<p>So I really want to go to Notre Dame and it would be great if someone could chance me for EA:</p>
<p>GPA (weighted): 4.54
GPA (un-weighted): 3.85
Class Rank: 25 of 713
At a National Blue Ribbon School (public)
SAT I: 2050 (690 CR, 670 Math, 690 W)
ACT: 32 Comp (34 Read, 31 Math, 32 Sci, 29 Writing)
SAT II: 770 US Hist, 760 Span w/o listening
AP's: W.Hist 3, US Hist 5, English Lang 5, Spanish Lang 5
EC's: Competitive diver for 6 years, NHS, SHS, ~100 service hours so far
Work Exp: Employed for 3 summers. Same job for the first 2 and different one for the last 1
Travel: EF tour to Greece/Turkey, trip to Spain
9 AP classes by end of senior year, all preAP except physics</p>
<p>sounds like you have a very complete academic portfolio - all your scores and GPAs are right in line with what most ND students achieve - unless you are very ambitious, I would not take the SAT again - usually people mention the barriers to break in the SAT and 2100 is one of those, so maybe you could get to that next barrier but I doubt if you don’t that it would be an issue. </p>
<p>You maybe interested in joining some other ECs though the diving is a great activity - maybe some more volume, but diving seems to be a passion of yours and ND loves people with passions. </p>
<p>I have told everyone who wants to apply EA the same thing: if you can add anything to your application in the time between the October and Jan. 1 deadlines do not apply EA unless you have a stellar application. If your application is complete in October, apply EA - if you get rejected EA then you would never have gotten in RD. But if you apply EA and then get some major accomplishments but don’t have time to report them and then are rejected, you can’t ask for an appeal. The only problem with EA is the extra wait that you have if you get deferred. </p>
<p>Also, have you contacted our diving coach - he is a world renown diving coach and if you have dove for six years you maybe want to contact him and see if there is space on our team – i know that we don’t have the platform dives so that detracts from our recruiting for diving, but our coach is great.</p>
<p>Okay good, I hope I get in to Notre Dame…I forgot to mention that I am Catholic and have volunteered A LOT at my church. I am not really interested in diving in college. I have had a few colleges interested in me, but I just really wanna focus on school and having fun. Thanks for your chancing though!</p>
<p>I actually disagree with the above assessment. Your scores are a bit low. Per the Admissions website, ranges for what appears to be the Class of 2013 were 32-34 and 1390-1490. In contrast, your scores are 32 (at 75th) and 1360 (below 75th). Unless there’s something absolutely remarkable about you, you’re not getting in Early Action with test scores that far below median. The great thing about college admissions is you can retake without penalty. If you’re that set on ND or any similar caliber school, you need to retake in order to get your numbers up into that median range.</p>
<p>The rest of your profile looks good, some decent ECs although not a lot of leadership. I think you can be “in the conversation” with a 32/3.85, but by no means a sure thing. Getting the ACT up a point or two would definitely help.</p>
<p>I do have leadership:
-I was team captain for 2 years for my diving team
-I was awarded a leadership award by my school
I just forgot to mention that, and I am not taking the SAT again but I just hope they’ll see my SAT II’s and see that I am a great student.</p>
<p>The admission website also says that “the middle 50% of admitted students scored between 1390 and 1490 on the SAT and between 32 and 34 on the ACT.” So my ACT is in the middle 50 and my SAT is 30 points below. I have good AP scores and good SAT II’s as well.</p>
<p>I was on a tour of ND this summer. They said not to apply ED unless you have a 33 on the ACT (or equivalent on the SAT) and are in the top 1-3% of your class. Not to say you cannot apply regular decision but that is what they are looking for ED.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I’ll get deferred, but I pretty much have my application stuff done so I might as well give EA a shot!</p>
<p>I believe the thing that will kill you the most is GPA. From what I have seen, you would most likely get in with a 4.0 and the same scores.</p>
<p>@OP: I understand that your ACT is at the bottom edge of “the middle 50% of admitted students”. Generally speaking, the bottom 25% is dominated by varsity athletes, legacies, and diversity admits. Your score is barely above this range, so unless you’re in one of those three categories I mentioned, your numbers are good-not-great. Good enough to put you in the conversation and possibly get you in if they like the rest of the profile, but certainly not great to the point that they’ll snatch you up the moment they see your application. </p>
<p>I’m glad you have leadership, that’s something ND puts a high priority on. APs and SAT IIs are nice, but not as important as ACT/SAT. Another two points on the ACT would make a big difference.</p>
<p>Yes, retake the ACT. The English section is by far the easiest to improve on, and for you that is your worst section. Even with a little bit of effort, I’m sure you could raise it to a 33, raising your composite to 33. Just focus on pacing and almost always picking the shortest answer with the least punctuation. But the ACT 36 guide by Barrons. It will help.</p>
<p>@hahalolk: At my school, I think the only one with a 4.0 is the valedictorian, nearly nobody has one haha.
