Hello all!
This thread is for those juniors (part of the Class of 2018) applying to the Notre Dame Leadership Seminars for the summer before the 2017-2018 school year! Feel free to list your stats, ask questions, or update your decision status when letters come in during the month of March in 2017. Good luck to everyone, and I hope this thread develops insightful discussion that, for the most part, clears any uncertainty with the admissions process!
What are your stats? J don’t think mine are high enough at all
Hey @tulanetrainfun! Sure. I have not taken the SAT or ACT yet but I will provide other academic stats:
PSAT: 1400
GPA: 4.0UW/4.6W
Rank: 14/476
EC’s: Student Body Officer (Sophomore Class President[9], School Vice President [10]), Varsity Volleyball(since Sophomore year) Church Youth Advisor (since Sophomore year) Student Board Representative for my school district, CSF member with distinction, Interact Club Vice President, etc.
My stats are honestly not amazing, but I feel that with a twinkle of hope and refined essays, I should be fine. Confidence is key mate!
Well, better than mine!!! Do we have to be rum
URM ***
@tulanetrainfun they do ask for your specific race, and geographical/racial diversity is a main goal of the program. However, I doubt that your actual race plays a bigger role in admission decision than your academics, essays, and reccomendation. However, being part of a URM does help.
I was in the global issues NDLS this past summer - if you have any specific questions about the program or application, feel free to PM me!
Hey guys, I just submitted my application. I’d like to think that I’d be competitive, but who knows. Guess I’ll find out March 17
I attended last year too 
NDLS literally changed my life, and I met so many life-long friends there. Let me know if you have any questions at all!
@navyblue18 i definitely know who you are
If we don’t have the best stats, just fair, do we still have a shot? I thought I was fine but honestly not sure, how much do essays/recs/diversity play a role in acceptances? I’m not failing my classes by a long shot, but in relation to the cc community I’m not doing too great.
@emmaka I have no way to tell… maybe asking one of the former members would help the best. @navyblue18 @stressedout18 any ideas?
Hey guys, I’d like to think that I have a good chance of getting in, but with such an incredible and selective program you never know! My stats are:
PSAT: 1490
SAT: 1490
Rank: 1/292
GPA: about 5.2/5.3 – I think corresponds to a 4.3ish on a 4.0 scale
Currently taking 3 AP classes and all honors classes in past years
Founder and president of Hiking Club at my high school, secretary of French Club, volunteer/leader of 3 different mentorship and science programs for kids, member of NHS and French NHS, section leader in school band and 3 other wind ensembles, etc.
I’d like to hear from former members to see what you think about our odds, because I’m really excited to hear back in March! Good luck to everyone else!
Hi guys,
I’m applying for the Science, Ethics, and Responsibility Leadership Seminar, but am beginning to worry after seeing the impressive stats of those who attended in past years. I have decent scores and extracurriculars, but lack greatly in diversity. As a white catholic girl from Massachusetts I doubt that I will be accepted.
My scores and grades:
SATs- 1450
Unweighted GPA- 4.0
Weighted GPA (out of 8.0)- 6.7
Im guessing top 2-5% of my class
I have taken 4 APs (environmental science(5), english language and comp, stats, and chem)
Extracurriculars:
Student Council (elected)
Red Cross Club
Students Against Destructive Decisions Club
Ecoteam
Interact (volunteering) club
Samantha’s Harvest (Down Syndrome Awareness) Club
4 year varsity gymnastics
3 year varsity tennis
Teach gymnastics at local YMCA
Students to End Alzheimers Disease Club
I haven’t written my essays or gotten my recommendations yet, but hope they will be good. If anyone has further knowledge about my chances of getting in or how past applicants compared please let me know!!!
Thanks and best of luck to anyone else applying:)
I’m also a white catholic girl from Massachusetts applying for the Science, Ethics, and Responsibility Leadership Seminar I agree that we don’t have much in the way of diversity, but I think we could both contribute a lot to the program.
Does anyone know how many applicants NDLS gets on average? I applied for another selective program last year, ANNpower Vital Voices, which only accepts 50 girls every year and they got over 5000 applications last spring!
@JulianaK Not sure on the exact number, but I’ve seen acceptance rates of around 10-15% and there’s about 100 participants if I’m correct.
A Notre Dame rep told us it was around 800 applicants and little more than 100 were accepted.
This might be an obvious question, but anyone know where on the report of our PSAT/SAT scores we should screenshot? I can’t find a section with my full name and the test date… Is just my first name and “Fall 2016” ok?
@emmaka After you log into your college board account and hit “view details” of the test you want to submit it should say “download report” at the top of the page. You can hit that and it will download to you computer and then you can just upload that to the application. Hope that helps!
I would say NDLS heavily prioritizes essays and diversity! Remember that diversity isn’t just ethnicity, but location, skills, interests, background, talents, etc… Your grades should be good, but they don’t have to be absolutely perfect.