I recently had the pleasure of taking some time to interview Melissa, a friend of mine who attended Notre Dame for her undergraduate degree, and who now works as a recruiter and coach for the Yale Women’s Basketball team. Here is what we talked about:
Q: When did you graduate and what degree did you get?
A: I graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s of science in business. I was planning to get into physical therapy and wanted to minor in business. My sister has a massage therapy business, so I thought it would be necessary for me to take some business courses to join her there. I knew how great the business department was at ND, and eventually I left science and studied business.
Q: What did you think of the Business school at ND?
A: The professors were challenging, which was good. I think my favorite class was this marketing class where we had to market a product for the entire semester. We went through launching it and getting backers, figuring out where we would market, and when it came time to present – actual CEOs came into classes!
Q: What did you like most and least about your professors?
A: At a school like ND you have great professors, class sizes are smaller, you aren’t among hundreds of people. For example, for my current position as an athletics recruiter for Yale, we have to recruit athletes against Ohio state, which has around 65,000 students, to Yale’s 5,300. Like Yale, Notre Dame is quite a small school, with a more intimate setting. All my professors knew who I was because I was an athlete. But even if I wasn’t, they definitely give more one on one time than professors at big schools.
What I least liked? I guess it goes back to being an athlete – some professors didn’t respect the sports, they wanted more academic focus, which is fine, but we got looked down upon for missing class to play a game. So, athletes generally figured out who those professors were, and avoided their classes just to avoid these types of conflicts. However, this works both ways, sometimes you would get the sport enthusiast professors, who would let everyone leave class early on a Friday if it was a football weekend.
Q: What did you like most about campus (physically)?
A: It’s gorgeous! The campus has amazing scenery, the golden dome and the Basilica look like they were taken from a Catholic Church in Rome. Walking around campus, I get a really great feeling. All athletic facilities are brand new and always getting renovated. When I was there I sometimes felt like we were in a bubble cause everything around reflected Notre Dame. It is a college town that doesn’t offer much other than talk about ND. Even if you went downtown, Notre Dame flags, and support were everywhere. I definitely felt that way while I was there. It felt safe. I was the kind of person who didn’t want to attend school in a big city. So for me, it was ideal.
Q: What 3 words sum up Notre Dame to you?
A: I can only really think of one, and its Passion. There is a feeling you get when you get on campus. You love it and you bleed Notre Dame, or you hate it. As a recruited women’s basketball player, we would have ND sports fans that would travel around the country following us to watch us play. If you are doing great they are your biggest supporters and if you aren’t they yell at you.
Q: What was it like to be on a Roman Catholic Campus?
A: My dad was catholic, and worked in Christian ministry, so the basic core values were in line with my upbringing. You had mass offered everyday in the dorms. All the women’s dorm live-ins were nuns and for guys it was pastors. We had parietals; this set of rules about what you could and couldn’t do at the dorms. So I guess, looking back it was stricter than a lot of other colleges. You couldn’t have hard alcohol on campus, when you were 21, you could have beer, but nothing else.
There is this part of campus called ‘The Grotto’, it looks like a cave all lit up candles, from catholic people who would light them. You would go there and see hundreds of lit up candles every night. It is absolutely beautiful.
The Basilica is huge for masses, and Mother Mary stands on the top of the golden dome. Catholicism is just everywhere. Even Notre Dame’s motto “ God. Country. Notre Dame”, God always came first. I thought it was a cool vibe. Sure, it was a little stricter than some other schools, but the way I grew up, I enjoyed that kind of atmosphere keeping me in check.
Obama came on campus in 2007/2008 and the students protested because he was pro choice. I remember walking around campus and seeing crosses everywhere in the quads, showing aborted babies. They put crosses up in the quads a lot, come to think of it, to express different Catholic virtues.
Notre Dame definitely taught me that people have different views. I think the passion of their faith was a reason for that. They also had shirts going around about it – there are always gonna be a group of kids that do that. But you still had the other side, for example ‘Gay? Fine by me.’ shirts went around too when I was there.
Q: What is the stereotype for Notre Dame students?
A: Stereotype = privileged. Coming from money, coming from good schools. There are a lot of white kids. It’s more diverse now than it was before – but I think that’s any school.
A lot of people who go there are plain Jane. You have outliers, but for the most part you look around and see people dressed comfortably and practically. It is practical to wear comfortable shoes when there’s snow on the ground! They aren’t wearing heels and they don’t care.
Q: Is Notre Dame more introverted or extraverted?
A: The only reason I would say introverted is because of the campus feeling like a bubble. The campus as a whole might be introverted, but not the kids. You have the catholic rules, but you still have the parties. You have smart, religious, athletic kids. I don’t think an introvert would go out and do those things.
