<p>My son applied to and was accepted EA to Notre Dame. He is a conservative Catholic, and would have loved a Catholic environment. But the financial aid wasn’t enough for us to consider ND. We didn’t visit it beforehand. </p>
<p>NYmama, S also applied to and was accepted EA to Georgetown, which at the beginning of the process was his top choice. Unfortunately, finaid was insufficient there, too, even after an appeal and a slight increase in aid. (For those who might say we should have known going in what kin of finaid we would get at need-based schools, we didn’t. Dh owns a business, and we didn’t know how that would be treated in the Profile. Our older son went to a state school, so we only had to deal with the FAFSA.)</p>
<p>DS accepted 3 years ago with stats similar to your S’s but higher ACT score. If your S is really interested, I think he may need to try to get his ACT score up a bit. My S didn’t get any financial aid (except for Stafford Loans) so he had to turn them down. I do think many students at ND pay full freight. Not something that would work for our family. DS took a long time to send in the card turning them down (I think he was waiting for $ to fall from the sky).</p>
<p>Oh, and he did go on an official visit. I also noticed during our ND tour that the dorms were suspiciously absent. I"m not sure why. Some of the dorms we saw on other tours were like palaces, others were seriously lacking. I think you should know what you’re getting into!</p>
<p>My son was recruited by Notre Dame for lacrosse. We did an “unofficial visit” that included meeting coaches, the coach’s tour of campus <em>including</em> dorms, classroom buildings, as well as the full tour of athletic facilities and a meeting with the academic advisor.</p>
<p>I loved Notre Dame. My son liked it too … but their offer came through after the Ivy acceptance.</p>
<p>No problem with the dorms IMHO. Seemed clean, well repaired, relatively new. It was summer 2005. I think we saw an ‘older dorm’ rather than a newer dorm. In better condition than the ones we have seen at Connecticut College, Wheaton, Goucher, and better than Donlon at Cornell (which is an older dorm on North Campus).</p>
<p>One note: I believe each Notre Dame dorm has a resident priest, and a chapel in the dorm where Mass is said daily.</p>
<p>^That is correct. There are some fairly new dorms on campus, one having opened its doors last year for guys. There is a new girls’ dorm currently under construction, not sure if it will be open for this fall. There are also some very old dorms with, of course, small rooms. Just like most college campuses that have been in existence for quite some time, there are dorms that exist that are old. Spouse attended Penn; when we visited in Fall of '05, the brand new dorm when spouse moved in 30 years ago had not changed one bit (no updates, small and cluttered rooms and dining, dirty). So each campus has its good points and bad points with regards to dorms…of course, as an incoming freshman, you have no choice as to which dorm you would like to live in at Notre Dame. However, you can request a transfer after fall semester, I believe.</p>
<p>The other point I recall with reference to ND dorms was very strong hall spirit with inter-dorm competitions in various sports. I also got the impression that many students lived in the same dorm for all four years, and that off-campus housing was minimal.</p>
<p>abasket: If you are interested in Notre Dame (I love ND), but worried about the selectivity and the price, there are some other great Catholic schools in the midwest who are very generous with merit aid. They are often filled with wonderful kids who did not get into Notre Dame but would have fit in and done well there. I would look at Marquette, Xavier, John Carroll, Saint Louis University, Creighton, University of Dayton and on the east coast you could also look at Holy Cross, Villanova and Fordham. You would be impressed with the variety of scholarships these schools offer. So many kids want to go to Notre Dame/Boston College/Georgetown (and with good reason!) but there many other Catholic schools with incredible opportunities. I am sure other CCers will have similar suggestions for you for other Catholic schools.</p>
<p>HeartArt, thanks for those suggestions. Xavier is actually one of his other top choices! And probably a more realistic in terms of acceptance, affordability etc. </p>
<p>But I want to honor his desire to look a bit - his list includes (besides Xavier) a couple of other smaller privates in Ohio - I think if he wants to try a reach such as ND, I want to support a visit and app at least as long as he understands the slim chances.</p>
<p>You should definitely visit Notre Dame and I recommend the on campus hotel, it is charming. And of course apply! I believe in casting a wide net. Ironically, I thought my son would love Notre Dame (he did not love it, liked it ok). Also, are you considering Miami (OH) as well? Also, check out John Carroll if you like Xavier (Both are Jesuit).</p>
<p>Not looking at Miami - too large for his taste. </p>
<p>Not necessarily looking for Catholic schools per say, but Xavier for instance, meets his needs of smallish, great sports scene and good academics in his areas of interest. So JC would not fit the bill. </p>
<p>ND is only 2 hours from home so in addition to the above, it’s close - he’d like to be no more than 3ish from home.</p>
<p>"…Didn’t get accepted. Now attending Wash U. Parents believe it was because he didn’t do an official visit though he did do unofficial. Just make sure he visits!!! "</p>
<p>We didn’t visit until after the acceptance, so not visiting didn’t make a differenence for us. That young man sounds like he would be a good match for ND. College acceptances/rejections can be very baffling.</p>
We read that somewhere, and S really liked that! (On the other hand, one of his teachers who was recruited by ND years ago for football and didn’t end up going there did not like it!</p>
<p>Abasket, is your son in the top three out of a class size of 300?
