I Will Be the 2nd RUDY

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
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<p>“It needs to be catholic/Christian college.”</p>

<p>Really?</p>

<p>Look man, I think it’s cool that you’ve worked so hard to turn your academic career around. You actually inspired me to get out my 2004 Notre Dame Transfer Facebook (back when a facebook was a real book and not Mark’s billion dollar bank). Do you know how many came from CCs? Three. Out of 121 total. Now that doesn’t mean much - who knows how many applied from CCs vs. traditional four years? But it shows you that it IS (or at least WAS) possible to transfer from a CC. But yeah, it’s definitely not the norm. And I can almost guarantee those three kids had 4.0s from their respective CCs.</p>

<p>“I think my story would really open the admissioners at nd’s eyes when they see what I’ve been through.”</p>

<p>Maybe. They read a lot of applications. And loads of them are full of the same sort of stuff.</p>

<p>So go ahead and apply. See what happens. But I would maybe consider waiting a year. It’s frankly creepy how fixated you are on ND - try not to let that come across in your personal essay (and for the LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT BRING UP RUDY ON ANY PART OF YOUR APP. UNLESS YOUR GOAL IS GETTING YOUR APPLICATION LAUGHED OUT OF THE OFFICE). It’s a good school and all, but it’s far from perfect and you don’t want to put it too high up. With regards to the Christian stuff…eh. If you’re active with your faith and do stuff like volunteer, that’s better than just talking about how religious you are.</p>

<p>Here’s what hurts you: your high school grades, your attendance at a CC (as opposed to a traditional four year), your fairly weak college course load (sorry, others talked about it and it’s true), and your test scores. In fact, it might not hurt for you to retake the ACT and submit new scores (or just take the SAT and submit that). Have you thought about that? Your positives are an okay CC GPA, and maybe a good essay if you frame it right (and drop the Rudy-shtick). The swimming doesn’t matter unless you’ve been personally contacted by a coach. Also, ND is pretty f’ing expensive. Do you have a plan for paying for it? They do offer pretty decent aid, but you still have to figure that part out. Transfer students usually don’t get housing on campus either. Are you okay with that? Have you ever lived in an apartment, paid bills, and taken care of yourself? If so, you’re already ahead of the curve.</p>

<p>Also, and please don’t take this personally (seriously), but it would be FAR FAR easier to read your posts if you broke them up into paragraphs. Good luck with everything.</p>

<p>Edit: Almost forgot. Your dream of going to ND doesn’t end with undergrad you know. With all this doggerel about swimming/RUDY/ND/etc., I don’t have much of an impression of what you actually want to do academically (something about psychology? Which DEFINITELY requires at least a masters to be worth anything). Regardless, Notre Dame has pretty decent graduate schools in a lot of fields. You can always transfer to some other four year school, get your BS or BA (and continue to have a strong college GPA), then apply to ND for a masters or PhD or something. Graduate admissions doesn’t care about high school AT ALL. It’s not even brought up. </p>

<p>My dream in high school was to go to Princeton, but I never had near the stats for that. So I went there for a masters instead. It worked out. So you can still go to ND, even if an undergraduate degree isn’t an option for you.</p>

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<p>Here, check this out:</p>

<p>[Admissions</a> Statistics // Admissions // University of Notre Dame](<a href=“http://admissions.nd.edu/admission-and-application/admissions-statistics/]Admissions”>http://admissions.nd.edu/admission-and-application/admissions-statistics/)</p>

<p>The important point is here:</p>

<pre><code>* AVERAGE COLLEGE GPA: 3.69

  • AVERAGE SAT COMPOSITE: 1284
  • AVERAGE ACT COMPOSITE: 28
  • AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL RANK: 15%
    </code></pre>

<p>So so far at least you have the college GPA. But your high school stats are going to murder you. Retake the ACT, or SAT, if you’re even remotely serious about this. Anything else is a waste of money.</p>

