<p>This has probably been asked before but I could not find it.</p>
<p>Hypothetically, let's say there's a HS Sr applying to Notre Dame. Great SATs/ACTs, GPA puts him at the top of the list. Extra-curriculars, essay, personal narrative put him squarely in the target zone for ND admissions officers.</p>
<p>Here's the thing. Ira Rosenberg's name sounds Jewish, but he's 100% Catholic. Altar Boy as a kid, Eucharistic Minister at age 17, lifelong Irish dancer, loves Jesus and everything about Notre Dame. </p>
<p>All things being equal, does Ira have a better chance of admission letting his Catholicism be known, or should he not state/imply anything about his religion. Would his name alone tip the scales in his favor if ND wants to increase student diversity. </p>
<p>Again, remember that all things are equal, except the name. Given the same resume/app, who has the better chance of admission - Ira Rosenberg or Patrick O'Brien?</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters. Our son was admitted EA with our last name that is very Jewish sounding. We are Catholic.</p>
<p>Notre Dame says they don’t give an edge to applicants based on their religion: Catholic or non-Catholic. While they are committed to promoting diversity, I think they also want to keep the student body majority Catholic to maintain ND’s identity. The applicant pool historically has self-selected for that, with most, but certainly not all, applicants being Catholic. The diversity they typically seek out is more ethnic/geographic/international instead of religious. I think they mostly ask for religion information on applications for demographics.</p>
<p>Because of that, I don’t think it really matters if Ira puts his religion on the application or not, but in this case, I would suggest he does. Not because being Catholic will give anyone an edge, but because it sounds like there are a lot of great Catholic-related extracurricular activities that he has done (Eucharistic minister, etc) and those ARE the sort of things that ND admissions likes to see. It would be a shame to not include those in an attempt to hide one’s Catholicism…</p>
<p>If Ira fell into an under represented minority category, then indicating Catholic on his app would be a plus.</p>
<p>its kind of ironic because im in the same situation…im going to do a supplement that lets it be known that im catholic just to be safe</p>