Chances for Notre Dame?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>Stats:
Graduation: Early Summer, 2014, no grades "skipped"
3.65 GPA, previous two years had pre-IB, honors, and AP classes. Electives (2 freshman year; 1 sophomore year) are not honors and thus tended to reduce my weighted GPA even though I had A's in them.
Junior Year: First semester--3.7 GPA--ALL IB/AP classes
Other notable courses: Taking Calc AB junior year, will take "double-math" in senior year--Calc BC and Statistics, replacing my foreign language (AP Latin [I took IB Latin IV in junior year]; Taking double science sophmore (physics honors and chemistry pre-ib,) and for junior/senior years (Chemistry IB and Biology IB--Both had A's Junior year [B's for pre-IB chemistry in sophomore year) (Replaced my elective course in Sophomore year and my "Sixth Subject" (E.g. Comp sci, Philosophy, Psych, etc...) in Junior and Senior Years
SAT: (No subject tests)--750 M, 710 R, 700 W--2160 Composite--Not superscored--the scores were all from my first SAT test, and I haven't taken it a second time yet.
"Commended Scholar" on PSAT (probable, based upon a score of 203)
Class Rank: As of sophomore year, 15%; likely to be significantly higher by beginning of senior year due to 3.7 UW GPA in Junior year, while most other grades are going down due to significantly increased workload (IB and AP courses). Also, pre-IB courses tended to hurt my class rank because of their increased difficulty in spite of their same weighting value as honors courses.</p>

<p>SENIOR YEAR COURSE REGISTRATION (I've heard that this is a factor in admissions): IB Biology, Chemistry, Contemporary American History, English, Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Micro & Macro economics, AP Comp Gov--results in 8 AP tests and 5 IB tests (+ the extended essay and TOK assessment)</p>

<p>Significant Activities:
Member of the Joe Berg Society, Sophomore through Senior year
Great Decisions Member, serving as National Security Advisor
President/"founder" (revived after 2 years of inactivity) of the school's Young Democrats, 2011-2012, Member for the 2012-2013 school year (Established partnership with school newspaper and teenage republicans and organized a voter registration drive)
4th Place for regional science fair Mathematics; Special Award from the US Army at NEFRSEF
2011-2012 School Newspaper Contributor (Political article)
IB Magazine (School newspaper/magazine reserved for IB students) Contributor 2012-2013 (various opinion essays, drawings, and poetry in all four issues of the year)
IB Magazine Poetry Editor 2013-2014
Yahoo! Voices Contributor (2012-2014)
2nd Place World Quest for Regional Competition (Fall 2012)
1st place in Hellenic History, 1st place in Greek Literature in Regional Latin Forum (February 2013 Competition)
Florida Junior Classical League (2013, First year competing, state level): 1st Place Greek Literature (Advanced) (Best of Show, indicating best score among all levels [1, 2, and Advanced]) 8th place History of the Roman Republic (Advanced)
Participated in the Regional ICME (International Crisis Meeting Excercise) under Jacksonville's World Affairs Council on Mali, as "Council to the President"
Will be competing at the national level at NJCL (National Junior Classical League convention)****
Attempting to get various political essays published over the summer****</p>

<h1>****Factors marked with these stars should be factored in a separate assessment of my chances as these goals have not yet been achieved, if they can be achieved at all (e.g. "Reach, Match" or if it does not affect my chances, "Reach, Reach")</h1>

<p>Participation Activities
Latin Club 2010-2011, 2012-2013
Participated in 2013 US Biology Olympiad competition
National Science Honor Society member
Participated in the February 2012 Regional MAO Competition
National Honor Society Member</p>

<h1>National Latin Honor Society Member (2011-2013)</h1>

<p>Volunteering:</p>

<h1>Mayo Clinic, St. Vincent's Medical Center, Humane Society, and the public library</h1>

<p>FYI: I'm not Catholic, or even Christian, if that affects my chances at all...</p>

2

<p>Well, your faith does not factor. The way that ND admissions looks at each applicant is like this;</p>

<ol>
<li>Test Scores</li>
<li>Academic Courses/Grades</li>
<li>Extracurriculars</li>
</ol>

<p>They also reserve a certain number of spots for legacy students, so if you are one that helps your case.</p>

<p>I’ll break down what I see for each of these from you;</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Your SAT is pretty average, but you have only taken it one time from what I read. Try to retake it, but DO NOT take it in a month like October or November. I keep hearing from parents about how SAT coaches claim that the curve for the test during that month is the harshest. If you can get your SAT up to around a 2200(2250) then you will be in fantastic shape.</p></li>
<li><p>Your academics seem to be your weakest point on the surface with the (relatively) low GPA. However, it is obvious that you are taking a lot of challenging courses, so if you can maintain a 3.85ish next year then I would suspect that you would be good.</p></li>
<li><p>Your extracurriculars seem pretty good, but I would recommend trying to tie all of these activities together for the Commonapp. I would look at a copy of the form you fill out, because how you present yourself could be key. The way you listed it on here was really disjoint and it lacked direction. I would look at the limited space on the form and try to tie in some of the Latin or Classics work into one club. If you list every thing you did then it will appear as if you are stretching yourself too thin.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>In short, if I had to rank your strength, I would be it as follows (best to worst): Extracurriculars, Test Scores, and then Academics. Work on getting that GPA up, as it gives a strong impression to the counselors if you can manage to pull A’s with such a heavy workload. Keep up the hard work, and you should be a Domer. Go Irish!</p>

3

<p>My advice for you would be to get in touch with your area rep. I know that corresponding with mine made a big difference in my application. Your GPA is slightly low, so work on maintaining/raising that if you can. To be safe, you might try to raise your SAT/ACT scores, although I was accepted with the same SAT. Good luck with everything!!</p>

4

<p>Your SAT scores could use a little work, but your EC will definitely help you!</p>