ND 2020 Chance Me? (REA) (Mendoza)

ACT: Not taken
SAT: 2270 (740 CR, 800 Math, 730 Writing) taken twice
SAT II: not submitted
GPA: 4.3 weighted (Will go up with senior grades, have 2 B’s in my high school career),
3.8 unweighted
IB Classes: IB Physics SL 2, IB Math SL 2, IB English HL 2, IB Spanish SL 2, IB Business & Management HL, IB Topics HL, Theory of Knowledge
I’m a Diploma Candidate
High School: A Competitive Public High School (rank is around 300, but only because we have a bunch of students at the bottom who don’t seem to care about their education)
Class Rank: School doesn’t rank
Awards:
-National Merit Commended Scholar (missed semifinalist by 1 point due to VA’s high cutoff, I got 221 cutoff was 222… in 47 states I would’ve made the cutoff)
-Principal’s award in Basketball and Lacrosse (Awarded to member of team with highest GPA)

  • Statesman Star award (Highest school honor, nominated by teachers)

Extracurriculars:
Varsity Basketball - played all 4 years, 2 varsity, leadership position
Varsity Lacrosse - played lacrosse 4 years, 3 varsity, captain senior year
Varsity Football (senior year only)
Future Business Leaders of America Member and Competitor - Received 2nd in state in Network Design category, qualified for nationals
DECA - Received 2nd place in state for Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making, and received 7th in the world at International Career Development Conference (ICDC)
Member of Church Youth Group and went on a Workcamp (service trip)
Freshman Mentor (select seniors were chosen)
Officer of a political club
Volunteered at Church’s Basketball clinics as a counselor
Volunteered as a counselor at high school basketball camp
National Honors Society

Employment:
Lifeguard for the past 3 summers and going to be again
Referee in the winter past years and going to be again

Essays and Recs:
Common App-9/10, I really liked my essay. I think my passion was very well relayed through the story I told, and it was written in a compelling manor that ties together the many sides of me.
Why ND? 8/10, generic but well written
Civil Rights Q? 9/10 Talked about civil rights movement today and how racism is still prevalent
What Q fascinates you? 8/10 i talked about a sort of philosophical question that had flown under my radar but how the issue was illuminated to me through a book and my stance on the q

Counselor Rec: Big school, so he had many to write… I think he likes me a lot but not sure of his ability to write --7/10–

Teacher Rec: I’m worried because he’s my freshman history teacher, BUT he really had an impact on me and I still talk to him. He was always impressed with my intellectual ability so I’m hoping he expresses that… additionally he’s involved in the bball program and was an assistant coach for me at one point so he knows me well --9/10–

Other Rec: This was my competitive bball coach for 7-8 years. He has been enormously influential on me just as a person in general. Our relationship is so much more than just on the court I know it will be great --10/10–

Income and School:
Applying for financial aid? No
Income: 250000k+
Race: White
Gender: male
Suburb in VA near DC
Religion: Catholic
Hooks: None

GENERAL: I’m applying to Mendoza… I’m extremely worried about my GPA and that I got 2 B’s junior year. I’m hoping they look at the rigor of my courses. Some people at my school take “IB” courses which have high gpa boosts but r super easy classes which inflate their gpa indirectly making mine appear worse. Will ND differentiate these courses? (ex. I take physics which for some reason is less weighted than environmental systems) I’ll chance people back. Thanks and best of luck to everyone. Also if anyone has knowledge on specific day decisions come that would ease my nerves :).

My close friend got accepted and is attending last year in the class of 2019 (Mendoza pre-approval). His entire application was very similar to yours (including the 2 B’s), but the only noticeable differences were that he was an indirect legacy (uncle or some other relative went their) and had 760R + 730M. I assume you have a great chance at being accepted, and if you don’t get pre-approved for Mendoza, I imagine your chances are relatively high to get accepted to the university without pre-approval.