Chance Me at Notre Dame and others (current junior)

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics

  • US domestic *(US citizen)
  • State/Location of residency: (IL, Chicago)
  • Type of high school (Private, good school):
  • Gender/Race/Ethnicity (Male and White):
  • Other special factors (Legacy to Notre Dame, University of Illinois Urbana Champagne, and UChicago)

Note: UChicago for grad school. Also have two brothers currently at the University of Notre Dame

Intended Major(s)
Interested in Finance/Real Estate

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores

  • Unweighted HS GPA: 3.7/4.0
  • Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.31 (4 for A in non honors - 5 for A in Honors/APs
  • Class Rank: School doesn’t rank and unsure about where I land
  • ACT/SAT Scores: Taken ACT once so far without prep but got a 35 in reading section. Planning to retake after prep + score a 33 minimum
    Grades: Feel like it’s important to note I got a C first semester Soph year in Honors Geo. Also received 10 B’s but all in Honors/AP classes

Note: UW GPA will likely be 3.85ish maybe a little less when applying to most of my schools and W GPA at 4.45ish

Coursework
10 AP’s - Micro, Macro, US History, Physics 1, Government, Stats, Calc AB, Euro, Lit, AP French
10 Honors classes - Western Civ, Algebra 2, Bio, English 1, Chem, English 2, Geo, English 3, Pre Calc, French 3

Note: Will have taken 4 years of French: not sure if that’s important or not. Taken as many honors/APs that I could

Awards
First Honors every single semester so far

Extracurriculars

  1. Model UN: (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)

  2. Student Council: (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)

  3. Investment Club: (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)

  4. French Club: (Sophomore, Junior, Senior)

  5. Student Ambassador (Sophomore, Junior, Senior) - no freshman are allowed to

  6. Tutor for classmates (Sophomore, Junior, Senior) - no freshman are allowed to

  7. Essay tutor (Junior, Senior - only available to do as junior and up)

  8. Leader of freshman orientation (Junior, Senior - only available to do as junior and up)

  9. Hockey: Jv, Jv captain, Jv captain

  10. Lacrosse: Jv, Jv captain, (double rostered), Varsity

  11. 30 hours volunteered tutoring underprivileged kids (required by school)

  12. Attended Notre Dame Vision 2022

  13. (Applied to NDLS 2023 and ND Summer Scholars 2023) - Haven’t heard back about getting in yet

  14. Preaching Team (Junior, Senior - only available to do as junior and up)

  15. Sophomore Retreat Leader (Junior, Senior - only available to do as junior and up)

  16. Communion Minister (Junior, Senior - only available to do as junior and up)

Note: Student Ambassador is leading shadows around school. Included 3 catholic based clubs and I’m a Catholic. Not sure if this affects ND accepting me

Essays/LORs/Other
Anticipating great letter from Physics teacher (she wrote me one for NDLS and it was amazing-10/10)
Not sure who I will chose as second teacher but assume good 9/10
Counselor I’m unsure about, starting to build relationship with her so maybe 6-7/10?
Essays will be great - I’m a strong writer

Cost Constraints / Budget

Schools
Planning to apply to:
Notre Dame, Indiana University, Illinois University, Providence college (my school sends lots of kids), Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, UMich, Villanova, UChicago, UPenn, Hillsdale, (Not 100% sure on all of these and might end up applying to more)

Note: Parents want me to apply to Hillsdale - I have no interest in going

Note 2: I visited Notre Dame and went on a tour. Also attended one of the info meeting nights they had at my school

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You go to a private school - so I suggest you talk to them.

Clearly, you wlll get into IU. What is Illiniois U. I assume you mean U of Illinoise. You’ll potentially get in there, definitely Providence and potentially Nova. Hillsdale for sure.

I would say your argument against Hillsdale is you won’t be able to study what you want. They have finance - but not pure finance with real estate that I can see.

Good luck.

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Yes I meant University of Illinois Urbana Champagne. And I’m not sure what you mean by you should talk to them. Who should I talk to? Thanks

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Sorry - the guidance counselors at your private school - because they’ll know how kids with your stats do. Private schools are a different animal but you certainly have easy ins on your list. I’d almost rank them - because IU is considered semi-elite (to some elite) - and you’ll know their requirements before you apply - so if you’ll, for example, choose it over BU - then no reason to apply to BU - if that amkes sense.

