Mine is due by the end of the week (probably because I applied RD), we’re your practice questions similar to the actual interview questions?
No, my interview questions were way more relevant/practical.
I applied for regular admission, when I first did I received a great deal of emails, as did my parents, emails about video seminars covering various issues related to preparing for the University, not only financial aid but a lot of things. I noticed about a month ago, all of the emails stopped. has anyone else noticed this? Is it possible that as they go through applications and when they decide “no” they stop sending you emails and you can take that as a hint that they are going to turn you down?
Don’t read too much into email traffic. It is a normal challenge for driven students to try to analyze trends to death. Just relax and hang in there. If its meant to be, it will happen. If its not, you will have other opportunities that will turn out great. Everything may seem like it will determine the success or failure of the rest of your life. Trust me, it will not. I am a wisened old man.
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We also received a lot in November and December but then it got quiet. I don’t think you should read too much into it. In January I got ‘confirmation’ email that my app was complete and then I received emails again in February about scholarship interview invitation, but aside from that nothing else.
I appreciate your kind thoughts, honest I do, however the fact that a person denied something that by all comparisons and indications they earn, and I know no one shpuld say what they earned, but let’s be honest, the deciders have as much bias as any other human deciding something, the fact that a person may go on with their life and succeed or they otherwise have value doesn’t mean the decisions that are wrong are somehow right or correct just as the fact that life is not fair does not make unfairness a good thing or even an acceptable thing. Let’s be honest, many are going to hear a “no” and in a few cases, more than we want to admit, the bed not given to them will be given to someone because of some reason other than what they have earned. All the efforts by the admissions department to try to be holistic or remove influence or any other modern acceptable notion, are all a farce, they are replacing one bias with another. They may say no, and the rejected should move on and succeed, but their ability to succeed does not mean that the no was somehow correct or ok, or ultimately that the person that gave that answer is correct, competent, qualified, or deserving of such responsibility. If you know you earned it and you are told no, moving forward requires accepting they made a mistake.
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same here
There’s more than just one person making that decision though, and although imperfect, the people making these fateful decisions are screened quite heavily at highly selective schools like ND.
I completely understand the sentiment of your comment. The key term is “deserve” or “earn”. I thought my DS (3) all deserved and earned acceptances to a number of schools. It did not happen. My ND son was rejected by USC and Waitlisted at Michigan. Go figure. His twin, also a NMF, was rejected by two Ivies, Northwestern, USC and UCLA. Why? I honestly have no idea beyond my own biases that cloud my rationale thinking.
With any selective school, the decisions seem very arbitrary. They all like to tout how many 4.0 or 1600 SAT applicants were denied admission. Again, I wish you luck and hope you get the answer you are hoping for.
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I disagree with your thought of telling someone to assume Admissions made a mistake by not admitting them. That thought process makes it hard for our kids to move on, without anger or animosity. Admissions are much deeper than that. They are looking at the whole picture when admitting students and how each student can enrich and diversify the incoming class. A class entirely composed of NMFs, 1600 SATs and perfect grades is frankly quite boring, where is the diversity to help your child grow as an individual? How will they function in the workplace, when they only know how to work with like-minded? It was explained to me by a Georgetown Admissions rep many years ago, if the freshman class needs an Oboe player, and there are 6 clarinets with higher stats, they will admit the Oboe player, because that is who they need. What is that unique quality you can bring to the freshman class when everyone has the same stats? By no means take a rejection as a failure or a mistake, but more as admissions could not find where your puzzle piece fits in, in the incoming class. There IS another place for you. Yes, rejection hurts, I have 2 kids in college who dealt with it. There is a lesson to be learned and you know what, they ended up at perfect schools for them, both excelling. Their admission cycle years are a faint memory.
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The oboe player analogy, to hold true, must apply to grad school matriculation, competing for jobs, and career advancement.
Obviously, the more emphasis on oboe players, the less emphasis on grades, standardized test scores, extracurricular activities, etc.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with such an extension, but the strength of the analogy must be tested against and applied to all of life’s various ladders.
Obviously getting accepted to a college is not all about grades, standardized tests scores, etc. More and more objective measurements and criteria are becoming less relevant, which perhaps is necessary.
Many kids are unhappy about the trend with objective criteria becoming less relevant every year. For others more subjectivity is welcome.
That trajectory is firmly in place.
Not much one can do other than master the oboe.
