How strong is my connection? Chances? Please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>So ND is my TOP choice, and I will be applying Early Action. I feel like I would be competitive, and like most college-bound seniors, I am stressing about college. I know it's impossible to say whether or not I am going to get in, but please offer any input you may have...</p>

<p>So I have a connection, but I don't really want to give his name for personal reasons. He is a Trustee Emeritus at ND, CEO of Gulf Oil Company and Owner/CEO of Hood Inc. He is a billionaire, and has donated BIG MONEY to the university. (We're talking hundreds of millions+).He has an award named after him that if given out to professors that are recognized for excellent teaching in their respective fields. He also has a hefty department at the school named after him. (Ok, so if you really want to know who, I've made it pretty easy to find out). But anyways, he is a family friend of ours, has a grandson at ND right now, I go to school with his granddaughter, and he is friends with my Grandma. So can he seal the deal for me? From what I've heard he is a big deal around ND.</p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 4.3
School doesn't rank, but in Top 5%
ACT: 32</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshman year=All honors (No AP's offered)
Sophomore year=All honors (No AP's offered)
Junior year=AP US History (5 on exam) and all honors (No more AP's offered)
Senior year=AP Gov, AP Environmental Science, AP Stats, and all honors</p>

<p>Sports:
Captain and four year member of varsity hockey team.
Member of golf team.
Member of two time State Champion lacrosse team. (4 yrs)</p>

<p>Community service:
1000+ hours in Gulf of Maine Institute environmental protection group presenting to numerous congressmen in the USA and Canada, and also featured on CBS' The Early Show. Started in 7th grade.
200+ hours as Religious Education teacher for three years.
100+ hours in numerous soup kitchens and service projects through Campus Ministry.</p>

<p>Honors/Awards:
National Honors Society
Spanish National Honors Society
Wells College Leadership Scholarship (20K/yr)
Extracurricular Award
Sophomore Class Award
Coaches Award for hockey
Varsity Letters
Campus Ministry Leadership Award</p>

<p>Clubs/Hobbies:
Gulf of Maine Institute (mentioned above).
Political Club
Environmental Club
Spanish Club
Saints for Life Club (Pro-life club)-->President
History Club
Campus Ministry-->Leadership team
Youth Ministry (Local church)-->Leadership team
Philosophy Club</p>

<p>I have been an upperclass mentor for freshman for two years, along with being a student ambassador for my school which entails going to middle schools and recruiting/advertising the school.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>"So I have a connection, but I don't really want to give his name for personal reasons..."
Um, yea, that took about one google & a look at the N.D. website to get this guy's name....</p>

<p>Either a troll....or you should be on your knees to Our Lady, praying the guy doesn't read CC....</p>

3

<p>Well, I would say that if your connection is really that influential, he would probably be able to give you a more definite answer than any of us here as to whether he can guarantee you an acceptance or not. I personally do not know how his input would affect the application process; I'm guessing it wouldn't hurt. Your application looks solid on its own, and I would venture to say that if you put some time in on those essays you'll have a sporting chance regardless of connections.</p>

4

<p>Your stats look good. Can't really say how much your connection would help. You should probably ask him. Though since he's not related to you, unless he says "let this kid in or I'll stop giving money" it might not have that much of an effect.</p>

5

<p>There are no guarantees in college admissions no matter how strong the connection. That being said, I would strongly encourage you to think carefully about your essay and how you write it. Believe it or not, the essay does play an important role in admissions no matter what your connections are or how high your ACT score is. Put some careful thought into that essay!</p>

6

<p>ND won't be pressured by these connections, also little real leadership and just OK on your scores</p>

7

<p>Hmmm, little real leadership? Captain of Division I Varsity hockey team for two years, President of a school club, campus ministry leadership team member (and award), youth ministry leadership team member, working with senators (Kerry, Kennedy, Sununu, and Lieberman) and house representatives in dealing with environmental issues (how many high schoolers do you know that meet with senators on a monthly basis?), recipient of Well College LEADERSHIP scholarship, and over 1250 hours of community service? Maybe I'm missing something here....</p>

8

<p>just being a gopher for congressman doesn't count, let's be real, even college graduates working on "the hill" don't get any positons of responsibility....the key here is leadership with your peers, did they elect you to any school positions, like student body president? varstiy team captain is usually based on if you are the best athlete and also if your dad is the president of the booster club....the natual leaders show up by election by their peers, even trivial things like being the homecoming king shows popularity among your peers and being a natural leader....also , ND is conservative, working for Kerry or Kennedy would be not a good choice, though Lieberman is OK. Also, take the ACT again, try for 34 or higher,</p>

9

<p>Trust me I know that ND is conservative, and that is its biggest appeal for me. I wrote my essay on how I met the Pope on two different occasions and how important my Catholic faith is to me. I am VERY conservative. The only reason that I had to work with these senators is because I live Massachusetts, so Kerry and Kennedy are there by default. I go to school in NH so I had the privilege to work with an ultra-conservative Senator (Sununu), and Lieberman was also a privilege when my group made our bi-monthly trips to Connecticut. And it wasn't so much being their "gophers." We actually presented to them, told them what was going on, and they asked us questions about what they could do to help. We weren't working for them, but with them. </p>