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<p>Ok I wanted to retake my act/sat but I thought once your in college, you can’t retake them. I actually thought about taking them. And the money situation, I got to say, it’s university of f’ing Notre dame. A degree from und is like a golden ticket and the exp at the college is amazing so I would think going in debt would be fine by me. O btw, just got back my midterm grades and currently my GPA is a 3.86. Found out I’m in the top %3 in my cc.</p>

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<p>[ACT</a> FAQ : Who can take the ACT?](<a href=“http://www.actstudent.org/faq/answers/eligible.html]ACT”>http://www.actstudent.org/faq/answers/eligible.html)</p>

<p>You can retake it even as a high school graduate. </p>

<p>“A degree from und is like a golden ticket and the exp at the college is amazing so I would think going in debt would be fine by me.”</p>

<p>Uh, trust me, it’s not. I have a bachelors degree from ND. It’s pretty useful. But it doesn’t just get me into any job or a bunch of money. People don’t just hand me job offers. It depends a lot on what you major in too. I did chemical engineering, so I’m pretty set. You want to do psychology, which is notorious for hardship with only a bachelors degree (even from glorious Notre Dame). I’m not saying you shouldn’t take out loans, just think carefully about it.</p>

<p>As far as the experience goes, it’s all personal I guess. I had a good time at Notre Dame, but I had better times at other schools.</p>

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<p>here are some swimming recruiting guidelines … [Swimming</a> Recruiting Guidelines](<a href=“http://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting-tools/College-Swimming-Recruiting/swimming-recruiting-guidelines]Swimming”>http://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting-tools/College-Swimming-Recruiting/swimming-recruiting-guidelines) … I now squat about recruiting for swimming but I do know the guidelines for track & field on this site are pretty solid.</p>

<p>(PS - I am a believer in fit and even dream schools … that said for any dream school I believe there are at least 10-15 schools that would be a great proxy for that dream school … in other words, I agree with others that you should look at more schools than just ND)</p>

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<p>darkdragon, I am starting to think that your post is sounding a tad “trollish”. As a full pay parent, let me give you some food for thought. The fact that you are just “fine” going into debt for an ND diploma is questionable. No one is fine with what amounts to a quarter of a million dollars for a degree. I do it because I can, but in no way am I “fine” with it. I wouldn’t be fine with it if I was Bill Gates but that is another discussion. And…I am under no delusion that after I spend that money, that it is in any way, shape or form, a golden ticket to anything! In this economy more often than not, it is who you know not what you know, that gets you a job. Do I think that an ND degree is impressive and may open a door or two. Yes, with the right people. But don’t delude yourself into thinking that an ND diploma puts you on the road to easyville.</p>

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<p>Just found out my GPA right now is a 3.874.</p>

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<p>I just got accepted into ND, but I’ll give you my honest opinion:</p>

<p>First of all, good job on your GPA! I think it’s inspiring and truly amazing that you were able to turn around like that. If you continue with a strong GPA and retake the SAT or ACT and get great score, you might have a better chance. Especially with the SAT/ACT. If I were an admissions officer and saw that you had, let’s say a 2100+ or 32+, I would think that you really turned yourself around. But it’s hard to say, since I’m not an admissions officer, and there are obviously tons of qualified people applying to ND. </p>

<p>I think that your whole background and everything may give you a better chance, but remember that you’re not the only one with hardships. Not every college applicant is a rich white kid. People come from the ghetto, deal with deaths(like you have), have other hardships, etc. And it does make it easier to get in, but you still have to prove yourself to ND. </p>

<p>Also, please don’t be ridiculous. APPLY FOR SAFETY SCHOOLS. If you’re just trying to prove that a kid from CC can make it to a good college, why not try for other schools too? You know that there’s a chance that you won’t ever get into ND for undergrad, so why take that chance? You can still apply every year, but please be smart and apply for safeties too.</p>

<p>And I agree with the other posters. You say that taking on the college debt is worth it for ND. Sure, I guess. But for philosophy? Not so sure about that one…Might want to rethink what major you want to take. Something that might actually pay off your college loans. No offense. </p>

<p>Anyway, I wish you good luck! Keep working hard, and try to open yourself up to other colleges too.</p>

