Chances of transfering to Notre Dame after freshmen year

Transfer Students
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Greetings, yall!

Currently, as I’m creating this new thread, I was wondering what yall think my chances are transfering into Notre Dame for chemical engineering or physics for Fall of 2023? I just finished my freshmen year at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, and I finished with a 4.0 GPA. I did take their required courses to transfer to Notre Dame, which are as follows…

1.) Calculus 1. (Grade A)
2.) Calculus 2. (Grade A)
3.) Calculus based Physics 1 + Lab. (Grade A)
4.) (Technical Elective #1) Calculus based physics 2 + Lab. (Grade A)
5.) General Chemistry 1 + Lab. (Grade A)
6.) General Chemistry 2 + Lab. (Grade A)
7.) English course. (Grade A)
8.) (Technical elective #2) Introduction to Python Programming. (Grade A)

Note that they do not give an advantage to people who take sophomore courses instead of freshmen courses (ex: taking Calc 2 and Calc 3 vs taking Calc 1 and Calc 2) and they only allow people to basically transfer between their second and third semester of college for the college of Science and college of engineering.

I would like to note that I have a very uptrending high school gpa (I started with a 3.2 freshmen year, and at the end of high school, i got 3 straight 4.0 semesters) so i finished with ~3.60 GPA. (Take off the first two years then it would be ~4.00 GPA)

My extracurricular activities are just all over the board between an extensive amount of work (adventure park guide), climbing and climbing club, Esports captain ( CSGO and Rainbow six seige), and religion.

I did submit my mid-term grade report for the past semester, so Notre Dame is aware I did finish my freshmen year with a 4.0 GPA in their required courses.

I made it very apparent and clear about past events that made me who i am today and how COVID-19 has impacted my education. I also made it very clear why Notre Dame is the school I want to attend which would help attain my career goals.

I would like to note that I did accepted to all the engineering programs i applied to except 1 (sorta)

1.) UC-Boulder (Aerospace)
2.) NC-State (Mechanical) extremely competitive
3.)UM-Twin Cities (Mechanical)

I did get accepted to UW-Madison but, i didn’t get accepted into chemical engineering program because of a “policy for first year transfer students” which is forcing me to go UW-Madison for one semester (see how i perform in 2 core classes) before I can apply for direct admission to their chemical engineering program.

Currently, i’m set on going to UW-Madison for Fall of 2023 and then applying for acceptance into their chemical engineering program for Spring of 2024 with the gudiance of one their cross college academic advisors.

However, Notre Dame is my dream school and UW Madison is my second. Is it reasonable for me to get into Notre Dame for this upcoming fall semester (Decision is in June 2023)? I do know their acceptance rate for transfer students varies significantly on a year to year basis. Up to as high as 44% and low as 5% last year. Is it worth it because of their hefty cost compared to just going in-state college?

I do plan on going to back to graduate school for quantum engineering since my goal is to get a p.h.D. in the feild of quantum engineering. I do know that between undergraduate and graduate school that the cost of attendance is going to be pretty heft once it’s all set and done.

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Apply and see. Keep in mind that as a sophomore transfer, they will also review your high school record.

Did you previously apply to Notre Dame?

How hefty is the cost difference, and can it be paid without loans exceeding thr federally funded Direct Loan ($6500 for sophomore year)

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I did not apply coming out of high school. The cost difference between UW Madison vs Notre Dame is about 47,000$ difference / year and multiply by 3 so about $150,000 difference.

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Where is that $150,000 total coming from?

University of Wisconsin Madison is an excellent college.

Why Notre Dame?

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These are exactly my two reactions.

Years ago I was involved with a research group at U.Wisconsin and I was very impressed by the entire team (most of which were undergraduate students).

Notre Dame is a very good university. So is U.Wisconsin Madison.

I would not pay an extra $150,000 for Notre Dame unless you can do this with no debt and no hardship for your family.

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Really the smart thing to do would be to do your undergrad at UW then go to ND for grad school.

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Obviously the lifestyle difference at UND and Wisconsin will be somehwat different.

Only you can decide if UND is that much more your speed and worth an additional $140K-150K. And that’s also a question for your parents.

As for career outcomes, etc., it likely isn’t - but that’s only one factor.

As for chances, at least what they publish, they are basically showing about 5% - but that doesn’t mean you can’t be but Wisconsin is your safer bet. You’ve proved you can excel academically so I’d bet on me getting into ChemE. Of course, what they publish (below) doesn’t match the CDS. Last year they say there was 794 applicants with 212 admitted. The previous year 1076 with 224 admitted. What we don’t know is - what # were athletes, etc.

Notre Dame seeks to admit a small number of extraordinary transfer students each year who will enhance the University through their involvement, passions, care for others, and demonstrated academic excellence. Each year, we receive approximately 1000 fall semester transfer applications for 50 transfer openings, and we receive close to 100 transfer applications for 5-10 spots in the spring.

So what I’m not understanding is - you’re in at Madison. When would you find out about Notre Dame? What is the back up plan if you don’t get into Notre Dame? Once you start at Madison (your 2nd school), I would not look to transfer again - if that’s what you’re asking about…

Best of luck.

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Getting in doesn’t matter if you can’t afford to go there. If you have to spend that $150,000 in debt(assuming the final tally ends up being that much), that’s financial suicide. No amount of prestige is worth that kind of debt. That’ll turn a dream school into a nightmare real quick. UW-Madison sounds like a far more reasonable transfer.

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Actually graduate school when pursuing a PhD is free for many and you may even get paid a stipend to boot. This is especially true in science and engineering fields where profs get research grants and use some of the money to finance their grad students. Sometimes it’s a grant/fellowship, sometimes it is pay for being a TA or RA.