<p>And just a side note, the whole best athlete thing for Captain, that is hardly true. There is NO WAY that I am the best player on my team, but I was elected by my teammates for my junior and senior year because of my dedication and effort in trying to get better. </p>

<p>Thank you for the feedback though.</p>

10

<p>mooseman -</p>

<p>I am just very interested and sincere about this question - Where do you find the time to do all of these activities as well as school work? Whenever I read the stats of students who want to get "chanced", I notice that the majority of them are usually involved in sports as well as community service, etc and I wonder where they have the time.</p>

<p>My oldest son, who is now a sophomore at college, was a three sport athlete in high school - Football, Basketball, Baseball(in 9th and 10th grade) and Track(in 11th and 12th). Each of these sports had practices and games that requird him to devote 6 days a week to them(Monday-Saturday). During the week, my son would not get home any earlier than 6:00-6:30pm from practices and later if there were games. He had a very rigorous class schedule(all honors and APs) so he often had lots of homework each night. He was able to maintain a weighted GPA of 4.76. He was involed in leadership organizations within the school and many of those meetings were held at 7:00am, before school started at 8:00am. On Sundays, he worked at his job.<br>
I honestly observed that he basically had no time to commit to much community service and many other activities due to his class schedule, his sports and his various school leadership programs. But I have noticed that many students seem to be involved in sooo many activities (many more so than my son) and I was just wondering when these students have the time to do all of these things, especially in regards to maintaining a very good gpa??
I suggested to my son to write about his situation in his essay - How although he didn't devote much time to "outside" activities due to his time restraints, that he could write about how is was a positive role model within his school community and how that may influence other students, who look up to him, to become positive role models within their community. He chose a different topic though and is attending his first choice school.
I know this isn't under the appropriate thread but I was just wondering...</p>

11

<p>"And it wasn't so much being their "gophers." We actually presented to them, told them what was going on, and they asked us questions about what they could do to help. We weren't working for them, but with them."</p>

<p>I would suggest that you do NOT make this claim in your essay, because you will lose credibility with your admissions reader. High school students work "for" and not "with" members of Congress, and many (if not most) of them get these opportunities because of connections, not credentials. </p>

<p>Also, I'd limit the club list to those in which your involvement was substantial. There are only 24 hours in a day, and, as the previous poster noted, you can't possibly have put significant time into all of them.</p>

12

<p>heycow-I agree, it is very demanding to maintain grades, sports, extracurriculars, and community service, but it can be done. My sports schedule is very rigorous, but in it's own way. Rather than practice after school, I practice before school for hockey, so I am free every single day after school to participate in clubs, do community service, and most importantly do my homework. It is extremely hard, but the reason I have put myself in a tough schedule is because I knew it would eventually pay-off when I was applying to colleges. It wasn't easy, but hopefully it's worth it. </p>

<p>claremarie-Thanks for the advice. My essay actually has no emphasis on working with Senators. My essay is on my faith and how I traveled to Germany in 2005 and Australia in 2008 for World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI, and how I personally met him on both occasions. Because of Notre Dame's heavy emphasis on spirituality in the Catholic faith, and my own valued faith, I thought it would be fitting. It is a well-written essay, and I agree that harping on the Senators would be boring and rather dull. On the common app I did not list every single club, just the important ones. Thanks for the advice though!</p>

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<p>mooseman--I noticed that you said ND is your top choice, but on your stats profile you've listed it as your #5 with UPenn #1. I'm not out to question your motives or anything of that sort, but I was just curious what your plans are for your college career. What are you looking to study?</p>

14

<p>Well that was the case until I went out to visit ND, so now it is my top choice. I'm not even applying UPenn anymore, along with a few other schools. I'm applying to ND Early Action and then if I don't get in I will be applying to other schools. ND is the only school I'm applying early to. Things change when you visit schools, and that's what happened at Notre Dame.</p>

15

<p>You are aware, I assume, that ND's EA is non-binding so you could apply early to any other schools that are non-binding as well, just to keep your bases covered-of course! Just hope you're not putting your eggs in one basket; as I mentioned in earlier post, there are no guarantees in college admissions!!</p>

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<p>Oh I know, I just don't want to waste $1000 for applications if I have no intention of going to some schools, so if I do not get into ND then I will mail in Regular Decision applications to other schools for the Dec 31/Jan 1 deadlines. I just don't want to make my parents throw a ton of money into applications that will HOPEFULLY not mean anything.</p>

17

<p>mooseman--it's funny that you say that, because that's exactly what happened to me when I visited ND haha. It wasn't even on my list until I visited and fell in love with it. It's pretty much the only school I want to go to now. I'm betting you can relate :)</p>

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<p>Sure can, good luck to you in applying!</p>

19

<p>Same to you!</p>