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About Notre Dame

The gilded Golden Dome and statue of Mary atop the Main Building proclaim the Notre Dame campus as a place where faith is treasured and diverse traditions shared and respected. Our students represent all 50 states and over 100 countries. Rigorous academics, NCAA Division I athletics, and numerous events and activities create an environment in which our students are ignited with a passion to learn and to live to their fullest capacity.

Notre Dame is one of the few universities to regularly rank in the top 25 in the U.S. News & World Report survey of America's best colleges and the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings of the best overall athletics programs.

“This college will be one of the most powerful means for doing good in this country.” Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C., founder of the University of Notre Dame du Lac

Founded in 1842, Notre Dame stands on 1,250 acres considered by many to be among the most beautiful possessed by any university in the nation. From the collegiate Gothic architecture and park-like landscape to exquisite outdoor sculpture and breathtaking views, Notre Dame's campus is a visual splendor.

Notre Dame has a unique spirit. It is traditional, yet open to change. It is dedicated to religious belief no less than scientific knowledge. It has always stood for values in a world of facts. It has kept faith with Father Sorin's vision.

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Academics

Notre Dame is a leading American research university that offers undergraduate, professional, and graduate students a unique academic environment. Enriched by Catholic intellectual and cultural traditions, it is a place that throughout its history has promoted excellent teaching.

At Notre Dame, you can join a community of students, teachers, scholars, and researchers committed to advancing its rich Catholic mission of “Learning to think rigorously, so as to act rightly and to serve humanity better.” (Pope John Paul II) At Notre Dame, you will find a diverse community of students, teachers, scholars, and researchers who, whatever their beliefs, are committed to that mission.

Community of Scholars

As an undergraduate at Notre Dame, you will transition into academic life by participating in the First Year of Studies. You can then discover the wealth of the University’s academic opportunities in the varied majors, minors, and programs offered by Arts & Letters, Business, Science, Engineering, and Architecture. You can learn in some of the most advanced academic facilities available anywhere such as the Jordan Hall of Science and the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts.You can also begin to discover a larger world by participating in one of Notre Dame’s 44 international study programs, as well as one of many exciting and expanding undergraduate research opportunities.

As a professional degree candidate in Law, Business, or Architecture at Notre Dame, you will find academic rigor, liberating discoveries in classrooms and studios, skilled mentoring by accomplished practitioners, and the ethical responsibility that belongs to Catholic professional education.

As a graduate student at Notre Dame, you will be mentored in a community of scholars, scientists, and artists that works at the highest level and engages in many collaborative projects across disciplines. Notre Dame’s numerous centers and institutes provide essential support for some of these multidisciplinary collaborations.

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Faith & Service

From its earliest days, Notre Dame’s distinctive mission has set it apart from other institutions of higher education. The difference lies not so much in terms of subject matter and academic disciplines as in the perception of how those disciplines ought to serve God and humanity. At the very heart of Notre Dame’s mission is its profound faith heritage and aspiration to be at the center of Catholic intellectual life—to be a bellwether institution in the pursuit of truth and knowledge, while remaining guided and elevated by the moral imperatives of the Catholic faith.

This dedication is seen in almost every aspect of the Notre Dame experience—from the residential nature of its campus, to the organizations and programs that support and enrich its faith tradition, through academic and community service programs, and through its founding order, the Congregation of Holy Cross, which still plays a vital role in the life of the University today.

A place of teaching and research, of scholarship and publication, of service and community, the University takes seriously our charge as a Catholic institution. Deeply committed to Father Sorin's vision that the University would be "one of the most powerful means of doing good in this country," a living Catholic mission continues to be the foundation of the University today. Report on Catholic Mission 2011

We invite you to explore the many ways in which Notre Dame fulfills its Catholic mission through faith and service:

“We have a much more challenging mission than most universities. Most universities strive simply to be excellent educational institutions by the accepted standards of the profession. We do this at Notre Dame, and we have had great success. But we also foster and celebrate a distinctive mission to be a Catholic university, inspired and guided by a great spiritual tradition.” Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President