Anyone got questions

<p>As far as scheduling goes for your first year it potentially could. Your first year schedule will be made by your first year advisor a few weeks before you start. He or she will make the schedule under the assumption that you want to pursue the major track you intended for first year (you do not declare officially until the end of the first year). But I believe your advisor will ask you before the schedule is made as to whether or not you intend to pursue the track you selected on the common app. At this point I think you can change. So yes, I think things can be changed, you just have to make sure and let your first year advisor know ahead of time.</p>

<p>What is the Class of 2014 Freshman Register and is it worth paying for?</p>

<p>notredame6789, </p>

<p>Notre Dame says that it only accepts people to the University and not to specific college or department … no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors though - also I would urge you to put down what you are interest b/c that may impact how they look at some of your recommendations and extra curricular activities. For example if you are on the math team, that looks better if you are an engineering intent than an arts and letters intent (for something other than math of course) or if you got a much higher grade on the english part of the SAT and you want to major in math, that might bring some questions to mind - they want to make sure that you are well balanced but that you excel in what you love and that might come across if you “fake” a major b/c that is not what you love obviously </p>

<p>good luck!</p>

<p>And yes you can change what you put on the common app prior to receiving your first schedule and at worst you should email your advisor if that never comes up - for certain majors like engineering and architecture there are rigid class schedules. For something like business or arts and letters the requirements are not as rigid.</p>

<p>appledude - the freshmen registrar will have a photo from everyone that has bought a registrar that goes to Notre Dame, St. Mary’s, and Holy Cross … it also has some nicknames of locations on campus and nicknames of events, though you should get to know these w/o it … i did buy the book and I found some use in it. It is great for those times that you just forgot someone’s name and so you spend 5 minutes going through it to see if they are in there or it also works for the first couple of weeks when you gather everyone’s phone numbers and can’t remember who they are … that being said, i would imagine that you would know someone that has it and would let you borrow, but then people would not be able to see who you are. </p>

<p>I figured that if I am paying 50,000 a year, 25 wouldn’t kill me but that changes with each family and each situation … but like i said it is most useful in the first couple of weeks but also is useful during the year if you see someone a lot but don’t want to make it awkward and ask their name - things like that.</p>

<p>I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the strong “family” atmosphere at ND… but just how strong is it? </p>

<p>I’ve got a while before I start applying to colleges, but this is just an aspect that stood out to me in researching ND… but I’m not sure whether to consider it as a pro or con based on my own personality. I do appreciate having a “support system” (which is what I’ve heard the student body at ND seems to be like) to rely on when necessary, but I definitely do not want it to become overbearing to the point where I feel trapped in it. I like the idea of a family-like atmosphere while being away from home, but I do see myself as an rather independent person both academically and socially… so I guess I just don’t want to feel pressured to relinquish my independence in those aspects of my college experience as a result of the natural family atmosphere.</p>

<p>Wow, I didn’t realize how cheap I really am. How many of the 2000 ish freshman were in it? Majority/Minority. I think I may go with the flow on this one.</p>

<p>Hawkswim - it doesn’t seem like he would lose two classes if he goes ARCH since he would need one more science class (any science semester) so CHEM would count for that. He’d only lose for the engineering intro. I’m surprised that’s such a tough course load. What first semester courses would you suggest, having had experience at this, for someone who is undecided between ARCH and EG-CE? Thanks for your input!</p>

<p>appledude - i am pretty sure that it is about 50/50 with a lot of people using it - It is tough to tell but i believe that it is really close to about half the class - though that can always change - but a good amount of people do it especially if they are continuing to publish it - from the people that I know, it might be about 60% of the people got it. </p>

<p>intmof2 - the problem with taking chemistry first is that the first physics class is only offered in the fall which would mean you be taking a sixth class in the fall of your sophomore year which may put you over the amount of credits that you are allowed to take never mind the fact that that is a lot of classes especially along with studio. For me, I knew that it was only going to be civil engineering or architecture - therefore I went down the architecture path and I realized that I did not like architecture very much so that meant it was civil engineering - it helped that I had a lot of engineering friends who I was able to talk to about and that helped me determine that engineering was right for me. if you want a flavor for both than you have to take the route that you are interested in taking … however if you know it is only one or the other, than I suggest going down one route and talking to people in the other - it just might be more manageable - the reason why it is difficult is that for most people, the architecture projects usually took me a very long time - usually a whole day on the weekend - and then engineering homework takes a long time in addition to a number of projects during the year - it can be a little overwhelming when you combine the two toughest majors at ND. </p>

<p>If you explain why you don’t think it is that challenging, I may be able to explain it a little more.</p>

<p>FYI - the advisors have started to build people’s schedules so if you haven’t gotten your schedule card in, it might be best to do so quickly…</p>

<p>as a side note to the previous statement, no seminar is full however…</p>

<p>Thanks for the help, Hawkswim. I’ll have S check with his advisor. Good to get your feedback.</p>

<p>just for everyone’s information - 58% of the freshmen class bought the registrar last year</p>

<p>How do you make the Dean’s list and how hard is it to make it?</p>

<p>You need to beat a certain GPA that the school releases (i.e. what the school thinks the top 30% of the freshmen class will get). Last semester it was around a 3.64 which is right around straight A-s. It is difficult, but it is doable. I was able to do it both semesters, but i know a lot of people who were not - also one bad class can kill it for a semester if you cannot get As in the other. First semester I got a B in a class but got As in the other four so it pulled it up … basically you have five half letter grades that you can drop from As and get it. (i.e. you can drop five half letter grades and C+ in one class but get straight As in the other and be ok i believe (though some classes count more and that can be a little issue - like labs count as 4 credits versus regular classes which count as 3 - or you can drop one half letter grade on all five classes and get a 3.67. </p>

<p>Like I said it is aimed to capture 30% of the freshmen class so therefore about 30% of people make it. Also, there were quite a few 4.0s my first semester as well - there are very talented people here which can make that 30% quite competitive. </p>

<p>After your first year I am almost positive that you compete with people in your major for Dean’s List and not freshmen any longer (while you are freshmen you are in the “First Year Studies” major technically. </p>

<p>Does that help?</p>

<p>[Deans</a> Honor List : Office of the Registrar : University of Notre Dame](<a href=“http://registrar.nd.edu/deanslist.shtml]Deans”>http://registrar.nd.edu/deanslist.shtml) here is a link and yes after freshmen year you compete against your college, not just your major</p>

<p>Does it really mean anything to be on the Dean’s List, especially in terms of medical school, etc.?</p>

<p>I mean it is a feather in your cap and if you can steady remain on the Dean’s List that guarantees that you have a good GPA - other than that I have no idea - BioDomer may be able to answer more there …</p>

<p>I would imagine a Cum Laude award means a lot more cuz you need a higher GPA - just proves you have a solid GPA i guess.</p>

<p>your overall GPA matters most. 3.5 from ND=96% get into med school. 3.5 Sgpa (Math, Bio, Chem, Physics)=1 kid didn’t get in (didn’t know why he wanted to be a doc). ND grade deflates in the sciences big time, so you have to work hard.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the Notre Dame transcript is not sent directly to individual med schools but rather to AMCAS. AMCAS then standardizes everything for sake of fairness and then sends everything off electronically to the schools. I am not sure if the Deans List designation is preserved in the process but it is something that should be mentioned in an interview or a letter expressing continued interest.</p>