Early action or regular decision for Notre Dame

I am considering applying to Notre Dame early action, but I am wondering if it would be better to wait for regular decision so that I can raise my gpa. My currents stats are 3.83 uw, 4.25 w, and a 1580 sat. I’m taking 5 APs this year (9 total).

My grades have been really good this semester, so I’m wondering if it would be beneficial to wait until regular decision to apply because I had a couple Bs last year. Several other people from my school are applying early action, and they have slightly higher gpas, if that matters.

Nothing else about my application is likely to change between cycles besides my gpa.

@nats1131 - I would say it depends on your commitment to wanting to go to Notre Dame. Historically, ND admits more students in EA than in RD. Does that improve your chances? No idea. The “strong finish” GPA increase may help, but you put yourself in a larger applicant pool going after fewer slots.

It gets back to how bad do you want it. What school is your alternate for your EA app? At any of the selective schools, your desire to go to the school must show through in everything you do. Notre Dame is no different.

ND Admission reps are historically very open to discussing application strategies – EA vs. RD with applicants from their territory. Consider emailing your geographic rep and asking for advice, given your profile.

If Notre Dame is one of your top choices and you don’t have another school that you might otherwise apply Early Decision to, ABSOLUTELY apply EA to ND! At this point in your high school career, even a 4.0 this Fall is not going to move your cummulative GPA very much…and it is already excellent and well within ND’s range for acceptance. And it is only one piece of the puzzle. 3.83/4.25 checks the box. So does a 1580! The rest of your application will determine your success in gaining admission to Notre Dame.

So why EA?

  1. A higher percentage of students are admitted. One could debate whether these students are "self-selected superior applicants" or "recruited athletes" or other reasons for the higher admission rate, but my gut tells me it is more than that. Why? See point 2.
  2. Applying EA to Notre Dame sends a very strong signal that ND is among your top choices, if not your top choice, and that you are prepared to defer applying to top ED/SCEA schools in favor of applying to Notre Dame. ND enjoys a very high yield from its applicants admitted in EA, because such applicants really want to attend ND - and are prepared to sacrifice other opportunities (ED/SCEA at other top schools). If you want to go to ND, you want to send that signal and be considered part of that group.
  3. ND admissions officers are very receptive however they will all tell you that you gain no advantage applying early and that if you would have been admitted in EA, you would be admitted in RD. Very few schools will admit that they are slightly (or a lot) more lenient in their early rounds as a trade off for the higher yields they get from that. Obviously ED/SCEA is different that EA.....but for Notre Dame, EA provides a similar yield benefit to the university.

My son is a Junior at Notre Dame and was admitted EA. We were not terribly familiar with ND academically (we are from CA) and having the winter to visit, participate in EA admitted students receptions, and attend classes with students allowed him to get very comfortable. His approach was not to apply ED anywhere (there was no single school that motivated him to do so) but, rather, to apply EA everywhere (ND, BC, Georgetown, Michigan, UVA, etc.). He ended up having several excellent choices by Christmas which made for a great Senior year in high school!

Best of luck!

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I love ND–and will apply REA. I have a 4.5 weighted average and will not be sending SAT scores (never got to take). I have taken 6 AP, Top Five in Class, Captain of 2 sports (All State in 1) , 3 year Class officer, President of National Honor Society, Church Council. Do I stand a chance?

jam0967 - I sure hope so, because my daughter is in much the same boat. Straight A student, has taken just about all the AP classes that are offered, top 5 in her class, captain of 2 sports, participates in 3 sports, president of National Honor Society, etc.

To the OP’s question, the admissions presentation I saw basically said if you have nothing more to add to your application, i.e. it couldn’t get any stronger between now and January or whatever, apply EA. In your case, it sounds like you might expect your GPA to strengthen so I would wait. Of course, I am replying here November 1st, so you either made your decision or not at this point most likely.

The counselor we met with did say EA students tend to have a higher admissions percentage, but he said that was normally because the stronger applicants apply EA, fwiw.

Good luck to all. Will be an interesting and tense 6 weeks or so at our house waiting for an answer now. Submitted our application 10/31.