<p><a href="http://iwanttogotonotredame.com%5B/url%5D">http://iwanttogotonotredame.com</a></p>
<p>Man, I wish I thought of something like this! I guess I was too busy at my 2 jobs (I’m anticipating having 3 jobs this summer) working to raise money to help me go to school than to think about asking for donations to do so. :/</p>
<p>Has she been accepted yet?</p>
<p>She also got the cost of attendance wrong, I was under the impression that it was close to 52,000, NOT 46,000. I would think if you were asking for donations you would want a better idea of how much money you need. I wonder what her EFC is?</p>
<p>My first response: get a job and make an effort yourself first. I looked all over the site and did not find one piece of evidence that says she’s ever worked. If she has, I’ll gladly stand corrected. Furthermore, with the career she wants to have…she’ll be able to pay off student loans fairly quickly. If she qualifies for financial aid, she’ll get it. Otherwise, if she’s not wiling to take out some loans, I’d prefer that people donate to kids who can’t even go to school at all, rather than a particular college. I’m sure, given her achievements, she’s perfectly capable of getting a partial if not full scholarship to other schools.</p>
<p>It does not seem that Rachel has even been accepted to Notre Dame… yet. Obviously, she is quite a bright girl, but her senior schedule seems quite light. She is in four periods, marching band, theatre, AP Physics, and AP Literature. I know little about admissions, but that seems less than impressive. (Not to offend anyone!)</p>
<p>I would have more respect for her website if she did this after accepted. (Who is to say she will even be admitted?) And… I agree with jonoam. What is Rachel doing to pay for this?</p>
<p>@momtofour: wow, that is a light schedule! I’m currently a senior (was accepted EA) and I’m taking 8 classes (one is after school) including 4 AP classes. </p>
<p>I mean, kudos to the girl for asking. Shows confidence/gall/nerve/whatever you want to call it. However, I think I wouldn’t be as annoyed by this if we weren’t in a recession. </p>
<p>However: we don’t know her specific circumstances, so who knows? But at the same time, if she really was in dire straits and had the nerve to set up this website I would think she would also have the courage to disclose her financial situation. At this point, with no hint on the website towards her being employed (and with only 4 periods I don’t think she can use the excuse of having too much homework), and no hint that her parents really can’t afford it right now it seems just like a person who’s family doesn’t want to use their own money for this…and let’s face it, with the career she wants to go into paying of student loans would be no problem.</p>
<p>I think anyone who wants to help students go to ND would just be better to donate directly to their endowment fund.</p>
<p>I agree that she has chutzpah for going forward with this website BUT I also agree that to do this at a time when so many people are suffering economically is inappropriate.</p>
<p>I am a mom to five whose husband has lost his job three times in the last 10 years. I have a special needs child. We are burdened with tremendous Plus loan debt from one who just graduated from ND and one currently in college elsewhere. I have another one anxiously awaiting word from ND. If our daughter does gain admission to ND, we will have to sit down and compare her full tuition scholarship from a second tier school to what ND may have to offer. But we will not be going to the internet to solicit donations! We will in partnership with our daughter, make a decision about where she can go to college and how to handle it financially. Our daughter will work her buttocks off at her local job and we will somehow manage as we have always done…</p>
<p>As a footnote, this young woman posted all of her essays for the world to read. Out of curiousity, I read all of them as well as her recommendations. In her supplemental essay she spelled ‘peer’ incorrectly (she wrote ‘pier’)…it makes me wonder where her parents are and did she not ask someone to proof her work for her dream school essay? Oh well…best of luck to her and everyone else who wants in to ND. There truly is nowhere else but Notre Dame, right?</p>
<p>Oh and in her defense, somewhere on her website (maybe in one of her recommendations? or on her list of activities) I believe it does refer to her working at a local job.</p>
<p>^
Seconded; both of the recs have a “Fill-in-the-blank” quality to them, they do little to convince us of her unique abilities.</p>
<p>Also, the essay is poor- there’s no nice way of putting it. the whole first half of the second paragraph is a dumb, rambling affair that goes nowhere, and its second half only serves to blunt the power of the first paragraph.</p>
<p>Oh, and she uses the noun “I” probably upwards of 50 times- along with the rest of the structure, it gets redundant quickly.</p>
<p>she has already been accepted into U of Michigan engineering, so she has a good chance at ND. Her website has gotten a lot of attention because of the cost of private schools. we don’t need to critique the application.</p>
