Notre Dame EA or RD?

Should I apply RD or ED for ND?
My stats:

Strong high school with average ACT of 24.6
GPA: 4.58 weighted

ACT: 34 composite

ECs:
-First robotics programmer- 3 years
-Confirmation small group leader- church
-JV Cross Country two years
-Internship at Kiewit Engineering Design
-2 summers in different departments
-A Project Manager one summer
-NHS
-JV Debate
-JV Forensics
-Youth group- 2 years

Community service: About 80 hours

AP tests:
AP Euro (5), AP Calc AB (4), AP Physics (3), APUSH (3), AP Lang (3)

Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering

Does your school have Naviance? If so, I’d check to see how kids from your school with comparable stats fare.

We do not. However, in your opinion, what do you think I should do?

Notre Dame doesn’t have ED, it has Restricted Early Action. I think your stats are strong, and you have a good shot at REA, depending on your essays and recommendations and so forth. In addition to teacher recs, can you get one from your lead at your internship? I think that is helpful.

@Suzy100 has an interesting point I’d like to draw upon. If you don’t have Naviance, it might be helpful to talk to your counselor about students at your school and ND. It is helpful to know for a variety of reasons, one of which is that to apply for the Yusko-Hesburgh scholarship, a school can only nominate one student. If your school has a history with ND, then your counselor would know a lot of pertinent information helpful for you.

Current Domer here! You seem like a qualified applicant. I applied early action on a whim and was accepted. I highly recommend throwing your application in their hands earlier if you get the chance. Notre Dame is the kind of school where they know exactly what they want in a student and if you fit the mold you will get in RD or EA. EA does have a higher acceptance rate (I know they accept athletes and other commits as well here) but I think if you demonstrate that ND is the right place for you then EA is absolutely the right choice.

@Ruby789 Yes! The intern program leader at the company wrote me a rec letter for my extra recommendation. Also, there’s only one other person that attended the visit when Notre Dame came to our school and he is applying to the ROTC program there so it wouldn’t be of use to him. So I think I could probably be our school’s applicant.

@crazytaco7 Yeah I’m just hesitant since I’m 20th in my class. Only in top 3.7% and I saw most people are in the top 1%

With a 4.58 GPA you’re 20th? OK, interesting. I am going to guess that ranking won’t count against you.

I think having a good letter of recommendation and a cool internship is really good. Especially as you have advancement. It is my opinion that ND likes this kind of thing. I think ND offers a lot of opportunities in terms of research and campus jobs/clubs/volunteering and they want to see students who will take on said opportunities.

I think you can consider REA - but as I’ve advised other posters, you might want to contact your rep and ask their advice which application period is best for you. You can email them to ask and say something about why you want to apply there, and enclose a well written summary. It doesn’t hurt for your rep to have an early look at you.

You said that there was only one other student at the ND visit to your HS. That doesn’t mean only one other will be applying. My kids weren’t all able to go to all the HS visits of colleges they applied to due to tests or class demands during those visits. I still think you should talk to your counselor. I think there’s a breadth of information about how your school does with applications to Notre Dame and how students fare once there that could be helpful to you.

So other unsolicited advice: Here’s the common data set for 2015-2016 admissions. Look at page 7. https://www3.nd.edu/~instres/CDS/2015-2016/CDS_2015-2016.pdf This is a list of what ND looks for in applications. The last criterion is level of applicant’s interest. You attended the school visit, you have once contact there. You should have at least three contacts with the school. Did you visit and take an official tour? Connect with any admissions people otherwise?

Good Luck!!

Thanks for the advice! When I talked to my rep during his visit he said that he recommended me applying rea. Also, I’ve had numerous points of contact with Notre dame including watching webinars, attending two college visits with them at my school, visiting their campus, and organizing an alumni/current student lunch with all of the Notre Damers at my internship. Additionally, I’m pretty sure most people at my school are not applying early action there as I go to a secular school and most of the “smart” kids at my school in the top of my class are applying elsewhere such as Yale, MIT, Harvard etc. However, I feel like Notre Dame would be a really great fit for me as a person because I do pretty well in school, I love sports, I’m strongly Catholic, and want to grow in my leadership and service areas, and overall I want my college experience to make me a better person as well as educate me.