@Veritas24: If by varsity athletes you mean athletes for the school then I am neither category. Like I said, I am almost positive I will get deferred to regular admission, but we’ll see. Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>If you can get your rank up to the top 1-3% like others have said, I imagine that would do wonders for you. It might impossible at this time though.</p>
<p>STATS ARE NOT EVERYTHING. I don’t know how to stress this anymore than I previously have posted. You can’t have a 1200 or a 29 on the SATs but I have seen people with scores like 1360 and 30/31 get accepted. IT HAPPENS. And this is not just varsity athletes. I have also seen people with very good scores get rejected. THAT HAPPENS TOO. ND has the six components of a complete application and if you are great in five and ok in one, that will not hurt your cause. </p>
<p>The one thing that I do suggest is trying the tests one more time. It shows the schools you are interested in putting your best foot forward. Also, if you have a horrible essay and good stats that is far worse than an excellent essay and ok stats - that is why it is so hard to judge people’s applications b/c the essay and recommendations are such a critical component to the decision. The essay is basically your interview. </p>
<p>I still stand by my above suggestion with EA. Why not take the chance - maybe ND sees something they really really like and accepts you - and then if not they will defer you (and that has no penalty). The only time this comes back to bite you is if you find something out during those two months (Nov./Dec.) that helps you application but then you are rejected and can’t use those added positives that you found out. If your application is COMPLETE and cannot be improved upon during the next two months, then you should apply EA. If you get rejected, you know you wouldn’t have gotten accepted RD anyways. If you get deferred that is fine and you can add things to your application. If you get accepted, maybe you just got lucky.</p>
<p>^Thats sounds like good advice OP. Most places only reject people who have poor stats, which you don’t have. They’re not amazing (for Notre Dame at least; at other places they would be), but with your involvement in Church I don’t think you would be an auto reject at all. Go for it!</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ve taken my SAT 3 times (first time was with a drumline comp. outside EXTREMELY DISTRACTING) so I don’t even consider that a fair score) and my ACT twice. I’m kinda done with standardized testing haha. I’ll just apply and hope for the best(:</p>
<p>Stats are not everything, this is true. But I can’t remember the last time I looked at USNWR and saw a school reporting how many varsity divers it has enrolled. Notre Dame takes a holistic approach to admissions, but that does not detract from the fact that it is still very much a numbers game. Rather, it means that in addition to great numbers you have to have all those other factors like leadership in ECs and service. </p>
<p>Do people get in with 31s and 1360s? Of course. 25% is going to fall below that 32 mark. But let’s not confuse possibility with probability. The lower your numbers, the more you have to make up for it with other rockstar qualities. Test scores are still something that’s very much in your control, so I would certainly suggest you try one more time. One more point could make a big difference.</p>
<p>As for EA, I would think you’d need to have 34+ to be competitive, so I would expect you to get deferred. With your profile, I don’t really think there’s any downside to applying early. Perhaps you could even use it as a positive opportunity to demonstrate interest if you do get deferred. </p>
<p>Just to restate my opinion of your “chances”, I think you have a competitive profile as is, but your chances would be improved by raising your ACT. I would not be suprised if you were admitted, I merely think the probability of such an outcome would be greatly increased with a 33 or 34.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t really weigh this much decision making when I was applying for college. I did not know the pros and cons of EA, I just EA’d when the option was available for me. </p>
<p>My standardized test scores were about the same as yours, 2050 SAT, 31 ACT. 4 in Chemistry and APUSH, 5 in English Lang. I was taking 8 AP’s my senior year though and it was surprisingly the first year I had straight A’s. I was 20/189 when I applied. Now I’m a little surprised that I got in because I was in that bottom quarter statistic. However, I guess my essays and letters of recommendation were very good. I might just have been the lucky small, but I think you ought to start working on your essays. (It took me a month to write three essays, then I scrapped all of them and rewrote the one I submitted in a night lolol)</p>
<p>Yeah I have already finished my essay/short answers for ND. My essay is pretty good, because I had a hard experience my sophomore year that actually served to be a great essay topic. My short answers are also great, my aunt is an english guru so i had her check them along with other people for content/grammar, so I should be in good shape. I’m pretty sure my rec’s will be good, I’m gonna get one from my Spanish teacher and probably my coach who was also my world hist teacher. I’m crossing my fingers(: I reallyyyy wanna go to ND! Did you get in EA?</p>
<p>I’m crossing my fingers for EA haha. I would be so excited to know I got into my first choice before Christmas!! I have two questions:
-Did you submit two rec letters?
-Did you need a “Counselor Evaluation” for ND? I know some schools require this but I can’t find anything on ND about this.</p>