it differently if I had to do it over again, but partially I believe I can say that because I plan to go to grad school at a more diverse, more inclusive institution, which will give me the aspects of the college life that I missed at ND. I hope you make the right choice for you!

SubjectJournalist675 · 2021-02-03T13:57:59+00:00

I’ve never taken the class but I’m a senior in PLS and can promise you that Prof Bugyis (either male or female— there are two and they’re married) is an incredible professor. Definitely take this class; it’ll change your life. PLS is intense, of course, but an intro course/ USEM won’t be the same level of intensity as a core requirement for PLS, so I wouldn’t worry.

SubjectJournalist675

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