Majorly Confused About my Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>So my parents keep on telling me that ND is pretty far out of my reach (they are pretty pessimistic and hard on me) but my GC keeps telling me that I have a decent chance (but she tends to be optimistic). Can anyone tell me what my real chances are at ND? I'm applying RD. Also, my dad went to ND and so did my uncle and maybe 10 of my cousins.</p>

<p>Half white/half asian from a Connecticut public school
school is very competetive (ranked 8th best high school in CT) last year, 10% of the graduating class went to Ivy League Schools, and about a quarter to top 25 ranked schools
GPA (weighted): 3.7 (but my grades from first quarter this year are very good (4.1 if they were semester grades)--if I maintain them through the semester, my cumulative GPA will go up to a 3.84)
AP Classes:
Junior Year
AP Calc AB (5)
AP Chem (5)
AP US (4)
Senior Year
AP Language and Comp.
AP Spanish
AP Statistics</p>

<p>Honors Classes:
Freshman Year
Honors Biology, Honors Algebra II, Accelerated English, Accelerated Spanish
Sophomore Year
Honors English, Honors Chemistry, Honors Precalculus, Honors Spanish
Junior Year
Honors American Literature, Honors Spanish
Senior Year
Honors Physics</p>

<p>Test Scores:
SAT I
Math: 770
CR: 720
Writing: 780
SAT II
Math 2: 740
Biology-M: 710
Chemistry: 780
ACT
33</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit Commended Scholar (2011), Tri-M Music Honor Society (2010, 2011), Spanish Honor Society (2010, 2011), AP Scholar (2011), CTY Scholar (2007), Music for Youth Scholarship (2011), National Spanish Exam Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals (2009, 2010, and 2011, respectively)</p>

<p>College Programs:
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (2007)
Notre Dame Summer Scholars (2011)
Michigan Math and Science Scholars (2011)</p>

<p>Extra-Curriculars:
Odyssey of the Mind (20 hrs/wk): team founder, team captain (10, 11, 12), assistant coach to middle school team (9), participated grades 7-12
Darien Library Teen Advisory Board: secretary (9,10), vice president (11), president (12), basically we organize reading hours for kids, book drives, read-a-thons, etc. as well as plan events for teenagers to raise awareness about our new library
Debate Team (10-12)
Quidditch Team (11, 12)
Kids in Crisis Youth Corps (9-12): we organize events for children who are abused or underprivileged
St. Thomas More Youth Group (6-12): my church youth group--we help the elderly and/or underprivileged with a variety of weekly events
Tennis (7-12): I play on the JV team, as well as on the Solaris Tennis Academy team, and at USTA tournaments--about 12 hours per week
EMT training: 15 hours/wk--I am taking classes to get my EMT-B license
Babysit
trombone (marching band, concert band, jazz band, brass ensemble, and i give free lessons to middle school students through my Tri-M Music Honor Society)
volunteer at various animal hospitals and shelters</p>

<p>Any other questions just ask me--thanks so much!!</p>

2

<p>Personally, I think you have a pretty good chance. But, no one is guaranteed. Even if you have perfect stats. You should definitely apply, though! :D</p>

3

<p>Looks good. What is your class rank (guess if not known)?</p>

4

<p>Oh, now class rank is my downfall. I’m in the top 20% for sure, but my school doesn’t rank. On our school profile though, we have a bar graph showing the distribution of GPAs, and from that, I’d guess that I’m in the top 17 or 18 percent. Which…is not good.
However, in last year’s class, something like 60 out of about 300 students went to top 25 schools, so I’m hoping my class rank won’t pull me down quite as much as it should? Or am I delusional?</p>

5

<p>Class rank is mostly for statistics reasons, so they can say stuff like “89% of our applicants are from the top 10% of their graduating classes.” If your school doesn’t rank, I wouldn’t worry about it. At highly competitive schools, where you stand in the class does not matter as much if your grades are still very good. I know I shouldn’t extrapolate this, but at my school one of the students in my class was in the bottom half of my graduating class (competitive high school, 1890 avg sat) and got into duke without any hooks. I might be wrong, but class rank does not matter if your school does not rank.</p>