Welp that’s life…unfair. But, I’m sure another institution will recognize your son’s potential and accept him based on his merit rather than his race.
I’m Asian and I got in. Pretty hyped. I have a 3.97 UW/4.55 w at a tough school, 2220ish SAT with lots of Ecs and I loved my essay. Don’t think they have a diversity problem at all, though I will say they are very very white lol. But that’s just the crowd that has been attracted for years there.
And also I’m Muslim so it’s very possible to be non Catholic and a minority and get in.
Don’t think community service time matters as long as you did it. Had 70ish hours myself
Asian here, luckily accepted.
Your sons stats are amazing and I’m sure that he will get into an amazing school. However, I’m sure everyone else that got into ND also had great stats and great leadership in various situations.
Legacy isn’t a sure fire thing at all (I got rejected at my legacy school) and I feel for your disappointment. But the haughty “I should get accepted” attitude isn’t going to help.
Just a thought. Please don’t take it as an offense 
@dispdomer2016 Well folks, it’s pretty apparent that OP really just need a forum to vent and attempt to disparage Notre Dame. He/she has not engaged with a single one of us on our perspectives, since they started the post. My condolences on his/her son’s rejection. Good luck with wherever the future takes him.
And congrats to all who have been accepted at this fine institution. You worked hard and earned your place. Best of luck as you go forward and shape the world. Go Irish!
@Ksty1098 If you don’t mind, could list your ECs?
@baseballguy85 The major ones are: Scholastic Bowl Varsity Captain, WYSE Team, Science Club, Math Team, German Club, German Honor Society, Chem Olympiad, Founded Paintball team. Also did summer research at ND as I said before.
Ruby789-This whole philosophy of ‘diversity’ means that some applicants are accepted because of the color of his/her skin. This is clearly unethical. The gentleman who complained on this forum has more of a right to be at Notre Dame than a student who receives a 1900 or 2100 on the SAT. There is clearly something wrong with a university that accepts a person from Africa who received a 26 on the ACT (last year student) and a student who struggles with same sex attraction (1900 SAT) over the young oriental man above. I do not want to hear this crap from people that act like they are qualified to be there just because they were accepted. How can anyone say that discrimination is wrong and in the next breath reward an applicant with low scores just because of the color of their skin? This is insane and not logical. I have read too many applicants who were accepted with less than impressive stats. This implies that judgments are too subjective. Yes, they cannot accept everyone, but there should be more objectivity and no regard to ethnicity.
OP-your S sounds very qualified. I am surprised and sorry he did not get a “yes”. I am going through the admission process with my second child and I still don’t understand how the decisions are made.
I sympathize with dispdomer2016. Our son got rejected by Notre Dame as well. We’re Asian and Catholic and legacy. We are so disappointed because we believed he would be accepted. We weren’t the ones who said that legacies were given preference or that diversity was valued. Notre Dame said all that. We took them at their word. We have always been faithful supporters and donors to Notre Dame. We understand that they can’t take everyone. But when you have given your time and money to a school for a long time and then they reject one you love, it leaves a hole in your heart. No one likes rejection, particularly when it is from a place you love. When you are rejected despite having many characteristics Notre Dame says they value, like ethnicity, catholicity, and legacy, it is all the more painful.
@cccollegeboard I could not agree more with what you said. No favoritism was ever expected. We teach our kids to have integrity. If you don’t mean it don’t say it. Asian students were held to a much higher standard for admission to colleges. That was not a secret.
^^ With due respect, four out of five in their freshman classes are Catholics. 1/4 of the incoming class are sons and daughters of alumni. Their Asian community is right in line with the overall population. How much more preference do you expect? Clearly they value SOMETHING more than that to fill a robust community of learners.
I recognize you are disappointed. But if anyone is being discriminated against, it’s the non-legacy, non-Catholic white kids.
