<p>I have lurked on this site for about three years since I discovered it after my son, now a junior, was already accepted EA at his long time dream school, Notre Dame. My senior daughter was very disappointed when she opened her small envelope on Monday not to be offered an acceptance but, instead, offered a position on the waiting list. After reading the article in the Observer yesterday she gained some perspective and we came to some conclusions.</p>
<p>According to the following article, Admissions</a> office mails 3,523 acceptance letters - News</p>
<p>"Additionally, about 23 percent of the members of the incoming class are children of alumni, all 50 states will be represented in the incoming class, 24 percent belong to an ethnic minority background and 4 percent are international students."</p>
<p>3,523 students were offered admission to ND out of 14,000. So we worked the math:
810 Legacy (23% of 3523)
846 URM (24% of 3523)
141 International Students (4% of 3523)
352 Recruited Athletes (10% of 3523 - guessed - anyone know?)</p>
<p>2149 of the accepted students had a hook. That leaves 1,374 spots left for anyone without a hook (not sure how to quantify numbers admitted because they "know someone" or have donated gobs of money). Now you have to divide that number by two because they keep the class balanced by sex to she had to be one of the top 687 "no hook" girls who applied. IT IS TOUGH!</p>
<p>She is grateful to be on the waiting list and will do everything she can to get in but to her credit she has started to look forward and look at the great schools she did get admitted to.</p>