don't kill me--chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
21

<p>First of all, chillin, let me state unequivocally that, at some time in your life, you <em>will</em> be rejected. Second, let me also state unequivocally that I hope that the rejection doesn't come from the University of Notre Dame!</p>

<p>That being said, the prospect of rejection is, many times, worse than the experience of it. Further, the time spent fretting over the prospect of a rejection that has not occurred and may not ever occur is time wasted in a none-too-pleasant way.</p>

<p>My grandfather, a first generation American who fled political oppression in Albania in the 1920's, had a great philosophy. Simply put, no matter who you are or what you are, there is always someone somewhere smarter than you or better off than you. There is also always someone somewhere dumber or worse off than you are. The moral of the story is too never be too full of your own accomplishments or woes, as there is always a greater superlative to you out there. </p>

<p>Put another way, everybody meets his Waterloo some day or another. You will, too. Heck, chillin, I was an ND Scholar, one of only 300 women admitted to the class that year; I was valedictorian of a blue ribbon brainiac all-girls Catholic prep school. I was a big cheese. Since then, I have experienced rejection and disappointment plenty of times, and have lived to tell the tale of it. It has, in fact, made me a better person. Looking back over 44 years of living, I can tell you without question that I have learned far more about the stuff I'm made of through my setbacks than my accomplishments. </p>

<p>I think it's great to set goals; to, as you say "put your mind to something....(and) accomplish it". Nothing wrong with shooting for the stars. Obviously, you've aimed high for quite some time, and reached the places you've wanted to go. Your accomplishments may tell me where your talents lie, but it is the fact that you are willing to put yourself on the line by aiming high, that tells me where your moxie lies.</p>

<p>If you can accomplish all that you have, do you have any reason to believe you cannot accomplish overcoming your setbacks? Why on earth are you worried? </p>

<p>Granted, we middle-aged parent types don't have our whole lives ahead of us like your generation does. We don't have that youthful look or the boundless energy you all seem to have. What we do have is the understanding--borne of living through it--that human beings are amazingly resilient. Maybe there are 17 year-olds out there who haven't ever experienced rejection--although I find it hard to believe that if you really looked at your life you could still say that--but I can pretty darned near guarantee there's none of us in the die-the-grey-roots crowd that haven't. We all get through it. It makes us better people.</p>

<p>I don't say this to prepare you for eventual rejection from ND because, quite frankly, I don't imagine that's going to happen. I say it, rather, so you don't worry needlessly about your ability to handle rejection when it inevitably comes in some form...because you are endowed by your Creator with the tools to handle it...</p>

22

<p>WoW DD you always make sense.... </p>

<p>If you can accomplish all that you have, do you have any reason to believe you cannot accomplish overcoming your setbacks? Why on earth are you worried? </p>

<p>Of course I have had some sorts of rejection... but theres not to many things that Ive wanted more than I want Notre Dame.....</p>

<p>I think that the fact that Im on this board attributes to that....</p>

<p>Its because I get to talk about my fav subject- and thats Notre Dame</p>

<p>I guess I was exaggerating when I said that I never expierenced rejection..... </p>

<p>Im really confused with this though, because when I think of me not going to ND I immediatly feel "bad"</p>

<p>Im a competitive person- its just the way my family has risen me and just comes with being an athlete..... it kills me to think that theres someone out there who is going to take my spot and you nail it right on the dot when you talk about your Grandfather's words...</p>

<p>So i totally agree with you DD, But I was just trying to say that I am going to do everything in my power (within limits) to accomplish this goal....</p>

<p>DD, I completely agree with you, But I am sure that you had some similiar feelings as i do before you applied to ND.... right?</p>

23

<p>i got a 1390 and got in EA. i hope that makes everyone feel better. i seriously don't think ND stresses sats all that much. i think your hs transcript, recomendations, and extracurriculars are pretty important. for the essays, be honest, be yourself. my essays werent that great now that i think about it. i used the same essays i wrote for uchicago and got deferred there...so idt all if schools look for the same thing.</p>

