ND Class of 2020 Hopeful... What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

Hi,
I’m a current junior and would love to have the opportunity to attend ND after I graduate next year. My application isn’t all-around solid, so I was just wondering if anyone who had prior experience with their admissions (accepted/waitlisted/deferred from ND) could tell me what my chances would be of getting in or any advice on the best way to improve?

Academics:
GPA: 3.991 unweighted, 4.540 weighted
Current class rank: 5/221
schedule rigor: 3 honors classes freshman year, 4 honors & 1 AP (macro) sophomore year, taking 2 honors & 3 AP (APUSH, chem, calc BC) classes this year, will be taking 3 honors & 4 AP (gov, english, stats, spanish) next year-- we had to follow a mostly set curriculum for the honors path freshman & sophomore year, so I couldn’t add any additional AP/honors classes

Standardized tests:
SAT I: 2230 (680 critical reading, 770 math, 780 writing, 9/12 essay)
SAT II: Math II (800); planning to take biology & chemistry next fall
ACT: 34 (35 english, 35 math, 34 reading, 33 science, 31 combined english/writing, 8/12 essay)
AP: Macro (5)

Extracurriculars:
Mathletes - we typically attend 4-5 all-day math contests per year. I’m also co-captain (9th grade-present)
Tech & Robotics club - not really a big deal, but I’m a co-founder + president? I’ve headed a few engineering projects + fun nights (9th grade-present)
NHS - I’m assigned to a specific student so I tutor semi-regularly
FBLA - 10th grade to present
Foreign Language Honor Society
Piano - I’ve been playing since 6th grade, but it’s more of an on-and-off type of thing
Drawing - I only have a few recent works to show for it, but I’ve been told I’m one of the best artists at my school

Awards:
FBLA state leadership conference: 1st place business calc, 2nd place global business individual, 3rd place economics, 4th place global business team
2 scholastic writing gold keys
A crap ton of math contests (around 12-ish? I’ve placed 1st on 5 of them, pretty well on most of the others. I also came really close to making the AMC cutoff for the AIME this year)
Possibly a national merit semifinalist? My PSAT score was in the upper 220s

Volunteer work:
6 hours per week helping at local thrift stores + tutoring disadvantaged children as part of a religious ministry camp; mostly year-round?
Vacation Bible school - group leader since 6th grade

Job experience: work as a filing clerk at the local clinic over the summer, ~20 hours a week

Other: applying to a 3-week UChicago summer study with undergraduate & high school students, also hoping to do some math/science research over the summer

Particular areas of concern are my sub-par reading SAT score and extracurriculars. Really terrified since I don’t have a sport and am not sure if I’m devoting enough time to activities outside of school. Thank you in advance, and good luck to anyone other ND hopefuls considering applying next year/awaiting news from admissions.

2

I’m no admissions counselor, but I think you have a great chance of getting in! I would not worry about your Reading score on the SAT because your composite is so high. For reference, I am an admitted student with a 4.0 and a 2210 SAT score and about the same amount of extracurriculars as you. Good luck!

3

I think you definitely have a great chance at getting in. I was deferred REA and accepted RD with a 3.95 GPA and 34 ACT. I would say your ECs are definitely good, just make sure to emphasize your leadership and volunteer work in your application. Make sure next year the beginning of your school year to introduce yourself to your admissions counselor and keep in contact with them - if you look at the Common Data set for ND, student interest in the university is considered just as much as some other factors. Keeping in contact with your admissions counselor will give you an edge also, and they will be able to advise you whether to apply REA or RD. Good luck! :slight_smile:

4

Seems pretty all around solid for pretty much anywhere. That’s a good record. Congrats.

5

You seem like a very competive applicant to nearly any school. The one thing I would recomend for all schools is to do something unque this summer like get an internship or do reaserch or something. As for Notre Dame, I found that they put alot of weight on volunteering and essays (I was admitted rd), so maybe get anouther volunteering position and write your essays with a very personal touch. Best of luck.

6

Thank you all for the great advice! Will definitely put more of an emphasis on my volunteer work and leadership, and also consider a summer internship. Congrats to everyone else who was accepted, as well.