Champaign - not like the drink :slight_smile:

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Ok thank you!

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Notre Dame is an incredibly difficult admit. I believe its acceptance rate late year was 13% - meaning it turned down 87% of its applicants. I would go take a look at the Notre Dame Class of 2026 thread just to see the sheer number of kids with near 4.0 unweighted GPAs with 34s and 35s, and stellar extracurriculars who get rejected. I personally know such a kid this year - 3.95ish unweighted GPA, high ACT score, double legacy, great extracurriculars - got rejected. A 3.7-3.8 unweighted GPA, while an amazing GPA, may be a bit low for Notre Dame given just how competitive it is. But, your own school’s college counselor might be able to shed more light on whether your GPA, at your school, is competitive for ND.

None of this is to suggest you shouldn’t take a shot - you have a lot going for you!- but know going in it’s super tough, even for great students like you, and don’t fall in love with it. Be sure you have lots of targets and safeties that you’re excited about.

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My school is typically a pretty big feeder for ND, around 15 kids per year I from 2010-2021. I’m concerned because in 2022 it dropped to 9 and so far only 4 this year have gotten in. Notre Dame likes kids from my school but it is becoming even harder to get in there. Do you have any suggestions on what I could do to improve my chances?

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Apply REA but then you hurt yourself elsewhere. But if it’s truly the top choice…

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I understand it might hurt my chances a bit elsewhere but I don’t quite see myself anywhere else but ND. I know that’s kind of bad because there’s always the chance I get rejected which is why I’m so anxious about it. I’m just not quite sure what else I can do to improve besides continuing to get good grades

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There is no dream or perfect school. Guess what. UND has bad roommmates, bad profs. Bad whatever.

Get that out of your head. You can be happy many places.

Thx

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We were just at Hillsdale last month for a visit. Their acceptance rate was only about 15% this year so not a sure thing at all.

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Ok thank you

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I just did a quick search and it says 24% which is a bit higher. But then again it’s not my top choice. Thank you!

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yes I believe Niche has it at 24% but I think that info is a couple of years old. I believe the admission counselor said last year was more like 18% and this year around 15% (or a bit lower).

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Thank you for letting me know!

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The most important thing you can do for yourself now is to work hard to be able to see yourself - happy - at schools other than ND. ND might happen . . . but since it is a highly rejective school the most likely outcome is it will not. There’s much more than a “chance” that you’ll be rejected - it’s the likelihood given how tough it is to get into ND. (And, this is not a commentary on your own credentials, just on the difficulty of admission there.) Instead of focusing on what things you might be able to do that might (or might not) increase your chance of acceptance at ND by a tiny increment, instead spend a lot of time looking at other schools, watching online information sessions, researching their programs, and, most important, visiting their campuses. Really try to picture yourself at other schools and find things about other schools that you love.

Then, when the time comes, apply to ND and give it your best shot, but also apply to the others schools that have made the cut and that you’ve gotten excited about. If you do that, you truly can’t lose.

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This is happening alot at schools where alot of kids are applying. It really has alot to do with how many kids are applying from your region.

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Thank you so much. That’s very helpful advice

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The list seems to have a lot of reaches. It also has a number of Catholic schools. Maybe a few more matches like DePaul or Loyola Chicago for business? Fordham Gabelli is an excellent business school if NYC is a possibility.

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Back ups for ND from my kids’ school for finance

  • Loyola MD
  • Fordham
  • OSU
  • Fairfield
  • Richmond
  • Denver
  • Dayton
  • Miami OH
  • SMU
  • Elon
  • Holy Cross MA (not HCC below)
  • Bucknell

Note that many of these are still a challenge to get into, esp for Finance. But give you a range of options to explore.

Another idea if you are dead set on ND is to apply to Holy Cross College, which has cross reg with ND and you can join ND clubs and go to sports. Some people do manage to transfer across, although this is not easy. Some ND direct applicants are sent to a Gateway program where freshman year is at HCC.

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