<p>Yes, private universities cost more, but that is because we are not using public money to pay for them. I know this keeps coming up, and it isn’t fair to compare public and private universities as apples to oranges. Private schools are not primarily funded by tax dollars, paid for by everyone. Public universities are cheaper for the students and their families, but they likely cost the same amount. It isn’t that these private universities are being extravagant, wasteful, or are charging an excessive amount (in my opinion).</p>
<p>I agree that we need not critique the application (though I disagree that getting into Michigan Engineering means that one will get into ND). Perhaps that is why the website is no longer up.</p>
<p>Thanks Irish for pointing out the differences between ND(private) and Michigan(public). Not looking to critique her app, either, however, if she can’t afford private school tuition, then a public that is affordable can offer many ops as well. I think the topic of ND tuition has been hashed just about enough. The cost is not going to change for the 09-10 academic year. One needs to carefully consider options in these tough economic times and accept what is affordable. Personally, I think it is time to move on from this subject of ND’s cost of tuition. Suggestions have been made–has <em>anyone</em> discussed this issue w/Fr Jenkins or a board member???</p>
<p>Firefox can’t open it for me.</p>
<p>Pretty creative, don’t blame her trying.</p>
<p>Do you honestly think that Fr. Jenkins and the members of the board need to hear from a CC parent regarding the difficulties associated with paying ND’s tuition?
And this website is just a high-tech form of begging. Anyone who would donate in response is a perfect illustration of the saying “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
And criticizing the application is perfectly appropriate – after all, she put it out there.
Maybe she could get a job working grounds crew at the stadium. I understand it comes with a free room.</p>
<p>claremarie,
Ouch!</p>
<p>She should just get in on a stimulus package. She can ask her congressperson for six or seven billion, and you can bet that nobody will notice the earmark.</p>
<p>Honestly, claremarie, if someone is so bothered by the cost of tuition and keeps on complaining about it and looking for ways to complain about it, I think trying to be proactive and seeking a solution to the issue is far more productive than constantly complaining to a bunch of people on a forum. As I indicated, this issue has been re-hashed more than enough on another thread. Try to find some answers instead of complaining–Fr Jenkins and the Board are a direct avenue to the cost of ND tuition right now. Can you suggest any other ways of seeking a solution?</p>
<p>There is no “solution.” The tuition at highly selective private universities is high. Notre Dame is a highly selective private university; therefore, the tuition is high. In the long run, tuition costs may moderate somewhat, but in the short term (the time during which our students will be attending), parents can expect that tuition will continue to be high. There is no secret stash of cash to provide more financial aid to middle-class families, who will have to make the same choices that families have always made regarding the level of financial sacrifice a particular university experience is worth. Over time, the market will eliminate those schools that families decide are not worth the sacrifice.<br>
But venting is always fun, I guess.</p>
<p>I read her essays and wasn’t all that impressed, especially from someone who is in AP Composition. She had months to work on those essays and that was the best she could do? </p>
<p>Her website makes me think of that woman in California who had those 8 babies and now has a website asking for money. I think she should be working and applying for scholarships instead.</p>
<p>The essays could have been worked on a bit more, but I now have to read essays for those applying to graduate school every year and honestly a lot of those essays aren’t much better even though they are applying for PhD programs! I think essays often come off that way, for what it is worth. I am glad as it turns out that I am not an admissions officer at ND (that was my dream job for a time).</p>
<p>@Irish, I think she could have given more concrete examples, and maybe have used a thesaurus. I also think it is bad form to use the word “got” or “gotten.” However, I do agree that I have seen writing much worse than that.</p>
<p>Who knows, maybe her parents told her that she has to find out a way to get in to and pay for college herself? In that case, they she wouldn’t be getting money from them (so she set up the website) and wouldn’t have her parents to proofread (although she could have brought her essays to a teacher).</p>
<p>Anyways, why did you decide against being an admissions officer? What did you experience or find out about that position that made it less desirable? And what do admissions officers do the rest of the year when not reading applications? I’m a bit curious about that job as well.</p>
<p>This was sad? People can’t go to college and she wants money for an expensive one. I could not read one part where she said she worked…</p>
<p>Lazy bum… imho… People work in America, if she does nit want loans she doesn’t deserve a ND edu…</p>