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Any news on how open campus will be this fall? Are most classes in person now? Can we count on in person instruction this fall?
To @notsoobvious and @Usrnmx - apart from the Oboe analogy - if you want to know what is important to any school, read the last few years announcements about admissions stats. You will usually see them stress grades and test scores. It’s the next level of detail that may provide some insights. It will be different for every school. The typical items as of late are first person in the family going to college, economically disadvantaged and diversity. These are commonly referred to as “hooks”.
For all three of my DS, the only hook was high academic achievement and some ECs. My kids came from a stable middle class home. I think it all came down to their essays. We let them handle that process completely one their own.
My sons had no published research papers, finding a cure for cancer or starting a successful business/nonprofit. Those types of things are more common for unhooked applicants trying to create a hook. I actually find many of these scenarios a bit disingenuous, especially the ‘starting a nonprofit’. I have seen several examples of students doing this only for the college admissions value. I realize that is a very cynical view. How many of these nonprofits survive the college years?
I am still very jaded about the process. As stated before, that is due mostly to my own biases about the process.
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Everything is a snapshot, meaning with a snapshot one can find a rationale as support for any position, such as the essays made a difference, etc. The truth is no one really knows. However, what we do know is that the number of available spots for highly qualified students is being reduced every year.
My kid is a legacy and she was accepted REA, and we’re thrilled. She has the grades, standardized test score, ECs, recs, etc., that even without legacy status she was highly competitive. However, legacy status didn’t hurt; without question it very likely helped as kids with comparable highly competitive stats, including ECs and recs were not accepted, and that’s difficult for any highly qualified student to digest, especially at that age.
The point is that there are fewer and fewer spots available every year for highly qualified students for the reasons already discussed, meaning highly qualified in the traditional or historical sense.
When I attended in the 80s, in a typical class, seated to my immediate left or right there was a pretty good chance that one of the students was a legacy. I suspect back then the legacy representation approximated between 30 and 40 percent of each entering class.
Today, like yesteryear, legacies definitely have an edge in the admissions process, however unless there are extraordinary circumstances, a legacy today must have the “objective” credentials to be considered. Not so back then. The school is simply much stronger and more competitive scholastically today.
Legacies approximate 20 percent of an ND entering class these days. That number is almost pegged.
Legacies are very fortunate that in today’s world ND, as do many top schools, carves out a predetermined percentage of legacies for each entering class. That makes it more difficult for highly qualified applicants who are not legacies. It’s not something these kids can control, obviously. Again, that’s difficult for a highly qualified kid to digest as the legacy allotment artificially reduces the amount of spots available for highly qualified candidates who are not legacies. And these highly qualified kids get compressed at both ends.
It’s wonderful that ND has aggressively sought to add more minorities, international students, and first generation college students. It’s noble, and is required to remain competitive in the rankings, for a number of reasons.
But at the end of the day, with both the predetermined legacy allotment and the aggressive admissions approach to enroll an incoming class that is competitive with ND’s competitors, there’s fewer and fewer spots for more and more highly qualified students every year. That makes it very difficult for these kids to gain acceptance; that’s not easy for many of these kids to accept, which is completely understandable.
As with the oboe, there are certain things qualified students can do to enhance their chances, however there are certain things that qualified students cannot do to enhance their chances, which is disconcerting to those kids who otherwise are highly qualified in every department, except for the departments that they cannot and will never be able to control.
That’s why kids today cannot get too emotionally hooked on a dream school. Every year the required criteria are becoming less and less objective and controllable for the highly qualified kids.
I think any snapshot for purposes of attempting to explain why someone was accepted or not must keep the above in mind.
Admission to college isn’t about being deserving of such or fairness. It’s a business, which means it’s solely about the supply and demand for spots at any institution and understanding that certain spots are expanding and certain spots are contracting.
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What were her grades and test scores, # AP classes, etc.? “Highly competitive” is subjective and it would help those of us who are non-legacy and were deferred get a better idea of our chances. Thanks.
35 ACT (sat once), all A’s, honors and 6 APs, with a fairly heavy science concentration.
I’m unsure how her grades translate into a weighted GPA for ND (I don’t remember how that works).
She attends a private non-Catholic high school and I think 4 or 6 APs are taken by the kids, on average (I could be wrong).
The school doesn’t rank students per se.
Based upon what I’ve observed, she’s somewhere in the top half of her class, likely in the top third.
