Last Monday’s finale of the inaugural season of the Irish Bachelorette had it all – laughter, heartbreak, extreme tension, and awkwardness. Zach Lipp, a junior living in Knott Hall, thought he had the last hat in the bag, but was unfortunately the last bachelor to be sent home. Her Campus ND caught up with the (still single) charmer to get his thoughts on life, Notre Dame, and the Irish Bachelorette!Â
Year: 2015
Dorm: Knott
Major: Computer science
Hometown: Buffalo, NY
What are you involved in on campus? I do intermural broomball and soccer, interhall cross country. And I work at the dining hall, NDH.Â
Relationship status: Single
What does it mean to be a domer? You go to Notre Dame? You care about your academics, you care about your health, you want to be successful.
What is your favorite ND memory so far? My favorite was the win over Stanford last year, storming the field in the pouring rain.
What is the #1 item on your ND bucket list? Date a girl in college.
What are the best and worst things about ND? The best thing is probably the community, you do feel like everybody cares about everybody. The worst thing is the religious affiliation; I’m not religious at all.
If you could change one thing about Notre Dame, what would it be? The religious affiliation, it would not be a Catholic school if it were up to me. (This was difficult for a theology major to comprehend.)
What’s the best class you’ve taken at ND? The class is made by the teacher and the best teacher I’ve had was Douglas Thain. And Intro. to Psych was pretty cool, too.
What’s your favorite spot on campus? Running around the lakes – that’s my calm place. It’s so peaceful and serene.
What did you think you were going to do when you came in as a freshman? I guess, go to classes, drink, and have a good time!
Favorite Domer – dead, alive, or fictional? I wasn’t a big Notre Dame family so I guess Rudy. Classic.
What do you wish ND girls knew? I don’t know… nothing in particular. Guys aren’t bad, it’s ok. Loosen up a little bit. What do you wish you knew about ND girls? Where to start… I don’t know.
If you could go back to freshman year and tell yourself one thing you know now, what would it be? Don’t drink so much… Shots are a bad idea.
Ideal academic and professional endgame? Make money and do something I enjoy. I’m not too picky.
In 25 years you will be… working a steady job, 9-5 maybe more. I’ll probably be programming for some company and have a family with a couple kids.
Tell me a little known fact about yourself. I’m pretty much an open book. I guess most people think I’m not the brightest but my GPA is solid. I’m kind of smart.
Guilty pleasure song? Right now? Timber by Ke$ha and Pitbull.
Signature drink? SoCo and Coke. That’s my go-to.
Why did you initially audition for the Irish Bachelorette? Well, my roommates filled out an application for me. They encouraged me a little bit, so I thought, “Hey, why not?”
What was your reaction to meeting Kirsten for the first time? She was cute, I figured I’d hang around for as long as I could.
Did you know any of the other guys? Not at all… I knew Sean a little bit; he’d been in a couple of my classes but we’d never talked before.
How did you feel about the dynamic of the group? I liked pretty much all the guys. As soon as you throw a girl in the mix things get awkward. I enjoyed it, though; it was a good experience.
What were your feelings about the time you spent with Kirsten? It was good. Good conversation, she’s a nice girl.
How did you feel about getting cut from the show? Was it a shock or did you expect it? What do you think led to it? It was kind of a shock because it was down to the final two. It was just me and Wes so I thought I had it in the bag.
Most of the guys were hoping you would win show, you made quite an impression on them. I got really close with most of the guys, they were all great guys. Did you see yourself winning it all? Could you see a future with Kirsten? Not really, no; it was more about winning… I’m a little competitive.
If given another shot, what would you do differently? I don’t think I would do anything differently. I got to meet some nice guys. I still say hi to them when I see them.
What do you wish you knew going into the show? That Wes was going to win. I wish I knew to just have fun enjoy the ride, don’t worry about it.
Was it what you expected? Yeah, I guess so. The guys were pretty great, better than I expected. We bro-ed out pretty hard. It lived up to its expectations.
What do you anticipate for your love life going forward? Same old, same old. Single guy going out, doing what single guys do. Maybe I’ll find somebody at some point.
Was the experience worth it? Yeah. I wouldn’t have been doing anything more fun.Â
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Thanks, Zach!
HCNDxo