Dream school advice

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

Can anyone help me out?

High School Junior at a catholic school in New York

Hooks: I am a URM (Hispanic), a first generation college student, musician, and I’m also adopted

SAT I (breakdown): didn’t take yet goal score of 1800 for May, goal score of 2200 by October

ACT (breakdown): not taking

SAT II: Taking US and Chem in June plan on above 700 on both

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesnt rank

Course Rigor: Frosh- Stage Band Honors, Integrated Geometry Advanced (took Algebra 1 in middle school). Sophmore- Biology Honors and Global History Honors, Junior Year: APUSH

AP: taking US in May

IB (place score in parenthesis): not available at my school

Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit AP Environmental AP Government Honors Calculus Business Law
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing too significant

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 150-200 volunteer hours, golf team, bodybuilding, peer tutoring 4 yrs of band, National Honor Society, Foreign Language Honor Society

Job/Work Experience: 3 years in 2 different businesses 20 hours per week during school 35 in the summer, National Honor Society, Foreign Language Honor Society

Summer Activities: Mainly my job, hope to go to business boot camp this summer at Molloy college.

Essays: I plan to talk about my adoption and how my work and volunteer experience has inspired my interests, and how Ive loved Notre Dame since i was 5.

2

Have you run the Net Price Calculator? Can your family afford ND?

3

If you can fit it in, I would suggest taking the ACT as well as the SAT. Most people do better on one than the other, and you can submit whichever test you score better on.

4

Agree with taking both ACT and SAT.
Work on raising GPA.

5

Not sure about your goals for the SAT. Going up by 400 seems a little unrealistic

6

Why do you anticipate such a rise in the SAT? Are you planning on taking it “cold”?

7

I know it is 8 months later… but year it is possible @Metz987
I got 1390 in June and in October I got 1750. Now I have 1950.

8

I hope you can raise your scores and have a chance for admission. But I would caution you (or anyone) against having ND or any other one school, especially a hyper-competitive school, as your “dream school.” The people I’ve seen most often hurt by the college admission process are the ones who latch onto one reach school as their dream and then either don’t get in or can’t afford to go. There are so many amazing colleges and universities out there so cast a wide net and find a group of schools that you can love.

9

I echo @Jea828 's advice to try the ACT. Get the big red ACT prep book (I think it is called the Real ACT Prep–just look on the ACT forum threads it is referred to a lot) and take the practice tests to prepare. Some students just do better on one test vs. the other. You may want to take it sooner, rather than later–if your first score is good, but not where you want it to be, you can prep for a 2nd try. You can definitely raise ACT scores with prep work.

To be realistic, your current stats are on the low side for ND, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have a shot. Definitely take time to craft essays that reflect “you”. ND will for sure look at the whole package and not just your stats.

Lastly, heed the advice from @happy1. As you continue your school search, concentrate on finding some schools that are a match for you. You are a good student and there lots of amazing schools where you can count on acceptance. Find at least one school in that range that you would be happy to attend. If you really let go of the ND being your dream school–you will probably find several. DS is a freshman at ND this year–but he definitely had some “safety” (I hate that word, but you know what I mean) schools that he would have been happy to attend. Good luck!