<p>First off, I love ND. I have wanted to attend for as long as I can remember. I grew up idolizing Rudy (I met him once), I live for ND football Saturdays, you get the picture. </p>
<p>I have underacheived in HS, but here goes:</p>
<p>GPA 3.7W, 3.5 UW
Top 20% of class
Pretty competitive public HS
Hispanic
ACT 27 (retaking, hoping for a 32 based on my practice tests)</p>
<p>Notable EC's:
Varsity Football
Varsity Track and Field
Volunteer to referee flag football
One of the founding members of a political club at school
Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity (not many hours though)</p>
<p>5 AP's completed by end of senior year
1 Honors course (only available at school)
3, possibly 4 community college courses
Most difficult courses available frosh/soph years, difficilt courses taken junior/senior years</p>
<p>Should I even bother applying, or is ND completely out of my reach?</p>
<p>Don’t count yourself out of the game yet. I think there is an outside chance but you need to do a bit of work. The main problems I see are the ECs and the ACT. I do not think you will have enough time to diversify your resume at this stage so improving on the ECs may be a problem. The ACT is something you need to raise to the 32 mark. With that you can make yourself competitive RD. But even then it’s an outside chance. Good luck though. All the best.</p>
<p>Thanks. Since I spend anywhere from 14-50 hours a week (for 48 weeks out of the year) doing sports, I haven’t had a lot of time for other EC’s. I don’t really believe in the laundry list apporach, and I have stayed very committed with my passion (sports). I will be working my butt off to get a 32 on the ACT.</p>
<p>While Irish is right and you can’t really add any new ECs at this point, I think your ECs could be OK if you play them up enough. They look a little one-dimensional, but on the positive side, I’d imagine you spent a fair amount of time on them, especially with the varsity sports. If you haven’t already, you should consider making up an activities resume, where you can highlight certain things about different activities. That way you can give additional information and show how much time you invested in it and different aspects of the activity. Mention any big competitions you were in, what events you did, if you had any leadership positions, etc. That way, you can include the different roles you might have had, show off different skills, and make your activities look a little more interesting.</p>
<p>I’d say, if you do that and can get your ACT up, you have a shot RD. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>^ Ok cool. Thanks. I have been involved with football for literally 1000s of hours since I was 5 years old.</p>
<p>I don’t have any competitions or anything like that because football doesn’t really do competitions. You may get to go to camps during the summer before your junior or senior year if you’re trying to get recruited, but I’m wasn’t big enough for that. </p>
<p>I do have an award for most improved player on my HS team.</p>
<p>I guess if I explained all of the responsibilities I had during the game, colleges would be quite impressed. I was sort of the thinker and leader of our offensive line. Our team ran a no huddle spread offense (like what ND is running now, but our offense was more option based). You really have to hustle and think on the fly in this offense. I had to get the play call, identify the defense, call out pass protection for the O line, identify blitzing LB’s and DB’s, get the shot gun snap down, and get my blocking assignment right. I would have to do all of this in about 5 seconds. And all of this was before I had to block a DT that outweighed me by 100+lbs. Our coach only trusted me with these responsibilities because I was the only one that was smart enough to handle all of this information and make correct decisions on the fly. Just like Lou Holtz says: “Football is 90% mental and 10% physical.”</p>
<p>Remember, you cant spell scum without SC and UM.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have a chance, especially if you distinguish yourself with the essays. Perhaps you could start one with that Lou Holtz quote. :)</p>
<p>At this stage, if you want to improve your chances, upping the ACT is probably the best bet. Good luck!</p>