<p>I hear that you need someone in your family that attended Notre Dame to give yourself a chance to be accepted. How valid is this and what are my chances if I do not know anyone?</p>
<p>All things being equal, you have an edge if you are a legacy, but you don’t need to know someone, or have had a relative attend. My S made it on his merits alone.</p>
<p>You will, in all likelihood, need high-end test scores</p>
<p>Your recommendation(s) need to be personal, from someone in your school or work life who truly knows you and your academic strengths and readiness to take the next step to college. </p>
<p>You need to take the most rigorous classes offered at your high school. Don’t slack off with your first semester senior year classes, thinking the application process is over once you apply. It’s not.</p>
<p>With your extra curricular activities, stress quality over quantity. They want to see passion in what you do, not a laundry list that might not show true commitment on your part. If there is a group or club in which you have a leadership position, let them know. That’s where the passion can come through on your application.</p>
<p>Finally, I imagine for many applicants with similar test scores, ECs and the like, it comes down to the essays, in particular the personal statement in which you could show your drive or commitment through a life experience, for instance. It’s really important to stay away from cliches, such as the biggest one of all, “Rudy.”
They read a lot of essays, so if you find a unique way to present it and still nail it, you can definitely stand out and get in.</p>
<p>Agree 100% percent with Chrome Dome. D1 will be there this fall in the class of 2013 and while she is not “legacy” she is a remarkably intelligent, talented and well rounded young woman. Her application reflected that. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>hear is the general breakdown that I was told:</p>
<p>25% of admission spots go to qualified legacies
25% of spots are reserved for athletes</p>
<p>The other 50% is up for grabs (the 25% legacy group can be lower if there is a severe drop off in talent)</p>
<p>Actually, the University is shooting for 25% legacies (only parents qualify if ND grads) and 25% URM. Athletes could help to make up part of these targets and you could have URM legacies that count toward both targets. Keep in mind these are only desired percentages. If you look at some of the press releases from recent years, the URM percentage has been in the low 20’s. When the final 2009 numbers are released for the incoming class of 2013, I would expect the URM percentage to be closer to 25% as the University seemed to be making a special effort to achieve this targeted percentage. Unlike many schools, Notre Dame does not hide the fact that it is seeking a 25% legacy population to help perpetuate the family traditions of attendance at the University. In today’s competitive environment for admission, all applicants need great test scores and GPA’s for acceptance.</p>
<p>My son jokes that he will keep his legacy status a secret. He had 1500+ SAT and an outstanding GPA yet everyone assumes he got in because his father attended. Legend has it that legacies are the best partiers, but they will be disappointed with our kid! </p>
<p>Chromedome’s remark regarding rigorous senior year classes should be heeded. Son was deferred EA. Perhaps his 4.8 GPA 1st semester senior year tipped the scale in his favor for admission RD.</p>
<p>“Finally, I imagine for many applicants with similar test scores, ECs and the like, it comes down to the essays, in particular the personal statement in which you could show your drive or commitment through a life experience, for instance. It’s really important to stay away from cliches, such as the biggest one of all, “Rudy.””</p>
<p>-what is “Rudy?”</p>
<p>rent the movie called Rudy and you will know…everyone who goes to ND should have seen Rudy at least once.</p>
<p>nyorker i suggest you leave this forum right now if you dont know what “rudy” is…</p>
<p>Don’t believe that you need to have a family member attend to give yourself an edge. My son who is a white, catholic male from the northeast applied this past year. He had a 3.8/4.2 gpa, 2080 sat, national merit commended, great ec’s , excellent rec’s, 3 varsity letters, and many academic and service awards. He was waitlisted and finally received the dreaded letter 2 weeks ago that he didn’t get in. Oh and he is a legacy as his Dad attended ND. On top of that so did his grandfather, his grandfather’s brother, 2 uncles, and 2 great uncles who were also holy cross priests. I went to SMC (his mom). My husband has also been very generous from the moment he graduated with donations (his company also matches 2 for 1). Plus we were paying the full tuition. So…I really don’t believe legacy helps that much anymore unless you are donating six figures. His regional rep who was very nice, really couldn’t tell him what the deal was (some inconsistent grades maybe like a 90 to an 85). I think if you are first generation or urm you will be fine but an average white kid…not so sure about that. My son had dreamed of going to ND since he was about 8, we would go out once or twice a year for games etc. So right now they are dead to my husband. As for me, I believe kids end up where they were meant to be. It’s a great place, different though from when we were there 25+ years ago. So don’t worry about people having an edge over you, take the hardest classes, do your best, take time writing your essays and give it your best shot. I wish you the best of luck this coming year, hopefully it is not as competitive as last year.</p>
<p>it is very possible to get accepted to ND without a legacy, but a legacy can help (the above situation is one of those rare and puzzling story)…but i don’t agree with the statement, if you are a first generation or URM that you have a better chance than an average white kid (the site I use for stats is currently down, but I will get them eventually)</p>