We will never know if there is a bias at ND because we do not know the demographics and statistics of the applicant pool. We also do not know the religious makeup of those applicants, which is a major factor that ND considers. My guess is that the Asian applicant pool is less Catholic than the general pool, and the that factor alone may explain the lower Asian admission rates.
There is no question that non-legacy, non-white kids are discriminated against. Notre Dame has never said they prefer white kids whose parents went somewhere else. Our point is that Notre Dame has said they want minority, catholic, legacies. But when their Asian acceptance rate is about 25% of the acceptance of other top schools, it makes one wonder if they don’t like Asians. And it has nothing to do with the overall population - it has to do with their peer groups. Notre Dame loves to compare themselves to other top schools - but they sure don’t accept Asians like the other schools do. And you can’t say it’s because they aren’t Catholic, when the two people voicing concern in this thread are Asian Catholics with excellent academic records. If anyone has any evidence that they treat Asians like other top schools, we’d like to see it.
Where exactly did Notre Dame promise legacy, Catholic or minority was an automatic “in?” For that matter, where is the data that shows they admit a smaller percentage of qualified Asians? As mentioned previously, ND is not a typical target school for Asians the way the Ivies are; the pool of prime Asian applicants may necessarily be smaller, hence a smaller percentage at acceptance.
Here’s what ND does say, “Students admitted to Notre Dame also build strong extracurricular records, are dedicated, passionate leaders in their communities, creative intellectuals, and are evaluated positively by their guidance counselors and teachers. Finally, best-fit students reveal their personalities in well-written personal statements. Rather than tell us facts about themselves, they show us their uniqueness in a variety of different ways.”
Is it perfect? No application process is. Again, I am sorry you feel slighted. Or that you feel like they failed to honor some sort of a"payoff" in alumni donations. Or that they outright lied to you. I don’t think they did. Nobody likes to feel their kid didn’t measure up somehow. It’s hard to turn the lens inward. But can you read the previous paragraph and honestly say that your child definitely excelled in all those areas, and being Asian was their single weakness?
There are many on this thread who are thrilled that their hard work paid off. That ARE the people that ND wants to build their class. Please don’t let your disappointment spoil their great accomplishments.
I don’t want to go back and forth with you, since it’s not productive and we’re not sure how you are interpreting some of the comments. No one said anything about automatic - there are plenty of minority, catholic, legacies that don’t get in, of all stripes and colors. All we’ve said is they have stated a preference “There also are different cohorts who enjoy added consideration” — the sons and daughters of faculty, staff and benefactors, athletes and the children of alumni.”
No one said they admit fewer Asians; Notre Dame doesn’t provide the applicant pool details. We said there are far fewer Asians enrolled, which isn’t surprising given that fewer Asians are Catholic but surprising that Catholic Asians legacy would be denied when that is a stated cohort of “added consideration”.
And yes, I can honestly say that my child excelled in all those areas. That’s the whole point of this thread. If my kid was weak academically, or had minimal extracurriculars or leadership, or poor letters or essays, I wouldn’t be typing this. I’d be embarrassed and ashamed and keep quiet. I even understand that he wasn’t accepted despite all these things because a ton of great candidates got turned down. What I am saying is I’m surprised my child was rejected, because he had all the things Notre Dame said they want. I didn’t say it. Notre Dame said it. That’s all. Not sure why you can’t sympathize with that or understand.
Even if your chid has everything Notre Dame wants, the school still has more qualified applicants (with perks that they want) than they can admit. It’s unfortunate, but qualified kids of many races who are legacy and Catholic get rejected.
Unless you know the applicant pool statistics making claims based on race seems pre-mature.
^^ I do understand your disappointment. I would be disappointed too. My defensiveness really stems from a direct attack – “a joke” – on an institution I admire greatly.
I know your son will be (or already has been) accepted at another great college. And I believe he will continue to excel. I hope the sting of this experience fades for him, and you. God bless you and your family.
Oriental kids?