<p>We're all pretty aware that admissions to ND was extremely tough/competetive for the class of 2010, and consequently nobody was selected off the waitlist. Assuming that the number of applicants is going to be the same, if not greater, for this year, what's going to happen? Do you think the university will lower its acceptance rate during both EA and RD and use the waiting list more heavily in order to prevent an overfill in the class? Again, this is hypothetical guestimating here, I don't want to scare anybody, just think that we seniors should be prepared...?</p>
<p>I think admissions everywhere in top, competitive schools are going to be tough again this year. I think that I remember reading last year, after it being such a brutal admissions year, that the next few years were going to be tough. (Baby boomers kids coming of age, I guess?!?) But, do not let it discourage you. Just plan accordingly and keep bases covered in terms of reaches, matches and safeties. Can't really speculate about what ND will do this year other than to say that gut feeling is that they may play it safe to prevent over-admitting. I think living space has been tight this year and with no new dorms opening in the very near future, my guess is they will hopefully, play it safe. In fact, I imagine most colleges will take this approach.</p>
<p>I think the admissions rate will go down for both with a bigger wait list, and I do think kids will get in off the wait list this year. I don't see how the acceptance rate, at least at first, doesn't go down.</p>
<p>My rep said... that there are going to have to make "adjustments" for how many kids they accept this year........ wuteva tht means</p>
<p>They over enrolled by something like 70 students this year, although the majority of them were girls. The girls dorms are very cramped, with minimal disruption to guys dorms.</p>
<p>Thought I'd throw that out there.</p>
<p>well, I know for a fact that two students from NorCal (where I'm from) were committed to ND but backed out over the summer...so possibly the attrition rates went down? who knows...</p>
<p>I don't think any of you need anything else to make you more anxious about this process than you--and your parents--already are. I say this being right alongside you, waiting out the same thing on my daughter's behalf, knowing how much this means to my daughter. I went there, my son is there now, it would be such a good fit for her--I just know it. </p>
<p>But is in God's hands now. The apps, essays and letters are in. Within the next few weeks, committees will be reviewing applications and making decisions. At this point, there is nothing further any applicant can do.</p>
<p>Notre Dame is about faith. It doesn't necessarily have to be Roman Catholicism, but a faith that there is something deeper in life, something that matters more than what we achieve or accomplish. </p>
<p>A central premise of faith--one you come to believe in with much more certainty at the age of 44, because you have seen it proven so often--is that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it seems God has ignored our will and we feel crushed. Then a few years or decades later, when the big picture emerges, you realize that, like the Footsteps Prayer, God was with you all along. You just didn't understand that at the time.</p>
<p>Many of you kids are seniors in high school. You've done all that you can do now. Go out and have fun! Be a kid while you still can. You are the top of the heap at your school, the leaders. Many of you have driven your high school careers specifically to get into your dream school, whatever it might be. You've worked hard; you've compiled a great resume. </p>
<p>Life is too short to spend all of it looking ahead, sacrificing the now for the future. Obviously, you need to have goals. But you also have to make sure you enjoy the here and now on those occasions when you can. This is one of those times.</p>
<p>I cannot begin to tell you how much things have changed in high school since I was a kid. In a lot of ways, you kids have your acts together infinitely more than my generation did. In other ways, though, you have been driven so hard...too hard, too young. It isn't intentional on the part of your parents---myself included--a lot of us are just helping you make sure you keep up with the ridiculous pace that has somehow been set. </p>
<p>Best thing you could do is not try to somehow prove or disprove your theories on what admissions is thinking, and instead focus on some things you have denied yourself--a night out with friends, a good bath and a movie, that team you haven't gotten a chance to go and see play. Sit around and listen to music. Flirt with the opposite sex. Be the big cheese of the school that you, as seniors, are.</p>
<p>What you kids now call "senioritis" is what we kids of the 70's used to call "high school".</p>
<p>you're absolutely right. That was very encouraging. Now, I can get pumped for homecoming W00T!</p>