Excellent! </p>
<p>Our S in a Senior at ND, a non-Catholic kid who attended a small Catholic High School, and has had a stellar time in college.
His advice to your son, would be to visit, get his stats as high as possible, and go for it, and hope for the best.
You may be surprised that the financial aid package may be better than expected. </p>
<p>I am unfamiliar wth the current stats, but retesting to get higher score was worth it for our s. Many kids seem to test better their senior year.</p>
<p>It is NOT true that “all halls” have a resident priest…some do, but some don’t. All halls DO have a “rector” which is a highly educated and professional adult who for some insane reason chooses to live in a college dorm. Many are instructors, or social workers, or nuns. The nice thing for us parents is that in this age there is still a “house mother” some sort of real adult in addition to the RA’s who the kids can go to.</p>
<p>The best thing by far about ND, and the thing that the students probably appreciate the least, is the belief that the student, for all of their gifts, are not QUITE fully formed adults. So you have rectors in addition to RA’s, you have a bit more hands on attention from the advisors, and you have a pretty strict core curriculum. I am convinced that this is the reason they have such a high retention and four year grad rate–although teens THINK they are ominpotent, they really do a lot better with fairly active adult supervision through their early '20s. ND is one of the few institutions that still has this attitude toward 18-22 y/o’s. </p>
<p>Now to the OP’s question–it would not hurt to prep and take another crack at the ACT, but he’s good in all other respects. Being in a public school and a sports captain is good–my D. had that as well. We have no idea why she got into ND other than possibly her coach’s recommendation (he had chosen her for captain and was her AP teacher) since he could speak to both her academics and her leadership. ND only allows one recommendation–so choose that with care. I am convinced that is the thing that makes the difference. Find a very cerebral teacher who preferably went to a selective college. Bonus if they coached your kid–but if not ask them to get coach input and weave it into the rec. </p>
<p>The OP said S might major in education. If meaning teaching, please be aware that ND education majors at ND fulfil take the actual classes at Saint Mary’s. (the sister school across the street) ND does not have many education majors.</p>
<p>The rest of the stats look good, but like other posters, I would definitely encourage him to try to get the ACT higher.</p>
<p>Approx. 50% of the students are full-pay. Our experience with their financial aid has been good.</p>
<p>Many, or perhaps most, of the students were HS athletes. I wouldn’t necessarily say they had the “jock” mentality (whatever exactly that means). There is a great deal of wealth on campus, but my S does not feel it is flaunted. I also agree with Mombot’s post above, and think that it is much to the student’s advantage</p>
<p>Yes, I was aware of the lack of an education major - and that is something he will need to think about - we had actually visited St. Mary’s for his older sister - when I told him he would have to take his ed classes at the girl’s school, he seemed to smile. :)</p>
<p>I can’t believe 50% are full pay! That is WAY beyond our means!</p>
<p>[In the dark reaches of the dismal past, Yale and Harvard both had full-equipment, tackle intramural football leagues, and the intramural champions from each school would play each other early on the morning of The Game. Is that no longer the case? I sort of hope not – full-equipment, tackle intramural football games were pretty scary. I don’t think I ever watched one when fewer than four people had to be carried off the field.]</p>