Notre Dame adjusts final exam schedule with College Football Playoff in mind
In the event Notre Dame hosts a College Football Playoff game, students will be able to attend without missing final exams.
According to an email sent to the student body by the office of the registrar and obtained by Blue & Gold, Notre Dame is ending finals week for the Fall 2024 semester a day early. Exams, which would usually end Friday, Dec. 20, will now end Thursday, Dec. 19. The first round of the College Football Playoff is scheduled for Dec. 20-21.
Friday, Dec. 20 will only be used for make-up exams, which will be held from 8-10 a.m. ET.
Notre Dame’s academic calendar has been updated to reflect the change, which the email makes very clear is a direct response to the possibility of hosting a playoff game.
“The possibility of having thousands of final exams occurring in a game-day environment requires us (and other institutions in a similar situation) to consider adjustments to our academic calendar,” the Office of the Registrar wrote.
The University also considered the possibility of a road playoff game, which more students would be able to travel to and attend with the updated schedule.
In particular, the needs of Notre Dame football players with final exams that week were taken into account.
“In addition, like other institutions, we try to ensure that our student-athletes have adequate practice and preparation time before a playoff competition,” the email says. “Without adjustments to our exam schedule, both football players and the wider student body would have significant exam conflicts.”
Notre Dame making changes to its academic calendar, save for national and Catholic holidays, is extremely rare. Sports Michiana’s Chuck Freeby, a Notre Dame graduate who has covered Fighting Irish and local high school sports in the area since 1987, said as much on social media.
“Outside of [the Covid-19 pandemic] and [the Sept. 11 attacks], I can’t think of anything that would have changed it in the last 40 years,” Freeby wrote.
Additionally, as discovered by the student radio show Five for Fighting Irish, Notre Dame’s dorms — where 100 percent of freshmen and 80 percent of sophomores, juniors and seniors live — will remain open one day later than usual. The dorms will close on Sunday, Dec. 22, which is after any possible first-round playoff game.
Notre Dame will open the season as the No. 7 team in the country, according to the Associated Press Top 25. The Irish are expected contend for a College Football Playoff spot and an opportunity to host a game under third-year head coach Marcus Freeman.
