I am an upcoming senior in high school. My dream college is the University of Notre Dame due to the beautiful architecture and stellar science program. When I was a sophomore I got in a little bit of trouble. I had a vaping device and a student tattled on me and I ended up getting a one day out of school suspension. Since then, any talk about applying to college frightens me. I plan to apply early decision to Notre Dame, but do I even try with my disciplinary record? I have a 3.97 gpa unweighted and a 4.15 weighted. I got a 30 on my ACT. I plan on taking again because I didn’t study much my first time and I am aiming for a 32. I am on the executive board for my school’s Key Club (for those that do not know, it is a volunteer club). I am on the knowledge bowl team and in student council. I played volleyball until my senior year and am on Varsity for my softball team. I also volunteer a good amount. I am wondering if my application outside of my suspension will look good enough to the admissions office. I know it is not strong enough for regular decision which is why I am applying early decision. Also, should I incorporate my suspension and the lessons I learned into my essay? For my AP Lang class this year we were forced to write a Laws of Life Essay last minute. It wasn’t my best crafted essay but I got 6th place writing about the situation. Should I use that? Thank you!
- Here is the class profile for ND. A 32 ACT is below the 25th percentile for enrolled students. I'd aim for a 34 or so ACT. https://admissions.nd.edu/apply/
2.I’d recommend that you give up the idea of a dream school and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents’ budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. Cast a wide net and recognize that (assuming no major hook) ND is a reach for pretty much everyone. Expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
- I agree a 34 would be ideal but Notre Dame takes super-score and I am already at a 32 super-score. Therefore if I actually get a 32, I can hopefully have a higher super-score.
- I actually have a ton of colleges I am applying for :smile: Most will not be extremely hard to get in though. Could you answer my question please?
Ask your guidance counselor how the suspension will be reflected on your transcript, and if it is possible to have it removed at a certain time.
I agree with talking to your GC to see how it will be reported.
I would not use up an essay talking about this but maybe the additional info spot.
I don’t think a minor infraction freshman year is going to make a difference. Devoting one of your essays to the incident blows it up out of proportion. If you can bring it up in an essay obliquely, maybe.
If ND is your first choice school , go on ahead and apply EA. ND doesn’t have ED; it has Restricted Early Action.
Okay thank you!! For ND it’s actually Restricted Early Decision and is non-bonding, which is nice.
Okay thanks so much! My counselor sadly has not been helpful whatsoever 
Your GC is going to be instrumental in your college process as s/he will write the school recommendation for you and address the disciplinary action or not. S/he might assess you among your peers, rate your academic curriculum and rate how you are regarded among your peers. This is the person who can be most helpful to you.
You’re required to answer honestly about those kinds of events when asked. A minor event like that will probably be overlooked if you write a short and sweet paragraph expressing remorse, taking responsibility, and telling what you learned from the experience. Include it in the “anything else we should know” section. That isn’t your greatest obstacle in terms of admittance to ND.
Aside from your test scores, for the “why us?” essay you should probably come up with a better reason to attend ND than “beautiful architecture” (because there’s at least four other colleges in Indiana alone with similar “beautiful architecture”) and a “stellar science program” (which is very, very good, but arguably not as prominent as it’s business and teaching programs).
You have asked two questions, essentially, “Is my application strong enough to gain admission to ND?” and “How should I address the suspension?”. I will address these separately accordingly.
- Strength of Application:
Test Scores: You have indicated that you scored a 30 on the ACT but plan to take it again and that you have a superscore on the ACT of 32. Which suggests that you have already taken the ACT twice, perhaps each time with a composite score of 30 but with different section results which leads to a superscore of 32? As noted above, these scores are at the low end for Notre Dame admitted students and would probably need to be offset by extremely strong considerations in other areas.
Grades: A 3.97 unweighted GPA is clearly very high but combined with a 30 ACT score might raise questions as to the rigor of your high school curriculum. With such a high GPA, are you the top student in your class or do many students have close to a 4.0? Schools vary. A 4.15 weighted GPA (with a 3.97 unweighted GPA) suggests (mathematically) that you did not take many AP or Honors courses. A 6th place award for an essay in an AP class may sound nice but is not terribly exceptional and is probably not something I would highlight. Notre Dame will evaluate your high school performance based on what is offered at your high school, perceptions of its overall rigor, what courses you selected, and how you performed on them.
Extracurriculars: You are involved in several extracurricular activities and have some leadership involvement, but it is hard for me to see the level of commitment, passion or leadership that characterizes your involvement. Based only on what you shared, I would not rate your extracurriculars as being a positive differentiating factor in your application. Many many applicants will have this and more.
ND Essays: As per comments above, you need to define more clearly and more passionately what excites you about Notre Dame, why you would be a good fit, and what you would add to the student body, if admitted. - Suspension Issue
Notre Dame CARES DEEPLY about character, and I think the best way to address your positive character is to put it on display in your overall application rather than dwelling on explaining one unfortunate event. You need to do that, of course, but, as suggested above, in some additional information section.
Conclusion: If you can get your ACT score up, you will be in the mix for consideration for admission to Notre Dame but neither your GPA, ACT or extracurriculars will necessarily make you stand out from the crowd. You will need to make the most of your essays, making a compelling case for your admission and addressing any character issues that might remain as a result of your suspension (though I would not spend time in your essays talking about the suspension - other than a reference at most).
Best of luck. We all have made mistakes in our lives and Notre Dame is a very forgiving place…give them the incentive to act on your behalf!
You didn’t mention being involved in the Catholic church or Christianity. This is something ND looks for and holds very high in their community. If you are part of a church, now might be the time to evaluate how important it is to you and if you wish to be more involved.
I agree…work on getting that infraction removed from your record. If the GD isn’t helpful, go to the principal. I would hope your school would support your goals and help you. However, you would need to have been an exemplary student both in character and grades to make such a request.
@Groundwork2022 what teaching programs are you referencing?
Vaping is not the sort of infraction that can block you from a college. Adcoms know some hs have overly serious consequences.
But, it seems you don’t know enough yet about applying, sounds like you haven’t looked at the Common App. There’s a separate question about discipline that both you and the GC answer. Don’t blow the essay on this. Understand what the essay IS for.
Also, right, lots of schools with beautiful architecture and stellar science programs. Using that for a Why Us can come across as generic and be a real problem. Learn enough about your targets to answer better.
“What teaching programs are you referencing?”
The Masters of Education program there is among the best. Notre Dame boasts a large number of Fulbright Scholars and it’s ACE Teaching Fellows programs, plus they also have a training program for curent and future Catholic school principals. DD has been fortunate enough to have had at least three teachers who are Notre Dame alumni, and they were indeed phenominal teachers. The Notre Dame culture as a whole shares a lot of the qualities one might expect (hope?) to find in teachers as well.
“Here is the class profile for ND. A 32 ACT is below the 25th percentile for enrolled students. I’d aim for a 34 or so ACT. https://admissions.nd.edu/apply/”
@Groundwork2022 That’s what I thought. They have excellent Grad Programs in education. They also offer undergraduate certification and training through a cooperative arrangement with Saint Mary’s, though many are unfamiliar with it. Saint Mary’s also offers a Masters in Autism Studies which has an incredible faculty (some of which also teach or graduated from ND). Both schools are doing tremendous work in education.
https://ess.nd.edu/