24

<p>If you got deferred from Chicago with your essay, then it's got to be at least good.</p>

25

<p>My D. got into ND EA with a 1430, a recycled essay, and similar grades and ECs to yours OP. Don't stress it. Be yourself, be genuine, and know that wherever you end up you'll be fine. </p>

<p>This is my mantra because D. reminds me almost every day: "we'll be FINE MOM!!" </p>

<p>She just did not stress much (outwardly, although she confessed to an overwhelming sense of relief when she got her first acceptance letter!) and her mantra was that she was capable, she would do well wherever she went, and any of her schools would be a good place for her. It appeared to me that she did not spend enough time on her EA schools' essay--she just grabbed a topic off the Stanford app and used that figuring she could recycle it later for Stanford. We had a couple of arguments over that one, but she turned out to be right--it was the right topic for HER, and it probably stood out a bit since it was so personal and such a microtopic that it put the reader inside her head. She wasn't afraid to paint herself as human, with her own set of anxieties, but also wrote about what overcoming her anxiety taught her. </p>

<p>I think that after reading these boards you can become TOO pessimistic and TOO anxious that you are not perfect enough. Like D. said when she sent off her app to MIT: "somebody's got to get accepted, why not me?"</p>

26

<p>somebody's got to get accepted, why not me?"</p>

<p>nice quote.....puts it into perspective....</p>

<p>O well...
I think im extra stressed right now cuz ive got the sats coming up... but after that its baseball season, and im sure my worrying will float away</p>

27

<p>i had a 1300 and got in EA if that puts it in perspective...</p>

<p>Actually, I only took the SAT once- i was actually one of three who took it on that particular date- EVERYONE takes the ACT here in West Central Illinois. </p>

<p>My ACT was the score that gave me the credentials- 32, which is still average or just below it by about .1. Test scores won't make or break you I don't think, my essay made my app i firmly believe.</p>

28

<p>Actually, chillin, I never set foot on the Notre Dame campus until after I was accepted. I was a big NFL football fan, but neither knew nor cared a whit about college football. I had an aunt that is a nun who got a master's there, but I never gave that much thought, either...I figured all nuns got master's somewhere to have something to do when kids were out of school. Other than that, there wasn't a soul in my family tree that had ever attended Notre Dame.</p>

<p>I had never much considered where I was going to go to college prior to my senior year, which was not all that uncommon in those days. I'd gone on a Close Up trip to Washington D.C. in January of my junior year, so I sent my SAT scores to Georgetown and Catholic University of America, convinced as I was back then that I was going to be a senator someday (ha!) I visited Benedictine College in KS, which has about 1,000 kids, because they had some recruiting bus trip that was free--I went to two kegger parties and got to stay in a dorm and for two days, I was going to go there. I considered Harvard because it sounded good and they'd sent out a recruiting letter. I had a rotating "college du jour" in those days. My father basically felt that an Ivy league education would turn me into a communist (older I get, more I see his point :)), and told me I could apply anywhere, but if it wasn't within a two hour drive of St. Louis, he wasn't going to pay for it, nor was he going to fill out a FAFSA so I could get any aid. Not to mention putting my own fifty bucks up for the app. I didn't care THAT much about Ivy's anyway...they'd sounded cool to me was all. As a compromise, I just didn't apply anywhere.
It was only October, what was the rush?</p>

<p>My swim coach was a St. Mary's College graduate and suggested I go to SMC. I told her I'd rather pull out my fingernails one by one with a tetanus-infected pliers than spend another minute at an all-girls school. I'd heard Notre Dame was co-ed, so figured I'd apply there. I got an app, filled it out, did a typewriter composition essay which was earnest, but nonetheless replete with typos and strikeovers as it was, after all, a first draft, and turned it in to my guidance counselor the next day. She was horrified by the presentation. I told her that I didn't care to attend any university that judged my typing skills rather than my thoughts and sent it in as is. Mom wrote the check for the fee, figuring dad might relent a bit because it was, after all, Catholic...and how could I experience any decadence or corruption with all those priests and nuns up there? (If only they knew...)</p>

