<p>I just got back from my visit/ tour of Notre Dame is there is only one word for my experience... Wow. We arrived Sunday afternoon and all we had to do was drive down the main circle that approaches the Main Building and I knew that that is where I wanted to go.. My feeling of aw about this school increased even more as we walked around on the tour Monday morning, which was led by the sophomore class president. He answered every question exactly the way I wanted to hear it and told me even extra things that I would want to know if I got in. They treat you there like you have already been accepted; its amazing. Later that day I attended an American Politics class taught by Professor Alaya (sp). Again, amazing... There is a little excerpt in the back of one of the pamphlets that reads, "Soon--There's nothing like your first, inspiring upward gaze on campus. If Notre Dame is your university, something inside you will say, 'Nowhere else. I'm home.'" And THAT is exactly how I feel....</p>
<p>But I have one quick question... We were talking about EA and whom should/ should not apply at that time and the admissions counselor said that ONLY the most competitive students should apply EA. But later I was thinking, "Why cant I apply EA even if I am not one of the most competitive. If I get deferred, then no harm yet. If I get accepted, thats great. If I get denied, then I wont have to worry about applying later..." so can someone please enlighten me on the subject? Thanks.</p>
<p>yeah, they feed you BS about the EA. you WILL NOT be rejected unless they are sure you will be rejected regular decision. So pretty much there is no harm in applying early. You will probably not get accepted early unless you have a strong combination of SAT scores and GPA/class rank (like 1400s, top 5%). I expected to get deferred early with a 1460 and 12% class rank, but i got in.. The admission rate this year early was just about 50% accepted, 25% deferred and 25% rejected. </p>
<p>By the way, i was not going to apply early, i had a 1260 on the SAT after the first try, and somehow went up 200 points on the October one, and then I decided to apply early. I finished my app in a week later and sent it in.</p>
<p>"Most competitive" oftens means that you have really strong test scores by the time you apply for EA. Often times I consider what it would be like to be making the decisions at an admissions office and one of the conclusions was that a deferred EA applicant doesn't look all that great. Deferring is a lot better than outright rejection, but usually things don't work out. This is second-hand info and I'm not sure of its legitimacy, but Harvard admits only 1% of deferred ED applicants- that is not good; I'm sure you can find ND's data somewhere. And once deferred, while you placed amongst other applicants in the "second round" so to speak, you're basically in a similar position as if you're on the waiting list in that you would need to send additional information throughout the year that would justify your being accepted. I do not know this personally, but I would suspect a lot of deferred kids don't get in during RD rounds because the only thing they send is a mid-year report or something like that, which doesn't do much. I'm sure EA is really appetizing because the % acceptance rate is higher but when it comes down to it, you won't get any special treatments or ND won't lower the bar in light of EA status- if you're rejected, then you wouldn't have stand a chance during RD; if you're deferred, then you better do something really cool, really good, really quick to sway their decision; and if you're admitted, then you've fully deserved it. Apply EA if you're pretty sure you can get in, otherwise, wait for the regular decision rounds- build up your resume in senior year, retake any tests if you need to and you'll do fine in RD.</p>
<p>TTG</p>
<p>8 days from now ill be having my first look at the notre dame campus. i cant wait to be amazed....watching Rudy can only do so much for you.. by the way, any students here going to an irish studies lecture at the conference center (idk the name)by a visiting professor next saturday?</p>