This university matriculates a lot of Irish -- Fighting Irish, that is. University of Notre Dame du Lac (commonly known as Notre Dame) is one the country's leading private universities, serving some 12,000 students through colleges in arts and letters, science, engineering, and business, as well as architecture, law, and graduate schools. Notre Dame is also home to a dozen scientific research centers and offers special studies in more than 40 areas. The university is funded by an endowment pool of more than $5 billion. Notable alumni (in addition to the über-proud Regis Philbin) include former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice and author Nicholas Sparks. The Catholic institution was established in 1842.