@Horario Well congrats on being the second person to prove standardized testing isn’t as important as all of us high schoolers think!
Do you really think my chances are very high? I get that my EC’s are good, as is my rigor, but I feel like everyone who applies to ND is just as competitive in those departments as I. Would I be wrong is assuming that?
Also, on a side note, do you deal with the applications themselves, or do you just watch the staff do their thing? If it’s the former, I’d love to ask you some questions – if you don’t mind, of course.
I can only give you feedback based on the experiences of my two kids and others from their school who have applied. Yes, your scores as they stand are problematic. Yes, 25% of each incoming class submits scores below the middle 50, but realize that many, many of them have some sort of hook, be it recruited athlete, URM, first generation, or development case. The number that aren’t is very small, and their acceptance, like one of the above posters said, is probably testament to the fact that every other part of the application was very strong. I have two daughters currently attending. Both were very strong academically, had both depth and breadth to their EC’s, scores solidly above the 50th percentile, great recs and essays, but were completely unhooked. Both applied EA, were deferred, then accepted RD. I guess what I am trying to say is that it is hard, and getting harder every year, to get in to ND, and you can only control those parts of your application that you can, so make your essays show your passion for the school and what you would contribute to furthering the mission of the University. And pray, pray a lot. Good luck and I hope your scores put you in a more competitive place.
@ejcclc Thanks for the info, and congrats to your daughters! I was thinking the same thing you are about the bottom 25%. If anything, it might even make the mid 50% seem lower because there could be some very low scores down there. I’ll definitely be doing my best to show my passion for ND, and I’ve already been praying Would you recommend waiting for RD then if my scores aren’t above the mid 50?
Ivy, I want to wish you the best of luck on your application to ND. I am also glad that there are some people on here who have been admitted to ND with low test scores. Unfortunately, I do not fall under that category; I applied last year RD and was flat out rejected. I also had an “out-of-the-norm” major, a joint in Theology and Philosophy. My whole application was geared towards showing my passion for the subjects, and my desire to study them at a school like Notre Dame.
Again, I wish you the best of luck and hope you make it in. In the end, you will be where you are meant to be.
Would you recommend waiting for RD then if my scores aren’t above the mid 50?