<p>I think that looser admissions for athletes is far from being a bad thing. On the contrary, our competitiveness on the football field can help us greatly in the classroom. For example, the Jordan Hall of Science was outfitted with equipment largely from the $15 million we received from playing in a BCS bowl in 2005. What’s important for our academic standards is not that these athletes compete with stellar board scores, but rather that these athletes are willing to work hard enough in the classroom compete academically with the rest of the student body. Unlike at Alabama and a lot of other schools with excellent football teams, at Notre Dame there is no such thing as a “football major.” These athletes are expected to major in subjects in which non-athlete students also major, and put in however much overtime is needed with tutors and textbooks to remain competitive. In this way, our entire student body benefits—the non-athletes with a rich set of exciting sports to watch and athletes with the opportunity to earn a highly-regarded degree despite perhaps not having the best gpa/sat score. At the end of the day, we all got to ND by working extremely hard and developing the talents we have to the best of our abilities. I know that my GPA would have taken a major hit in high school if I had to do what these athletes had to do. It is unfair to not consider this and to think that because some number attached their name is not as high as some average, that they have nothing to contribute to a great school.</p>