Q: What’s the most important thing that Notre Dame has given to you?
A: Opportunity. I am so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to go there. If it wasn’t for sports I don’t know where I would have been too. If I hadn’t gotten a full scholarship to go there, I don’t know where id be.
The alumni network is great, too! Everyone is willing to help you, and they give back to the campus so much. Everything built and renovated there is all based on donations. It really says how great alumni are doing and how great a time they had there. I’ve never met an alumnus who said they had a bad experience there. I’ve climbed the ladder in the coaching world because of ND. It makes me feel really proud of where I’m from.
Q: How was dormitory life at Notre Dame?
A: It is Harry Potter. Dorms are single sex. When I went to work at other schools I had no idea guys and girls would live together. Each dorm is named and you have a mascot and there is intermural rivalry. If you are not on an athletic team you feel like you belong to somewhere, which is pretty cool. Parietals were a bummer, but they were also good in a way and kept you from doing stupid things. I got a house off campus during my last year and it was literally across the street from campus. That was a fun experience too.
I met a lot of people that went to same sex high schools and was like ‘how do you interact in the world like that?’ I saw both sides, one of my best friends was, what you may call ‘prude’, who did everything by the book and the first person they dated they married. That’s what was for her, and that’s fine. But then another one of my best friends did a lot of things with a lot of people. You can see that on a lot of campuses. It was easier for me to not fall into that because of the dorming arrangement and parietals it made it more difficult to be that way.
Q: What’s your recommendation for someone visiting Notre Dame?
A: Go to a football game if you can! Go tailgating if you can, to see the atmosphere. There is a whole student section that goes. Or go to a basketball game and see how passionate people are about it. Go see the golden dome. Go inside the basilica. If you are there at night, check out the grotto.
Q: What made Notre Dame stand out to you when you were deciding on which school to go to?
A: I got a feeling when I got there, like ‘this is my home’. The students, the faculty, the town, they are so passionate. I’ve never had an experience with someone who said they didn’t enjoy their time there. Even the places I’ve worked, I don’t get that feeling. I’ve never felt the passion that I do there.
Q: What other schools did you apply to/get into/not get into?
A: Never had to apply anywhere cause I was recruited by hundreds of schools. They paid for my flights, brought me on campus, took me around and wined and dined me. It was a big decision to make. First, I cut it down to 50 schools, then 25, then 10. I visited BC, West Virginia, Villanova, Georgetown…. I went on different campuses and got different feelings for them, the size of the classes, the distance from home – all these factors. Notre Dame was everything I wanted. I didn’t visit and Ivy League schools because they don’t give scholarships. They do need based financial aid, but looking back, I probably would have gotten it because my mom didn’t work.
Q: Do you have any recommendations for future applicants?
A: Talk to a current student. Find them on Facebook and message them. See a bunch of diff campuses just to get a feel for them. Its really about seeing where you belong.
Q: What surprised you about the campus/the students/the location/academics etc.? Surprises?
A: I moved in the summer semester before school started, for training. Then when school finally started, I remember meeting people with a lot of different backgrounds, some people went to single sex high schools, or had other interesting stories. I went to a public school in a not so good area and was in an athlete bubble. So I guess, looking back, I contributed to the socioeconomic diversity there. It was just really cool meeting to many people with backgrounds different to myself and learning from them. IT made me realize how closed minded I was.
Q: Are all the applicants expected to have sports involvement?
A: People are always running around campus. I am not sure if this comes from the culture, or whether people who come from a wealthier background are just more concerned with their health. It’s a really safe campus, so I would run around at night and never felt like I wasn’t safe, which is awesome.
I do think a lot of students get involved with intramural sports. Maybe they aren’t in division 1 but still really want to be involved. Sports are such a big part of ND, whether you’re representing your school or your dorm, it’s a huge part of the culture.
Q: What is it like working at Yale?
A: At first, I wondered if it was going to be elitist. But I never felt like that at Yale. We’re known as the ‘Blue Collar Ivy’. I have always felt the people there are very humble, and always trying to help.
My job as a recruiter and coach is so busy. We go out to recruit, we see players in big tournaments, and see what players are at our level. We get them on the phone, and get them on campus and see if they vibe with us. We compile all these visits, we take them to dinner, and watch them compete against other schools. We develop relationships with these students. For example, 10 schools might want this one student on their team. We usually all compete against each other for the same kids. We have to figure out how to make Yale stand out. Some things we’ll do, for example, we’ll do photo shoots in a Yale uniform, take them to the highest tower on campus, so they can view it, we’ll ring the campus bell for them. We see if they like the team and if the team likes them, and basically we have to decide. Yale only recruits 4 kids per year, so competition is pretty tough.
