Chance me please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>I am currently a junior in high school and I have been looking at Notre Dame for a while now and I am in love. My main concern is whether or not I have a chance at being accepted. I feel like its bad to get my hopes up and be crushed if I weren't to be accepted so please let me know if I have a shot.</p>

<p>SAT: 2050 (640 CR, 740 M, 670 W)
(Im retaking in Fall to hopefully raise english scores)
SAT II: History-750, Biology-710, Math 2-590
(Idk whats up with that) (Taking Math 2 and Physics next month)
ACT: 33 best sitting/superscore ( E-33, M-32, R-30, S-35, Writing-12)
AP: US History-4, Biology-5
Class Rank: 11/647
GPA: 3.931 UW, 4.010 W (AP classes grades multiplied by 1.1)</p>

<p>Current Courseload: AP Calc AB, AP Physics B, AP Gov, AP Stat, Advanced American Lit, French 3, Wind Ensemble
Senior Courseload: AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, AP Comparative Gov, AP Psychology, AP English Language, Wind Ensemble, We the People Constitutional Law, French 4</p>

<p>Extra Curriculars:
Varsity Swim Team - 9th, 10th grade
Marching Band
Drumline - 9th, 10th grade
Drum Major 11th, 12th grade
Student Government
President - 9th, 10th
Representative - 11th, 12th
Boy Scouts whole life - Eagle Scout
Youth Group
National Honor Society</p>

<p>Volunteer Work: Many hours through scouting, NHS, and church.
Work Experience: I work at a banquet center working weddings every weekend</p>

<p>I would really appreciate some honest advice!</p>

2

<p>Looks pretty good. Use the 33 unless you really get the SATs up. Do something meaningful over the summer…any leadership or internship possibilities? </p>

<p>Then drop one of those senior year classes…you’re gonna burn yourself out.</p>

3

<p>Your stats aren’t bad, but they would generally put you at the low end of the group being admitted (def. need to get the Math2 score up). Another thing to consider is your geographic location. Lots and lots of kids apply from the Chicago/NY/Phil/Ind/Ohio areas, therefore, you probably need to really stand out if you’re coming from those areas. Other considerations: the perceived rigor of your HS (admissions counselors know quite a bit about High schools in their area, and some high schools just have better reputations), what department/major you are thinking of pursuing(some departments/colleges at ND are much more difficult to get in than others), your extra-curriculars are a little light - why did you leave swim team/student govt. office? Those are questions the admit counselors will ask - they want to see that you chose activities and stuck with them - or at least replaced them with something as rigorous.
My best advice is to continue to work hard your senior year, gives some considerations to what you may want to major in, take a look at your EC’s, and most importantly, make a list of what you hope to gain from your college experience (academically, socially, experientially, etc) and spend the summer looking at OTHER colleges/Universities where you may also be happy. If you’ve not read through these CC boards, the biggest lesson is - have plenty of alternate schools where you could be happy! Find schools where you could be in the top percentage of students - sometimes it’s good to be the “big fish.” Also take in to consideration your financial need and the availability of financial aid. “Need blind” admission does not necessarily mean that the school will meet your needs. My DS was THRILLED to get in to Carnegie Mellon only to have his hopes dashed by the dismal financial aid package. Luckily, he has several other choices where he also feels he can be happy and successful (ND is one of them!)
Best of luck in the rest of HS.</p>

4

<p>Yeah I do understand I need to get the scores up. I left student council office this year simply because I didn’t win in a vote and swimming wasn’t doing much for me in terms of happiness, development, and the general atmosphere of the team wasn’t inviting. Im considering engineering majors, which I am sure that is a hard program to get into but math and science are definitely my strengths, regardless of what is evidenced by my scores. Also, I am coming from southeastern michigan, I’m not sure the commonality of applicants from here. I believe my high school is considered to be pretty rigorous, there are students every year getting into Michigan, Northwestern and I believe a few ivies, but then again universities will know more about that than myself. </p>

<p>I have been looking at other colleges as well, do you have suggestions for colleges somewhat like ND but where I would be the “big fish” as you said?</p>

5

<p>You apply to ND in general and not a specific college. That plays no role in the application. I’d actually take the ACT again. A 34 or 35 are actually pretty different from a 33.</p>

6

<p>also I don’t think ND superscores the ACT but it may have changed since I was at ND</p>

7

<p>Oh I will definitely take the ACT once more! Im think they just superscore the SAT</p>

8

<p>According to last years ND Admissions Live Chat, ND does not superscore the ACT.</p>

9

<p>thanks for letting me know! really helpful</p>

10

<p>While I’m not a huge fan of rankings, this might give you some ideas of where to start looking. <a href=“http://www.cefns.nau.edu/Academic/CS/misc_docs/UG_engineering_ranking_08.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cefns.nau.edu/Academic/CS/misc_docs/UG_engineering_ranking_08.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
Going through the list of these schools, I’d say that Villanova is a school that is similar to ND n many ways: Small, Catholic University, tight community and good alumni network, very good academic reputation, school spirit (especially if you like basketball!), lovely campus. It is nearer to big city than ND (the train to Philadelphia runs right to campus and you’re only about 20-30 min. by car to the center of Philadelphia) As it stands now, you’d be in the middle 50% of admitted students. I’m not sure exactly what their financial aid packages are like. It’s worth looking in to.
If you think you’d like to go far away from home, check out Gonzaga University in Washington State. It’s also a small, Catholic university - and you’re stats would definitely put you in the top tier of admitted students. They do play Division I sports, although they don’t get the national coverage of ND (frankly, who does??) Gonzaga is not as “selective” as Ivies, MIT, ND - but they have a very good academic reputation. Spokane is a very lovely city in the eastern part of Washington state - and is the 2nd largest city in WA. </p>

<p>If you’re not tied to a Catholic school, you might also want to check out Bucknell in central PA. Very good academics - especially known for engineering, your stats put you in the middle 50% up to the 75% of admitted students. Very small, tight-knit campus - only about 3500 undergrads and less than 200 graduate students - so profs are there to teach undergrads - and undergrads often have chances to do research/projects that might be left for graduate students at larger schools.
Lafayette College in PA on the border of PA and NJ also has well respected academics and a very nice campus community and sits about 1 hr W of NYC and 1.5 hrs N of Philadelphia. Small campus (about 2500 students) and while you’d be near the top of the pack, the others wouldn’t be far behind. It’s still pretty selective and rigorous.
You can PM me if you have any other questions or want to give details about what you’re looking for (without having to post publicly.)
Good luck with your search. You’re already off to a great start because you’re not waiting till Senior year to think about these things!</p>

11

<p>I am just noticing this reply. My son had his heart set on Notre Dame. His stats are slightly higher than yours although his class rank is much lower due to the competitiveness of his high school. His ec’s are slightly weaker, he is also an eagle scout, varsity tennis captain and in speech and debate. He does a few other things, but those are his main. He was rejected early action at Notre Dame…he was rejected regular by Georgetown, wait listed at Villanova and Boston College…prior to his regular decision results, he was accepted to Gonzaga with a genorous merit scholarship. He was also accepted into Univ of Portland Honors program with scholarship and to Fordham with scholarship. We had only heard of Gonzaga as a basketball school. After much research, we discovered it is an excellent academic program and is where my son has chosen to attend this Fall…</p>

<p>Don’t put all your hopes into th big name schools. Keep your options open to some of these lessor known schools with good programs and merit aid. BTW, we will be paying less than half what we would have paid at ND and the other big name schools. We do not qualify for aid and their merit packages are much more competitive and given to fewer students…</p>