<p>I do remember a vague anxiety going out to get the mail, waiting for a letter to come, but I don't know that I was even aware of why I was so anxious. No one talked much about college admissions, at least that I remember. It was a Charlie Brown world back then; parents did their thing and stayed off in the distance while kids did theirs. Plusses and minusses to that, I guess.</p>

<p>In any case, I do remember getting the letter. I was pretty excited--very excited, in fact. I don't know how much of it was that I really wanted to go there, and how much because the principal was insistent that a smart*** like me would never get in there. The ND Scholar thing just made it sweeter.</p>

<p>Then my dad said it was too far from home, and I wasn't going. My guidance counselor actually called my house and read him the riot act; he hung up on her. He relented and went up with me and my mom for a campus visit, and proceeded to spend about $100 (a lot of money then!) in the bookstore, which was the unspoken signal that this stubborn German had given in...</p>

<p>I was infinitely more anxious about my son's and daughter's application process than I was my own, maybe because I knew how much it meant to them. Unlike me, they'd grown up with it... </p>

<p>Now, we get an eight-year hiatus before we have to mess with the college app thing with our ten year-old. </p>

<p>Hallelujah!</p>

29

<p>"My father basically felt that an Ivy league education would turn me into a communist (older I get, more I see his point ),"
- hahah wow that gave me a chuckle</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing DD, you are an amazing person and your kids must be so happy to have you as their mon</p>

<p>O, and about your 10 year old son--- start drilling those vocab words with him, memorizing geometric equations, practice essays..... sats are coming up for him---hahaahha</p>

30

<p>You always make me smile, too, chillin!</p>

<p>I have amazing kids and feel blessed to have them. I have great relationships with them, which I also feel blessed to have.</p>

<p>The 10 year-old son right now is specializing in the construction and re-construction of the Bionicle, as well as anything involving running around and a ball. His favorite subjects are PE, kickball and lunch. He's got the charm and social thing down...</p>

31

<p>ahaha ya </p>

<p>Theres quite a large age difference in your children... like 20-10.....</p>

<p>same in my familu --- it makes things interesting---</p>

32

<p>So where are you in the birth order mix?</p>

33

<p>i am 18 and my little brother is 6, we have the same birthday, well almost only 1 day apart to make it exactly 12 years.</p>

34

<p>So, have you noticed a change in parenting standards from your six-hood to his? My Domer and Domer-to-be are quite emphatic that we are quite a bit more lax with their little brother than we were with them... We tell them it's basically because we didn't know what we were doing then, and they were our guineau pigs as we tried to figure it out--plus we are older than dirt now :) !</p>

35

<p>Im the middle child.... take that for what its worth</p>

<p>Brother -20
me-17...almost
sister- 14
younger sister-11</p>

<p>ya... there def more lax with the girls of the family....... the one thats younger than me is a nationally recognized volleyball player... so i guess school really isnt part of the picture for her.. ahah</p>

<p>the youngest one can do pretty much anything she wants while me and my brother are usually scrutinized much harsher</p>

<p>I would even say that it is easier to get a green card coming from mexico as it is to get 5 dollars out of my parents</p>

36

<p>"the youngest one can do pretty much anything she wants while me and my brother are usually scrutinized much harsher"</p>

<p>Okay, chillin'--fess up...have you been secretly communicating with my kids? You are singing the same tune :)</p>

37

<p>hahaha....</p>

<p>well its true!</p>

38

<p>I was actually much stricter and more overprotective of my younger kids 11 yrs between number 2 and 3 the discussion in my house is is my son favored over my 4 daughters Of course I say no</p>

39

<p>as to the horray on the acceptance on January SAT scores, im with you there, i have another chance too. :) Also, very nice stats, and good luck with acceptance.</p>

40

<p>im one of 5.
bother-27
sister-26
brother-22
me-18
brother-14</p>

<p>our parents are definetly alot more lax with the girls. they are much more harsh on how my brothers act and what they do than us. I guess its just because we're over all more responsible, haha.</p>