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<p>Ok well it’s hard to find a decent college, or any college I want to go to around here. I mean, if anything, the only school I want to go is probably Cornell in the new York area. Niagara university is a private catholic college but I don’t like it much. It’s nothing to look at. And thank you, I do want to take way more rigorous courses such as physics. Other than that, Thrs not a college I’m Rly interested in sad to say… University of buffalo I don’t like, it’s not what I pictured to be a college. But what do you expect from a state university… Pretty much the. Colleges I want are those prestigious colleges like Notre dame and Georgetown. O btw, if any of you guys think I’m going bc of my gf, well here’s a little update. We broke up, but that didn’t kill my motivation to go Notre dame. I’m still trying.</p>

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<p>Have you looked into Fordham University? It’s a private Catholic university in NY, and it’s easier to get into than ND, although still pretty tough. In fact, I got into ND and waitlisted at Fordham. o__o It’s ranked #53 in the nation, but it’s still a pretty well known and prestigious university. Also I heard the campus is pretty nice. There’s also University of San Francisco, another private Catholic university. I’m pretty sure that you could get into that one. It’s ranked ninety something in the nation, but also a pretty good school. I actually visited in the summer, and the campus is nice! The church is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s a lot of people’s dream school. Not to mention it’s in SAN FRANCISCO. One of the best cities in the world, and very similar to New York City. I think you should seriously consider applying there, it’s honestly a great university. They have a great nursing program too. Both schools are pretty expensive though. USF gives some good merit scholarships, but I don’t know if you will qualify. Cornell is an Ivy, so it’s pretty much near to impossible for you to get in. Again, no offense, but even people with 2400’s get rejected. </p>

<p>Prestige isn’t the only thing you should care about. Undergrad doesn’t even matter much. And there’s an endless list of millionaires who haven’t even graduated college.</p>

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<p>Undergrad really DOESN’T matter that much in terms of prestige, unless you went to a HYPSMC and want to work in the financial industry (and even then it doesn’t matter as much as people think). But I don’t really blame anyone for thinking otherwise. Look at how everyone in this VERY forum kvetches over the tiniest things. “OMG DID THEY SEND LETTERS TODAY?” “OMG I GOTS AN EMAIL FROM SOMEONE AT ADMISSIONS DOES THAT MEAN I HAVE A EBTTER CHANCE OF GETTING IN?!” Look at how popular culture depicts the ‘elite’ and wealthy on television shows or movies - the characters will inevitably have attended Harvard or another Ivy (unless they’re in any way nerdy, then it’s always MIT). If it’s a show featuring a high school student trying to get into a college, it’s almost universally Harvard/Yale/Stanford/a select few others.</p>

<p>USNWR has built an entire industry around a woefully inadequate and antiquated ranking system. While college administrators put on a face and bemoan how ranking reduces everything they offer to a single number, they nevertheless continue to mail in those requested stats. And they’ll slyly promote the hell out of it if they do come out on top.</p>

<p>I’m not saying that all undergrad programs are the same - there are measurable and unquantifiable differences (sometimes vast) between different departments and environments. And it’s true that certain things do take into account the ‘rigor’ of your undergraduate school (this is especially true for medical and law school, and to a lesser extent PhD programs). But it would do a lot of people on this forum a lot of good to stop worrying so much about how ‘good’ their undergrad is in the eyes of others and society, and focus on what’s really important (and if I have to tell you what that is, you’re hopeless). </p>

<p>Then again, I say all this as an ND and Princeton alum. So I guess it’s easy for me to castigate others when I myself played the game.</p>

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<p>Well guys the semester is almost over and I have maintained a 3.869 GPA. Next semester ( like I said ) in taking these classes… Physics, pre calc, American history, general psychology, and developmental psychology.</p>

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<p>Well guys, I want to thank everyone who supported me on following my dreams. I just got enrolled into Niagara University. Kept a GPA of 3.879 so far. 3more weeks. If I make grades at NU, I’m going to transfer to ND. Wish me luck</p>

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<p>Scratch that. 3.964 GPA</p>