Notre Dame is a school known for its outstanding community. From helpful professors to kind peers who will both study and cheer at the top of their lungs at football games with you, Notre Dame is a very welcoming environment. A crucial element to this community vibe is dorm life. Notre Dame’s housing situation is unique in that it is entirely random—both the dorm to which you are assigned and your roommate. Although this method may intimidate freshmen, here are reasons why I—a current freshman—believe that Notre Dame’s dorm life helped make the transition to college easier.
1. Every freshman is assigned a random roommate.
This forces all of the freshman to meet many, many people. Because you have no say in who your freshman roommate will be, you automatically understand that you might not be best friends with your roommate—and that is okay. I have had the chance to become very close to the girls in my section and the girls on other floors. Each Tuesday, the dorms have section socials. Every week, I look forward to munching on snacks and chatting with the girls in my section. They have become a mini community within the amazing group of students that live in my dorm. The upperclassmen have given me useful advice and have become an excellent support system for all of us freshmen in the section. I have also had the chance to meet girls on other floors. I’ve loved going upstairs to visit another section and feeling welcome and part of the community.
2. Dorm pride.
If you ask any person on campus which dorm is the best, they will likely say that their dorm rules the school. People bleed the colors of their dorms and shout their cheers with great enthusiasm. The majority of people at ND stay in their dorm for all four years. The emphasis on dorm communities helps you feel as if you are automatically part of a mini community within the larger community. During welcome weekend, the streets of ND were filled with students smiling, cheering, holding up posters with their dorm slogans on them, and anxiously waiting to welcome freshmen into their communities. Even within the first couple days of school, I already felt as if I had a home away from home at Notre Dame.
3. You have the chance to meet a variety of people.
Because the housing assignment is random, you have the chance to meet people of different backgrounds, interests, and parts of the world. Before I knew it, the people in my dorm became the people with whom I studied, enjoyed meals, and shared many laughs. I have learned so much about myself from meeting different people and immersing myself in the Notre Dame community, even though it has only been a little over two months.
Although beginning college can seem frightening, having a welcoming, supportive, and fun-spirited community can help students find comfort and embrace the uncomfortable; that is why I believe this dorm system is so wonderful and effective
Go Welsh Fam Whirlwinds! The BEST dorm on campus!:)
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