Notre Dame legacy

Bringing up this thread again as I am curious about grandparents status. My DS, who applied REA this year, has a grandfather who graduated from ND many years ago. There was a question on the application about this and he did provide the information, such as his name, year of graduation, degree, etc. I know that many here say legacy only counts with parents, but realistically, does having a grandparent give an applicant any sort of an advantage at all? I would imagine they wouldn’t ask the question if they were not interested. I just can’t imagine it would have no bearing at all in a situation where he might be borderline. @northwesty I know you seem to be somewhat of an ND expert, so would love to hear your thoughts. Just a recap of DS’s stats, 36 ACT, 3.14 GPA, some really meaningful ECs, and URM. Coming out of a rigorous Jesuit HS. His GPA will jump this year as he has 4 APs and 1 honors and is acing them all. Thank you!! I know the next several weeks are going to go slowly!!

@WineLover ND considers an applicant as legacy if and only if one of the parents received a degree from the university. Obviously there are other applicant categories receiving additional consideration as part of the application process and a grandparent graduating from ND may only help. Make sure he will provide first quarter grades if and when available. Best of luck to your son!

@WineLover – I doubt ND grandpa will make much difference one way or the other. Except maybe it helped your kid better write some of the essays. 36 ACT is catnip for ND admissions. URM definitely helps, although some URMs are more helpful than others.

3.14 GPA is a problem. I probably would have said go RD not REA, but that ship has sailed. Hopefully he’ll at least get deferred, so ND can see strong fall semester grades.

Good luck!

Thanks @northwesty, but I just realized the GPA was a typo! It is 4.14, not 3.14 ? Anyway, he will be sharing his grades with admissions as he did quite well this quarter. The waiting is the worst!!

@northwesty You seem to know a lot about Notre Dame admissions. Do you have any thoughts on how attending the NDLS is weighed in admissions? I attended over the summer, had a great experience. I’ve heard from people I don’t know well (mostly posters on CC and the RCs at ND) that most NDLS kids get in, but I’m sure sure if that factual or just lore. Wondering if you know about that. Thanks.

@RFM1617, I’m not@northwesty, but I’ll answer that as best I know. I have a senior at ND and a freshman. The older one did NDLS, but not the younger. I think it’s a definite boost but I also know of kids who attended who weren’t accepted. So it’s not a lock, but I think it helps, particularly if you can tie that experience into the “Why ND” essay.