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October 15, 2005
A Higher Power Will Read Your Admissions Essay
A Higher Education!
So I'm watching the Notre Dame - USC game. Good stuff. I'm enjoying it. They go to commercial, I go to my laptop and check the Penn State - Michigan score. As I'm clicking around, I hear some very solemn and/ or pious organ-and-choir music. I glance up at the TV. And this is what I see:
A young girl enters a church. She lights some candles and kneels in front of said candles. Ostensibly begins to pray. Cut. (What the heck is all this about?) Same girl enters a church, more candles, more kneeling, more prayers. Cut. (Hmm, this doesn't look like the sort of ad I usually see during the football TV show...I just hope it isn't...you know.) Girl in front of a suburban house, mailbox in foreground. She opens the mailbox, removes an envelope. Close up of envelope (NOOOOO! It is what I thought! Maybe worse than I thought!). The return address on the envelope? "University of Notre Dame Admissions Office." (ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!) Camera pans upward towards the heavens, music swells, and the logo appears: "The University of Notre Dame (wait for it...), A Higher Education."
A higher education! With no hint of irony! Not only do they want to make abundantly clear the (obviously very) close relationship that said university maintains with The Almighty, but they even go so far as to suggest that it's really tough to get into said university without ample prayer and devotional efforts! If you want a spot at Notre Dame, you had better pray! And if you're lucky, your prayers will be answered -- with admission to Notre Dame!
Of course the broader cultural profile of Notre Dame (high-profile academic institution that's also very religious that also maintains a football brand strong enough to warrant an exclusive TV contract with NBC; and they have this horrible ethnic stereotype as a mascot) certainly merits a moment of chin-scratching, but even by Notre Dame standards, this commercial was a bit much. There are plenty of other ways to sell a school like Notre Dame without suggesting that The Almighty is involved in admissions decisions. This is a top-flight school with a ton of different things to recommend it (without even mentioning how fun it is to go to football games). This religious ad just doesn't seem like it's in very good taste -- whether you're Catholic or not. Far be it from me to tell people what to pray for, but I think there are more prayer-worthy causes than university admissions. I understand that God is omnipotent (and really outstanding at multi-tasking) and that he/ she can easily influence all things, I just don't think said omnipotence and its relationship to the admissions office should be the Notre Dame value proposition for prospective students.
Heckuva football game, though.
Posted by thatkid at October 15, 2005 3:05 PM under
Biznass
Comments
At least there's truth in advertising. According to the Princeton Review (and my own unscientific research), ND ranks #4 in the most religious universities behind BYU, Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. (No. 2), considered the Harvard of evangelicalism; Grove City College in Grove City, Pa. (No. 3); and Samford University, a Baptist school, in Birmingham, Ala., at No. 5.
In conclusion, unlike G-town or BC, ND is very, VERY religious. This ad just points that out.
Posted by: The Alum at October 17, 2005 12:24 PM
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