Hey guys! Rising senior here. I’m interested in majoring in CS, and Notre Dame is one of my top schools.
I was accepted into the ND Summer Scholars program this summer for the Research Computing track and I plan on attending it as the topic sounds interesting.
However, I’m wondering if I should put this program on my college apps? It definitely fits the bill of “expensive and not very selective summer program for rich kids” and I’m worried it would rub AO’s the wrong way or look like resume padding.
Plus, for schools that aren’t Notre Dame (My other reaches are Rice, Washu, etc) would it look bad and/or look like I’m obviously interested in ND over these schools? (which isn’t necessarily true, i’d probably pick Rice over ND but that’s beside the point).
Anyway, I’m probably wayyy overthinking this but some insight would be much appreciated.
tl;dr: should I put an expensive summer program on my application or will it just make me look like a spoiled rich kid lol
Yes you are. There is nothing wrong with being productive over the summer. The error would be if you thought this program would give you an admissions advantage at ND, which you know it won’t.
It’s a great way for you to learn if it’s really the school for you. It may help at UND…they’ll see you but will be minimized elsewhere but it won’t hurt. Many other elite colleges run similar programs.
I agree with other posters that it probably isn’t an admissions boost and it signals that you come from an affluent family, but it’s not a negative either. Remember that most colleges are “need aware” because they can’t afford not to be. In fact it looks to me from this list that both Notre Dame and WashU are need aware, whereas Rice is need blind. All 115 Need-Blind Colleges in the US: A Complete Guide