Chances for Notre Dame?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

Hi everyone! I was just wondering what my chances were for Notre Dame RD. I am a senior right now and am applying RD! Here are my stats:

Objective:
SAT I: not sending
ACT: 32 composite, 34 English, 29 math, 34 reading, 29 science
SAT II: not sending
GPA - 3.95 weighted, I am not sure what my unweighted gpa is
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): my school doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Statistics (3), English Lang and Comp (self-study) (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP English Lit and Comp, AP Bio, Spanish 4, Bioethics, Health & Medicine, 3D Design, required theology

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): swimming most improved, swimming AACA all-star (both 10th), first honors freshman and junior year, second honors soph year, national honors society (11-12th)

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity swimming all 4 years, JV crew freshman year, Mini-THON committee (11-12th), National Honors Society (11-12th) (Secretary-Treasurer 12th), independent organizer for a bake sale for Crohn’s and Colitis (raised over $300), Camp Ophelia mentor (11th), Pennsyvania Math League contest participant (10th-12th), Students Against Destructive Decisions (10th-12th) (Secretary-Treasurer 12th), school newspaper section editor and writer (11th-12th) there might a few little ones i’m forgetting

Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard and front desk worker at local pool for past 3 summers, lifeguard during schools year soph year, lifeguard during senior year as well

Volunteer/Community service: community service through my schools community’s service corps and National Honor Society, Mini-THON committee, had a bake sale to benefit Crohn’s and Colitis foundation, was a camp mentor (most of this is extracurriculars i guess)

Essays: very happy with my common app, still working on my supplements
Teacher Recommendation: great, read one from my english which was amazing, the one from my bio teacher should be good too
Counselor Rec: didn’t see it, probably good
School Type: private Catholic, one of the top schools in PA
Ethnicity: white, female
Income Bracket: 150,000ish? Idk

I want to study science, either biology or neuroscience. My grandfather attended Notre Dame, if that makes a difference.

2

I think that you have a pretty solid chance. Your ACT and GPA are exactly where they need to be. Your AP scores are not on top compared to the kids that will be applying (though they are pretty high compared to the kids in the rest of the country).
Your extracurriculars are very solid, as well. They’ll like seeing that you were a varsity swimmer for 4 straight years, and it looks like you have done some good stuff for charity.

All in all, you have an excellent application, but lots of other kids will have applications that are just as excellent as yours. I would say that you have a 2 in 3 chance of getting in.
Go Irish!

Would you mind chancing mine?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-notre-dame/1830620-notre-dame-chances-ill-chance-you-back-for-sure.html#latest

3

I’m going to disagree with the person above me. Scores aren’t everything, so don’t get me wrong, but you are on the lower half of the ACT spectrum. Also, I believe that ND lists their unweighted GPA, not the weighted one. So, your GPA might bring you down. Your EC’s seem pretty god though, so maybe that can balance things out. (On a side note, I have Colitis, so I appreciate your fundraiser :slight_smile: )

Like I said, scores and numbers aren’t everything, but a 3.95 weighted GPA (out of a 5 scale I assume?) isn’t going to help at all. Most kids applying to ND, myself included, are going to have weighted GPA’s of 4.4+ (I have a 4.65 for reference). Either way, it’s too late to change a GPA, so best of luck!

4

Unfortunately, I agree with IvyHopeful98. Notre Dame admissions is basically as competitive as the Ivy League schools. Just look at the 25th - 75th percentile test scores of admitted students. The other thing to realize is that Legacies and recruited athletes probably make up most of the students with stats at the 25th percentile range.

5

@IvyHopeful98 my GPA is out of a scale of 4

6

@katiez2016 You’re weighted GPA is out of 4? What is your unweighted out of?

If so, then that changes things significantly.

7

@IvyHopeful98 EDIT: I calculated my unweighted and its a 3.83 out of 4.0, and my weighted is a 3.95 out of 4.0

8

Can students get above a 4.0 weighted at your school? Sorry, I’ve just never heard of it being done like this before.

Do you have any idea where you would rank if your school did rank? Unfortunately, GPA’s (as we can see right now) are calculated differently at all schools, so rank is really the best way to determine performance/strength of classes.

9

@IvyHopeful98 yes, students can get above a 4.0, i believe the highest possible is a 4.3 (I could be wrong). I truly have no idea where I would rank. I definitely would be in the top 20% of my class (there’s only 150 students) but I can’t give a closer estimate. Sorry to be so unhelpful but thanks for trying!!

10

Notre Dame has said that they don’t recalculate GPAs (because it is confusing, as you can tell) so they put a lot of emphasis on class rank. They want to know how competitive you are compared to everyone else. For REA they normally only accept the top 1-2% people, I’m not sure about RD. Your ACT score is good, don’t get me wrong, but it is on the lower end of the spectrum and Notre Dame puts a lot of emphasis on test scores (trust me, I hate that)

Your ECs look good except that you don’t have a lot of leadership positions listed, so I would make sure your activities detail what you specifically did to advance each activity. Also, parents are the only thing that technically count as legacy advantage. Make your supplements really good and I hope that you would have a good chance!! I just applied REA so I don’t actually have any more knowledge than the facts I’ve learned from reading the posts on this website. Good luck!

11

Yup, I agree with everything originalposter said. Obviously, the competitiveness of your school does come into consideration. I was specifically told my multiple ND staff members that they realize students might be in the top 15% at their school, but could easily be top 5% at another school. Therefore, don’t be TOO worried about your estimated rank.

If your unweighted GPA is calculated like everybody else’s, that may be a small problem. Like I said, I don’t know the competitiveness of your school, but your GPA gives me the impression that you have received 5 or so B’s? I know that doesn’t sound bad, but when you are applying to schools like ND, it’s not amazing. During 2 different events I went to, parents asked whether getting a B in an AP class is better than an A in an honors class. Staff responded that you should get an A in the AP class, and I think that shows how competitive schools like ND are.

Let me know if there’s anything I missed, or that I could try to help you answer. People here have been very helpful to me, so hopefully I can spread the wealth of knowledge.

12

@IvyHopeful98 I have received one 1 B and 3 B+'s. The rest of my grades are all A’s or A-'s. My school is a highly competitive private school (I keep hearing rumors that it is one of the best in the state, but they could be just rumors). Thanks for the advice!!!

@originalposter1 thanks for the insight!

13

@IvyHopeful98 At my school the scale is 4.0 for everyone. Your GPA maybe higher than 4 depends on how many honor classes you take. An A in honor class is counted as 4.5, an A for non-honor is counted as 4.0. I have 2 honor classes so my GPA is 4.1 out of 4.

14

@Fiona1997 Mine is similar, but because my GPA is above 4.5, I can only assume honors classes are weighted on a 5.0.

Did you want me to chance you, or were you just providing your stats for comparison? If you want me to chance you, I’ll need some more info haha.

Take care

15

@Fiona1997 even if your school doesn’t rank, you can talk to your guidance councilor to get a basic idea of where you fall… they also have resources that they don’t send to school, so when I was in high school my councilor was able to tell me my exact rank even though schools wouldn’t see it.

16

@lliketoFence we have the exact rank on our transcript.