If anyone else has any comments about what I should do in regards to applying early or regular it would be much appreciated! Thanks!

I would’ve said go ahead and apply REA but if your Rep is recommending the same, it’s a no-brainer at that point if you feel strongly that ND is a better fit hen other top schools. The worst that would probably happen is that you would be deferred. The only reason to not apply REA is if you believe that you can improve your test scores or your class rank significantly.

I believe that if your are a top student applying REA sends a very clear message to admissions about your sincere desire that ND is the place for you and more likely a good result. Apply RD you are lumped in with 15,000 other applicants where it may be harder to make your application stand out.

I agree with GraceDad. I’d advise any kid who really wants to go to ND and who has appropriate scores and grades to apply REA and make it clear in your essays that ND is the place for you for all the right reasons. If an applicant hasn’t gotten a 32 or higher ACT I’d advise re-taking and applying RD. It is essentially impossible to substantively raise a good GPA or class rank ( say 3.7+ or top 10%) with one semester of perfect grades your senior year, so I wouldn’t advise waiting for that reason if you already have good test scores. I think REA is very important for legacies as well. A legacy with a decent app who applies RD, to my way of thinking, is saying they are seriously looking at other places. It’s fine to look elsewhere, but perhaps that negates the legacy boost.

And as for not being in the top 1%, I think your top 5% will be just fine. My kid’s school was 4/4 at ND last year with all coming from second quartile. It’s a strong school too with avg ACT of 31.

Thanks for all your comments! Notre Dame is probably my top school so I’m really hoping to get an acceptance letter in December. Do you think my resume is strong enough to be a contender for a spot there?

It’s certainly strong enough to be a contender. That’s why your admissions rep is recommending REA. That doesn’t mean you will get accepted, it just means you have a decent shot. People who scored between 33-36 on the ACT had a 50% chance of getting admitted. It all depends on your essays and whether they think you are a good fit. I don’t think the class rank will be a huge deal, if ND knows that you come from a very competitive school.

I can’t stress enough how important your essays will be. Please put the necessary time into writing them so that they are “top notch”.

If you want to improve your chances, watch this video and see if you can glean any tips from the Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Enrollment at ND. He tells you some of the things that they are looking for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DQOPx1EGE8&feature=youtu.be

I don’t think anyone here can give you better advice than the ND admissions rep. If ND is your top choice and the admissions rep thought REA would be a good idea for you then by all means go for it. Let your passion for ND shine through in your essays. Good luck.

You should apply REA. If your rep said it was the thing to do, go for it. Work hard on your essays - Be creative but driven, and make sure the “Why ND” sounds personal - what you can do for ND and what ND can do for you. And DO NOT write a Rudy essay. None of my 4 kids were top 1% and they all got in.

apply REA

So what do you all mean about a Rudy essay? I wrote my why Notre Dame essay about how I admired that the school achieves balanced excellence by providing high quality education, a great spiritual life, great sports, amazing service and leadership opportunities, and a great social life. Then I closed it out by saying how it felt like home on my campus visit. Does that sound like a sufficient essay?

Js-23: I think it is a good idea to make the reader see you on campus. It is nice that you like the school, how do YOU fit in? I have two kids who were admitted in the early action round. Both wrote their why ND essays very differently, but both made the essays personal, not general statements about ND that could be used in an admissions brochure.

My kids had me read their essays, but I only offered advice in the most general terms - grammar and clarity. But I remember one piece of more specific advice I gave my oldest in one essay. She’d written a very detailed essay, but it was kind of dry. I told her, “I don’t see YOU in this essay”. An hour later she asked me to reread, and she had put herself in the essay. She had really great results in admissions. I really think that is the key. How do you capture who YOU are? In a why (school) essay, think about what you see yourself doing on campus. Or how you see your education/life there impacting you. I think your essay will be more interesting, unique and readable if you can make the readers see you there and want you on campus.

OH, and if the rep recommended applying REA, then do it.