@wdfa89 thanks!
I wish you well, and will pray for him! I just dropped my fourth and final one off at ND, and I always leave feeling grateful that they get to experience ND. The welcome weekend is amazing - for both the students and the parents!
One last think @LoveMyFamily33 , sometimes on the ACT, the rate limiting step is the science section. You might consider a tutor to help with that section (whatever that is), Sometimes just learning the approach to the section is enough to make a huge difference.
@ndtxmom82, thanks for the wishes. So wonderful that four of your children go/went to ND! Wish my son can meet them on campus next year 
Yes, Science section is his weakness and I have been looking for a tutor who can improve his science section score in our area, but no luck. He prefers a live tutor but an online tutor should work too. If you know any good ACT science tutor, please let me know. Thanks!
I believe, though am not sure, that the science section is less about knowledge of science, and more about how to read the graphs and data. If There are any ACT tutors in your area, they should be able to focus on this area, rather than teach him how to do math he already knows. Also, consider the SAT once at least. My last son took it twice and knocked it out of the park on English one time and Math the other time, and I am pretty sure (since they super score the SAT) that the school used that test. You are both in my prayers - and I hope he is at ND next year! Also, please consider having him contact the admissions rep about his application to see if he should go early or regular - they will help guide him. It’s hard to wait until March, but that is preferable to being rejected at Christmas. Understand, too, that I am NOT saying he will be rejected early, just that he should apply when his best chance of acceptance is.
I greatly appreciate your friendly warming about ND EA. I sure will encourage my son to contact the admission rep once his September ACT score came out!
As for SAT, he did take it once (new one). His score wasn’t bad but not great and the both sections were about the same scores so he wouldn’t get much benefit of super score unless he does well on both sections next time. Since he isn’t a great test taker and needs to study for SAT Subject tests as well, he decided to just focus on one test (ACT), not two (ACT&SAT).
He found a ACT science tutor and had a session yesterday. He said he learned a lot! Hopefully, he will score higher on an upcoming ACT test and get a better stats for ND. Thanks again so much for your kind wish and advice @ndtxmom82!
Fingers crossed for your son, @LoveMyFamily33 ! Hopefully he can bump the ACT score up just a little bit. (I feel silly saying that - a 32 is excellent!) Please update when you get his score.
I’m a current domer and not Catholic. I can’t speak as to how being Catholic or not impacts admissions. I’ve heard about 80% here are Catholic. Certainly, ND has no intention of changing the Catholic nature of the university. Having said that, I know plenty of people who are not Catholic and are not particularly outstanding when compared to everyone else here. How does Catholicism affect things on campus? Not a huge amount I would say. Theology requirement and parietals (fairly easy to circumvent) would be the obvious things. I think it has very little effect inside the classroom. Otherwise, you get a lot of principled, nice people which is certainly a good thing. Couldn’t recommend it more
this thread is very helpful and i’m following it with great interest. my non-Catholic son is shooting for Rice and ND as his top reaches.
right now i think ND has the edge b/c REA is much preferable to the binding ED, and he got a great SAT score but not so hot on the Subject tests (retaking them Saturday), and Rice requires them while ND does not.
i know he loves the idea of a large, beautiful, historically rich campus, the only reservation he has about ND is maybe feeling out of place as a non-Catholic. i thought it would not be an issue. his only reservation about Rice is the small campus. there is also the lower acceptance rate and the possibility that his current ACT / SAT II score might work against him.
any more feedback from non-Catholic Domers would be very much appreciated.
@Wien2NC, I didn’t really talk about it in this thread, so I’ll weigh in for my D (who is not on CC - thank goodness!).
She is non-Catholic and really generally non-religious. This has not been a factor for her AT ALL. There is a true sense of community there, a feeling like they are all in this great adventure together. It’s hard to describe. Yes, there are Catholic symbols all over campus but it’s not off-putting to her at all. Each dorm has a chapel, and she’s gone to mass a few times, mostly when she needs some down-time to reflect, and she is welcomed. She also sneaks in the chapel when she wants some time with the piano.
thank you suzy, this seems to be the overwhelming consensus i get from non-Catholics at ND
Based on his stats and if you are concerned about them, I would wait until RD to have the best shot at getting admitted. the EA pool is extremely competitive so it might be easier getting in RD. I’m also applying this fall so if you wanna talk about it, feel free to message me.
Thanks for reaching out to me. He is going to retake ACT so he will wait until RD. Good luck to you!
My wife, who is not Catholic, is convinced that our sending our son to ND was the best decision she ever made. There is no litmus test by the student body on “how catholic are you?” Grade and test scores, plus outside activities, are more meaningful to the admission team at ND then your religious believes. Not being Caucasian probably helps.