<p>All right, I saw the results thread and I feel like I got in on a fluke. I feel like I'm strong in areas like grades, rank, and extracurriculars, and my short answers but I feel like my SAT should have kept me out, especially considering all the other kids that I've seen get deferred now and in the past years. Maybe b/c I was the only one who applied from my school or maybe b/c of other reasons that I was able to get in. I'm happy about my acceptance but something about my profile and the acceptance makes me feel a little edgy. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Race: Vietnamese
State: Oregon
Economics: Lower middle class, applying for FA
Public High School, largest in the state actually, probably most competitive as well. Sends a lot of kids to top schools.
Applying for FA as well.
UW GPA: 3.82
W GPA: 4.227
Rank: 20/654
SAT: 2050 in one sitting: 700 CR, 660 Math, 690 Writing
SAT II: USH - 770, Bio - 720, Lit - 630 (took without any lit experience :/, was on a whim lol)
AP Classes taken by graduation (National AP Scholar now):
Government (sophomore)
Biology (sophomore)
Psychology (junior)
Chemistry (junior)
Economics (micro and macro) (junior)
English Language (junior)
United States History (junior)
Statistics (junior)
Calc AB (senior)
European History (senior)
English Literature (senior)
Spanish (senior)
Environmental Science (senior)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
4 years of speech and debate -- National qualifiers finalist in state, several other regional awards
3 years of MUN -- dedicated delegate .
1 year of National History Day State Champions in Website Design (qualify to natls)
1 year of Science Research w/ OHSU in Department of Behavioral Neuroscience (competed in district fair, got 2nd in category and "best of fair" finalist, qualified to state)
Journalism -- Business Manager
Co-founded the Mock Trial team at my school
Congressional Academy Participant (2 people from every state go)
150 hours of volunteering service at the Salvation Army over 3 summers</p>
<p>Intended Majors: Political Science and History</p>
<p>Your SAT may be on the low side, but your extracurriculars are stellar, your rank isn’t bad, you have a fairly demanding courseload, and your SAT II’s are good as well. Contrary to popular belief, SAT’s really aren’t the primary factor in admissions. And considering you want to be a liberal arts major, it’s likely they didn’t put much weight on your low math score.</p>
<p>That being said, you will likely never know exactly why ND accepted you.
My sense is that there is rarely one single reason; admissions is a holistic process, after all.</p>
<p>One of the terms for what you’re feeling right now “impostor syndrome,” i.e. asking yourself: “I don’t belong here, how did I ever get in, etc.” My advice is stop thinking that right now. Once you walk onto campus, high school doesn’t really matter. It’s an entirely new start; make the best of it.</p>
<p>Hmmm you and I are about the same in everything here, I got a 2080, have a bit better GPA, and about the same amount of extracurriculars though yours are stronger. However I was deferred :(</p>
<p>Be happy you were accepted and don’t question it, some of us have the joy of waiting for a few more months!</p>
<p>What he said^. Asians are noticeably underrepresented at ND. From the ND website: “The category of minorities includes Asian Americans, who traditionally have not been plentiful among Notre Dame undergrads.”</p>
<p>It’s true Asians have traditionally not been plentiful among Notre Dame undergrads; however, they are now actually overrepresented percentage-wise when compared to the US population (granted, this means they are still a very small percentage of the student body).</p>
<p>I’d guess you got in based on your other stats. As other posters have said, your SAT isn’t super stellar (it’s also not low enough to rule you out), but your AP course load is impressive and your ECs and everything else look good. Congratulations! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations Black’s Law. Don’t ever doubt yourself. If the school has accepted you its because they do believe that you will be a success. One thing I know about ND is that they take a lot of pride in their retention rate (98%). So if the time came when you struggled just ask your advisor for help and they are there for you 1000%! This I know for a fact. It’s not that they will just give you your grades but they will work very hard to set you up with private tutors, group tutorials, and one on one time with the professor. I know a freshman thats there now. She struggled with chem and calc. The first time she did poorly on a test, her advisor was calling her and emailing her to get together. By the time the freshman showed up for her appt. her advisor had a list of things all arranged and set up for her. The moral of this story is that the girl just got her grades for her first semester and she recd. a B- on both chem and calc and ended the semester with a 3.1 GPA. (She’s a science major taking 18 credits. The average GPA for freshman is a B-.) So she did very well. They were really supportive and did everything possible to help her succeed. She just needed the “desire” and stamina, which she had.</p>
<p>Never second guess yourself. If you like the school and have been accepted then its a good fit!!! Good Luck in your future.</p>
<p>your sat score in one sitting is higher than mine lol… I got in too :)
I think determining whether someone is “qualified” or not by just judging on one score is stupid and ND definitely knows that too.</p>
<p>I agree that the SAT isn’t the best tool or the only tool in terms of judging and maybe I put more weight on it than I should have. I just thought that I had no chance getting in considering I didn’t seem that special compared to a lot of other kids. Twas a bad judgment call.</p>
<p>I was deferred with a 34 on the ACT, 800 math II, 740 physics, and a 5 on AP calculus test in 10th grade (<-calculus, not the rest). Be happy man, as I doubt the SAT is a meaningful test anyway and not a very good representation of what else you have accomplished.</p>
<p>Congrats Black’s Law, but clearly your cirriculum and EC’s got you in. Of course my EC’s boil down to one sport that I wasn’t great in and 1 year participation in a few clubs. No leadership positions, and 30-something hours of community service. I don’t feel bad from taking the place of some other student. You shouldn’t either.</p>
Be happy man, as I doubt the SAT is a meaningful test anyway and not a very good representation of what else you have accomplished.</p>