<p>I am just wondering if the lack of preparation I had in high school without taking any AP classes (my school doesn't offer any) would hurt me in college. Overall, I would say that my high school is very easy and I have taken almost all of the classes that are supposed to be the most difficult. I go to a rather small school in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest that has never sent a kid to an Ivy League (maybe one kid every other year to ND) so they just decided to prepare kids for state schools and not really worry about kids that want to go to top tier schools. I was taking four college classes last semester and my lowest grade on any given assignment was a 95%, this includes every meaningless home work grade as well as all of the semester exams. I am genuinely worried that I would be in over my head next year with the college work load. I plan on being a political science major and/or a history major.</p>
<p>P.S. I am definitely not a genius, but I just have not been challenged in any of my classes for four years.</p>
<p>As you can probably imagine it is tough to predict. If you are currently at the top of your class, regardless of the difficulty, then that speaks volumes. Did you score competitively in the SAT or ACT? If so then that is another good sign. Being challenged is one thing, but are you motivated and eager to take on a rigorous curriculum? From what I see motivation is frankly half the battle. If you are motivated adapting to a challenge is all the easier.</p>
<p>The two majors you listed should let you test the proverbial waters. You can probably load up on electives with them your first two semesters and figure out how you perform in general. These majors require lots of reading and writing. With many science and engineering majors it is tough to fit elective courses in. Just be aware though that freshman grades are often a poor predictor of overall grade performance in general. I had friends who earned GPAs in the mid 2s early on but by their sophomore year were earning GPAs in the high 3s with much more difficult course loads.</p>
<p>I think we have quite a lot in common, even just based on our screen names. I too headed to Notre Dame with zero AP classes as my school did not offer any. One of my friends from high school came too in the identical situation. I am an engineering major though he is a polisci major, so he could probably identify with you even more.</p>
<p>Just based on my experience, succeeding at ND without being challenged/well-prepared in high school is definitely doable, though freshman year is definitely an adjustment. I particularly noticed a difference in the classes required for engineers, such as chemistry, physics, calc, etc. where a lot of people had these as AP classes and so were much better versed in them. It’s not that big of a deal though, and once you get past the classes where the APs directly applied, everyone is pretty much even, and I think my friend would agree.</p>
<p>I really wouldn’t worry about this too much. I firmly believe that anybody who got accepted at ND, and a lot of people who didn’t/won’t, can thrive and excel here and I’m sure you won’t be the exception. You just have to be willing to do what it takes to succeed. It comes down to how hard you are willing to work.</p>
<p>You should be fine–like others have mentioned, it’s going to be the willingness to work harder than you ever did in high school.
If it helps, my bro went to ND, and our high school is pretty easy too (only offered 1 AP at the time). he majored in chem, presumably one of the toughest @ ND, and graduated w/ ~3.5 gpa. plus, with your intended major, you probably won’t have to take many of the gpa killers like physics, calc, etc.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman at ND and my high school offered no AP classes. Most of my peers had a better background than me in most of my classes (mainly math and science). I still got a 4.0 last semester, so success is absolutely possible without an AP-heavy high school curriculum. Our cases may be different because I wouldn’t necessarily call my high school ‘easy.’ But if you have strong basic critical thinking and analytic skills, you don’t have too much to worry about if you’re willing to put in the work.</p>
<p>I got in early with worse numbers than those. 4.0, 1/54, 32 ACT and, like you, my only major EC was golf. I had a few others, but I don’t know how much they would have factored into a decision. What may have ended up helping me was that I am a first generation college student and from a state that does not send TOO many people to ND.</p>
<p>Overall, I think ND weighs ACT and SAT scores much more heavily than anything else (trying to boost the averages I suppose). If you look back at the EA results, you’ll probably find this to be true. I know it’s hard to do, but I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m not an expert, but I am pretty confident you’ll get in.</p>
<p>Nothing too special in the way of ECs – sports, violin, a few clubs. 3.95 GPA; school didn’t rank. I did have a 2400 SAT I / 2400 SAT II going for me, though.</p>