Roughly 1/3 of her class will enroll in top 30 ranked universities (basing such off of the matriculation stats of previous classes).
On average, her high school sends 1, maybe 2 students to ND every year or so (I believe there are years where very few, if any, apply to ND).
I’d say average extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, hobbies). Nothing off the charts. No special hooks.
She did spend a lot of time thinking about and researching the essays, especially the “why” ND essay.
Specifically, she read a number of Notre Dame Magazine issuances, focusing on a topic of interest in terms of personal interest, major/minor concentration interest, and career interest, and then synthesized such into the essay.
Even before focusing on the essay, she was more than a casual reader of Notre Dame Magazine, likely due to seeing the magazines on the kitchen table, picking them up and reading various articles over the years. That likely proved to be advantageous in different ways.
The remaining two essays were very heartfelt. She was fortunate to draw upon her institutional knowledge of ND (visited many times and, again, her familiarity with Notre Dame Magazine and it contents) and her personal experiences related to such. She still writes like a high school student (I mean that in a nice way), and I think that style helped for purposes of permitting the reader to gain a solid and crisp understanding of her character and goals.
Given her grades, ACT score (one sitting), and the application as a whole, I believe she likely was a competitive applicant, and, as a result, given that ND was/is her number one choice, she felt that by applying REA she was signaling her strong interest in attending. In addition, my wife graduated from a university on the same level as ND, so if she hadn’t applied REA, given her mother’s university this may have signaled a lack of interest. Who knows?
Anyway, whether she would have been accepted had she not been a legacy we’ll never know, however I suspect legacy status helped as her application was likely competitive within that subgroup (legacy subgroup) from a course rigor, quality of the high school, grades, and standardized test score perspective “and” she had accumulated institutional knowledge of ND as a result of being a legacy, which likely helped in crafting, developing, and synthesizing the essays.
It’s all about supply/demand within a subgroup.
There’s less and less spots for the highly qualified students (due to the proliferation of and emphasis placed on subgroups) and much more demand in the highly qualified student category, which is now measured on a global scale, especially for a school like ND.
Change is constant and so much in life is circumstance.
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Hello everyone,
As a high school applicant, I think that it is best if we try not to compare each other. I believe that most who apply to highly-selective schools are well accomplished.
I just want to remind everyone that any acceptance anyone gets is a huge accomplishment that should be celebrated. Furthering your education, whether it be at a state school, CC, or top 20 school is a success because not a lot of people have the opportunity to do that. I wish everyone best of luck in the RD rounds and whatever happens you are all amazing.
As a ND-Scholarship Semi-Finalist, I am happy to say that I know I was not nominated because of my grades. I started a non profit that reached 15 countries towards the arts, and I have multiple international awards in music. With a C in my transcript (my W GPA is 4.4) , I have been accepted into some of the best schools for engineering. Colleges can definitely depict something that you did just to try and get into their school. I think they are looking for leaders and people who are extremely passionate at something they love to do. In my case, it was violin.
I am a first-generation college student, and I went through this process completely on my own. I do not wish to compare myself to other applicants. Of course, I believe that I deserve to get into every school I applied to, as to all of the people on here. However, it is about fit, and also what a school is particularly looking for. It has nothing to do with you prospective students. I can assure you that everyone of you is amazing.
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At the end of the day you can’t go wrong with either one. They are both great schools. Like your son with ND, I think ultimately my son is a better fit at Georgetown anyway. Culturally Georgetown is more progressive than Notre Dame. That, along with the whole Jesuit perspective aligns with our view of Catholicism. One of my older friends repeatedly told me as the process played out that you end up where you are meant to be. I think there is some truth to that.
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My oldest child attended Georgetown. It happened to be her first choice. She absolutely LOVED every minute there. Phenomenal education, experience, fantastic city, great access to an array of opportunities. I could go on, but you get the idea.
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Completely agree with you! With the thousands of applicants and the increase in percentage of applicants at every school this year, there isn’t any “sure in” factor anymore. Many legacies have been denied as many high achieving kids have also been denied at all these top universities. Comparing stats doesn’t work anymore. Do your best, take advantage of every opportunity you’re given, and hope for the best. If you do your “homework”, in the end, you will be at a place that is the best fit for you. But the process also doesn’t end once you get that acceptance letter. Again, continue to do your best and continue to take every opportunity offered.
BTW, congratulations to you on all your accomplishments!