<p>ND is a desirable university with rigorous admissions standards. For those who attend the college of engineering, could you comment on the program and share your high school unweighted gpa and act score? Would you say when indicating engineering as an area of study it is easier or harder to gain admittance compared to liberal arts majors? Wondering how my son, who is a high school sr. compares to current engineering students.</p>
<p>Notre Dame does not accept students into particular colleges; all students are enrolled in the First Year of Studies. Applicants are asked to list their prospective major, and opinions vary on the extent to which that may affect admission chances, but, in general, your son would be competing against all applicants for admission, not just those interested in engineering.</p>
<p>Thanks claremarie, that is helpful!</p>
<p>atomicannon–i am a freshman in the college of engineering here at ND…the program in general is very good. according to [Schools</a> With The Highest Reported Salaries Upon Graduation](<a href=“http://www.nerdwallet.com/education/grad_surveys/top-salaries]Schools”>http://www.nerdwallet.com/education/grad_surveys/top-salaries) notre dame engineering majors have the 11th highest starting salaries of any major from any school!</p>
<p>i went to an average public HS in NJ but had relatively high SAT/GPA (2300/A-A+ gpa)…it seems like most students here came from highly prestigious private HS throughout the country…also most of the engineering students here come in with a lot of AP credit…particularly in math…it seems like most engineering students here start in calc 3…if you have any other questions feel free to reply!</p>
<p>Thanks zier993! My son had a fairly decent act score 32, with higher subsections in math (33) and english (35). He attends a fairly average rural high school in Michigan and will probably graduate as validictorian in the spring with a 4.0 gpa (out of a 4.0, where ap classes are not given more weight than gen ed classes). He has taken the ap courses that the high school offers, but they don’t offer a ton (currently taking 2). He got a 5 on the AP English and Comp last spring. His only “hook” is that he has raced small open wheeled cars growing up and won a national championship before his 14th birthday. He was a sponsored driver and was involved in chassis and shock development. He doesn’t race anymore, but works and travels with a race team and has had lots of experience setting up cars. He definitely sees himself as a mechanical engineer working in the auto industry in the near future. Just hoping that his letters of rec. show the work and racing experience he has gained over the last 7 years.</p>
<p>Any thoughts on the SAE program at ND?</p>
<p>Best of luck to your son. His credentials are very impressive, and what a neat hook. I will be crossing my fingers that ND chooses him and he chooses ND. I have 2 daughters at ND, one in the college of engineering (junior) and the other in the college of business(sophomore). My junior has been so pleased with the college of engineering. Although ND’s engineering dept is small, your son would be a big fish in a small pond, and thus he could be afforded opportunities he might not have at other universities. My daughter knows all of her professors very well, she has been working in a campus research lab since she was a sophomore, she was part of an ND research team published in a scientific journal last semester, she had a wonderful internship last summer, has studied abroad with fellow ND engineers, was sponsored by ND to travel to NM, TX, and CA for field work, and she is the primary author of a paper being submitted to another scientific journal this month. She’s currently trying to narrow down what she wants to do this summer, and she has some incedible opportunities to choose from. Although she had opportunities to attend other schools on full scholarship, she strongly feels that she wouldn’t have had this wealth of opportunities in her first three years at another school. And, both of my girls absolutely LOVE Notre Dame. There truly is nowhere else like it. The lifetime bonds those kids make as students (my brother went there, so I’ve seen it first hand) are incredible.</p>
<p>The engineering program is very challenging, but the school’s focus is on undergraduates, and they make sure that everyone succeeds. There’s a saying that it’s harder to get out of Notre Dame than it is to get in - meaning that if a professor sees a student struggling, the prof doesn’t wait for the student to ask for help. The stuggling student is encouraged to come to office hours, is hooked up with a tutoring group (at no charge), and if that doesn’t work, the student is paired with a private tutor. The school believes that any student who is strong enough to be admitted is strong enough to stay in any program - including engineering. Failure is not an option, and very, very few students leave Notre Dame by choice or by failure. It truly is a special, special place. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Wow plms, thanks for all the information! Your daughters seem to have many opportunities! I will certainly share your comments with my son!</p>
<p>Nice post ^^^…however, like many engineering programs at many schools, there is generally a wealth of students wanting to major in engineering when applying and attending their school of choice as freshman. By second semester of freshman year, many of these wannabe engineering majors have moved on to another major (business!) as the coursework is quite rigid. When our own alum child was a freshman engineering major, I believe the Intro to Engineering course began with over 200 students, only to be pared down to half that number by mid-term and subsequently even less after the first semester. In fact, he has stated many times that the profs all began the semester by saying “Welcome to Business!”.</p>
<p>However, if you can survive, you are correct plms, in that Notre Dame has a fabulous support system, not just for engineering majors, but for all undergrads. The engineering dept may be small, but the connections with major employers and loyalty of alums certainly make Notre Dame engineering attractive.</p>
<p>Agreed! ND Engineering is no cake walk. My daughter called home several times her first semester full of doubt about her ability to be successful. Like your son, she had never made a B, so that first B and C on tests came as shockers. I kept reminding her that ND students are the cream of the crop, and engineering majors tend to be the cream of the cream of the crop, so she needed to stop comparing herself to her peers. She met with her advisor and several profs, and they told her that she, like every other freshman in the class, was certainly capable, so it boiled down to whether it was what she wanted. She went to some group tutoring sessions and took advantage of professors’ office hours, and she made Deans List that first semester. Many, many other freshman decided they weren’t willing to put in the hours and endure the stress, and like Notre Dame AL mentioned, that happens at every school. My daughter is by no means the top engineering student - she’s probably a bit above the average ND engineering junior. She’s had to work very hard, but she’s so glad she chose ND. Her department chair is one of the most quoted scientists in the world, he knows everyone in his field, he has taken her and other students to dinner, been on 2 week long field trips with students, sends students constant emails with incredible internship and summer opportunities, he’s asked her to babysit his kids, encourages students to work with him as a paid researcher in his lab, and he will be writing her recommendations. I doubt that would be a normal experience at a larger university, but it’s typical at ND.</p>