<p>Hawkswim09 I hope that you are correct but this was our experience. There were 3 kids who applied to ND at my son’s school. All of them were in the top 10 (not%) of their class. My son, white legacy who was the lowest of the three was waitlisted then rejected. There was a white girl who’s sister was attending grad school at ND who had the highest rank and she was waitlisted but withdrew her app and then there was a urm in between the two who was accepted (with close to a full ride) but turned ND down. On paper, all of them were excellent candidates no doubt but you have to admit it makes you wonder. Please understand, I am hardly saying that ND is racist but I do believe that they are looking to increase their miniority pool and to do so someone is not getting in. Is it strange that they would do it at the expense of legacy or kids who have had a family member attend, I think not, just read the most recent posts on the waitlist thread. There are plenty of legacy candidates who don’t get accepted. My point was that I think it is generally believed that if a legacy does not get admitted that it is because their stats were lower than other applicants. I only mention my son’s case because I think he proves that sometimes, legacy candidates are not admitted in favor of other kids. I would like to think that these other kids are more qualified but when you look at the accepted stats page and then look at their status (urm, first generation) that is not necessarily the case. I hope you all understand that my post is not bitter, far from it because I love ND. I just posted to make this year’s legacy candidates aware of the fact that ND is super competitive, don’t think that your legacy status will let you walk in the place because it won’t. In fact, I would love to see the stats for the legacy’s of 2013. I am sure most are more than qualified. As I told my son years ago, you should take the most challenging curriculum, get involved, always do your best, if you do that you should have no regrets and if, in the end, you don’t get into your first choice, you should be able to live with it with your head held high. Hawkswim, I can tell from all of your posts that you are the type of kid that ND should be letting in. You obviously love the place, seem like a very intelligent kid and you are so enthusiastic about attending. I am glad that they are still letting kids like you into ND. I only wish that they had had one more spot for my son, because like you, this was all he ever wanted. But it wasn’t meant to be and believe it or not, my son took my advice and although he doesn’t like the end result he is okay with it and excited about attending his second choice. I wish all of the class of 2013 the best of luck this coming year. Enjoy ND, it is a great place to go to school.</p>
<p>Irishmary – you and your son seem so mature and classy; thus, it is a loss to the ND community that your son was not admitted.</p>
<p>You obviously know this, but to others out there – legacy status does not seem to significantly help you in admissions. If you are a borderline case, I’m sure it may come into play.</p>
<p>After several of my ND friends’ kids were rejected, I knew my kids had to be as qualified as any non-legacy applicants. My recently-admitted child was #1/600, a national merit finalist, a national runner-up in a significant competition, an all-state musician, 34 ACT, and some other things. His older sibling, also at ND, was equally qualified, and his legacy roommate has equally good qualifications.</p>
<p>Even though 25% of admitted students are legacies, that does not mean that those 25% are below the average admitted student. On the contrary, we have noticed that legacy students seem to be at least, if not more, qualified. Many legacies, including my children, turn down Ivy League schools for the ND experience and to keep the family tradition alive.</p>
<p>Irishmary – I hope your son will apply as a transfer student because, as they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and your maturity and class are impressive. I wish an admissions counselor could see your posts.</p>
<p>I completely agree with Monday that you and your family have the utmost class and maturity and after reading that post, I am sure that ND made a mistake with your son’s application, and like Monday I really, really hope that your son considers a transfer application because ND could always use someone of your son’s maturity and class. </p>
<p>Thank you for your kind words, and I hope for the best in whatever path you and your son decide to go down and can only hope that ND has the opportunity to fix a mistake.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your kind posts. As for transferring, I really want my son to give his college experience his best shot. I think when kids have the notion of transferring from the get go that they hold back a bit on their experience for fear of liking where they actually are. We have 2 close friends who did not get into ND for the first go round. Both were non legacies. One girl devastated by her rejection went to an excellent college in Mass. She had an atitude about the place from the beginning because it wasn’t ND. Thought of nothing but transferring from the moment she got her rejection letter. Applied again, was accepted and went on to be an extremely successful student there. But, she wasted her freshman year because she never gave her school a shot. Another person, a male, got rejected last year. Devastated because he had had this dream about ND for so long, he attended another school in PA. He actually gave his new place a chance, settled in nicely, made good friends and had excellent grades. But, this year, he applied for transfer to ND. Got in this June and was now faced with a horrible decision. Does he leave the school that he attended and actually really liked for the dream of ND. I was told yesterday that he had decided to stay where he is. He agonized over this decision. So my question about that is…why transfer if you like where you are? Surely, I will encourage my son to do so if he is unhappy with his choice, although knowing my son and his personality, it would have to be just dreadful for him not to enjoy his experience. College is only a 4 year experience and to spend one year pining for ND seems like such a waste. While I love ND, it has it’s moments and is far from perfect. I truly believe that people can be just as happy somewhere else if they were thoughtful about their choices during the application process. My son wanted a school with D1 sports, great academics, a strong intramural program, good service opportunities and an enthusiastic student body. I think he found all of that where he will be attending. Does it have the beauty and magic of ND, probably not. But, this will be his experience to make. As I said before in a prior post, my life experience has taught me that things do happen for a reason. Sometimes it takes a while for the reason to become clear. I believe and hope that I have taught my son to make the most of the opportunites that come your way. I don’t believe in living with regrets, life is too short…and so is college.</p>
<p><a href=“the%20above%20situation%20is%20one%20of%20those%20rare%20and%20puzzling%20story”>quote</a>
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Not too rare…Like IrishMary’s son, our oldest son was waitlisted for the ND class of 2011. Similar stats, great ECs, leadership positions AND both parents ND grads (along with older generations). Even though ND is committed to admitting 25% legacies, there are so many qualified candidates that there are no shoe-ins and an applicant really really needs to stand-out even with legacy status.</p>
<p>Now S2 is ready to apply this fall. His GPA, rigor and scores are even better than S1, plus he has varsity experience and state-wide leadership positions. Still, he knows to consider ND a “reach” and won’t count on any boost from being a double legacy.</p>