REA Chance?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

I have been going back and forth for applying Early or Regular to Notre Dame. After reading some of these posts, I have discovered that Notre Dame ends up rejecting a lot of their Early applicants, which scares me to death. However, Notre Dame is my absolute number one school and I would do anything to be accepted. The only thing I worry about is my ACT score - the first time I took it I got a very low score, so I went through a vigorous $2000+ course and raised my score by 5 points. I have yet to receive my ACT score back from the September test, so I don’t know where I will stand with that. The rest of my resume looks as follows:

For courses, I attend half of my classes at a Governor’s School, which is basically a magnet school that is only available to the top students in the 10 surrounding schools in my area. I have attended there for 2 years, taking Physics, Math Analysis, and Research (11) as well as Calculus AB/BC, Anatomy and Physiology, and Senior Tech Seminar (12). At my home school I took AP Lang, AP US, Advanced French 4 (11) and AP Lit, AP US Gov/Comparative Gov, AP French (12).

Competitive Climbing (5-12) Captain (10-12)
Varsity Indoor Track (9-12) Captain (11-12)
Varsity Cheerleading (11-12) Captain (12)
Larger service club for my town, non-school affiliated (9-12) President (12)
High school sorority/service club, non-school affiliated (9-12) President (12)
School climbing club (9-12) President (11-12)
Student Council Association (9-12) Class Treasurer (10) Student Body Treasurer (11) Class VP (12)
Gay-Straight Alliance Club (9-12) Secretary (10-11)
Work at climbing gym (10-12)
Worked as a Camp Counselor (12)

Honors include AP Scholar, National Honors Society, State Science Fair (research fair) Finalist
Over 200 hours of community service

GPA: 4.6 weighted
Rank: 6 of 341

Have tons of legacy (every single family member) at Notre Dame and a cousin who is a Priest/works for the University

Will be applying to the College of Science to study pre-med

Will my ACT score break me if it does not reach the middle 50% range? Should I wait for regular decision?

2

What is your current ACT score and what is your UW GPA? The benefit of your legacy connections cannot be understated, but without stats that are at least in range that alone will not get you in. You should contact your regional rep and get advice from him/her as to whether you should apply REA or wait until RD.

3

Also, my essay will be about my experience competing in climbing competitions
My rec letters are from a Counselor who knows exactly how passionate I am in everything I do and how desperately I want to go to Notre Dame, my AP Human Geography teacher who knows how hard I worked in that class (received a 5 on the exam) and this teacher is also my Varsity Cheerleading coach, and my Research Mentor from the year-long research I conducted last year (she is now my A&P teacher as well)

4

My original ACT score was a 27. After my course, I was consistently getting 31/32 on my practice tests, so I should expect at least a 30 on the test that I just took. My unweighted GPA is at least a 3.98 I think (It has never been calculated but I got one B in an AP class last year)

5

Unfortunately, a 30 is still below the 25th percentile for ND. Your GPA is fine, but sometimes a high GPA with middling test scores is viewed by schools as indicative of grade inflation. Other than Human Geography, have you taken any other AP exams? If so, how were those scores? You are correct that a great number of REA applicants are denied. Last year, out of 4700 applicants, 1400 were accepted, 800 deferred, and 2500 denied. My daughter was one of those deferred; fortunately, she was accepted in RD and is currently attending ND. For comparison, her grades were similar to yours, EC’s I would honestly have to say were stronger, essays were very, very good, particularly her supplements, and she had a 33 on her ACT. However, she was completely unhooked. It is really difficult to say how much your legacy connections will help you. As I said before, it would benefit you to contact your regional rep and ask whether REA would be appropriate for you. Good luck, and if you have any other questions, feel free to send me a PM.

6

I received a 4 on AP Language (the only B I received in high school, which means that my school’s grades probably aren’t inflated). The other scores I won’t report, because I’m not a good test taker.

I have spoken with my Admissions Rep many times since the beginning of my Junior year, have met with her once and am meeting with her this weekend when I fly up to Notre Dame. I will ask for her opinion, but in the past all the answers I get are very vague and go along the lines of “submit your application when it will be strongest.” Honestly, it won’t get much stronger between now and December, so I don’t know.

What does it mean to be unhooked? As in legacy?

7

Generally, being a recruited athlete, under represented minority, or first generation college student is considered a hook. Additionally, many, many schools consider family legacy to be a hook, and no school does more so than ND. I am assuming that one or both of your parents received degrees from ND, and that is the only relationship ND considers when doling out a legacy benefit in admissions. In my experience, the legacy applicants I know that have been accepted have all been well within ND’s score ranges. At the same time, I have seen some very, very, very connected legacy applicants not gain admission. What I have seen over the last couple of years is a few of these students offered a place in ND’s Gateway program, but those offers come when RD results come out. Believe me, I understand the allure of ND. I have two daughters there now and couldn’t imagine them being anywhere else.

8

Thank you so much for the help. Chances are I will wait until RD unless my scores come back and are above 32. Pretty frustrating considering my sister was accepted off the wait list even though my scores, classes, ec’s, grades, rank, and everything were much higher.

9

Hi originalposter1:

When I read your responses-a few questions come to mind:

  1. Can you elaborate on what you mean by having tons of legacy? You mention every single family member. Did both of your parents graduate from Notre Dame?
    The reason I am curious, is because with such a strong family connection, I am thinking you may find much more insight from them than you do on this message board. What do your parents and/or sister recommend?

2)You mention your sister got off the wait list with lower scores than you…are you saying she was admitted with an ACT lower than 27? Did she have some other type of hook? Or is the legacy connection for your family that strong? That may make a difference with regards to what you can expect.

Good luck to you and I hope everything works out!

10

By tons, I do mean both my parents graduated from Notre Dame, as well as both grandfathers, both my brother, sister-in-law, sister, and various uncles and aunts and cousins have graduated from Notre Dame. I have asked my family, of course, but it has gotten so much harder to get in even since the time my siblings applied.

My sister was taken off the waitlist with a 27 ACT score and no hook. It could be a legacy thing (my family is very involved with the University - money wise and also involved in boards and clubs still) but as many people have mentioned, plenty of people who have double legacy do not get into Notre Dame. Do you know if the legacy involvement makes a difference to the Admissions Officers?

11

By legacy involvement, I presume you mean your incredible number of legacy relatives and their donations and activity with the university. Good question. Certainly your parents going there is a feather in your cap. Beyond that I don’t know, but perhaps others do. I do know it doesn’t hurt. When my spouse was there she had a friend whose family has a name on an endowed chair and that friend’s sister didn’t get in. Times change though.

12

I feel like the legacy status here is as big or bigger of a deal than at other top tier schools including Ivies. With that strong connection and the fact that you have family donating money, I would say you have a good chance, especially with all the other things you do. ND seems pretty big on standardized testing (which I disagree on) but as a white upper class make who got a 28, I feel like it isn’t always to your detriment.

13

@Sheepeasy were you admitted with a 28 ACT, or were you just adding that as info?

14

@originalposter1 I am not sure what you mean, but yes I was admitted with a 28.

15

Okay, well that is encouraging!

16

Self update: I just received my scores and I now have a 33 Compsite on the ACT. Does this make me eligible for REA, or should I wait? (I will still ask my regional rep, but I figured I would get your opinions as well)

17

Congrats on the good score. I hope it makes you eligible – great grades, very competitive ACT score and legacy. If you want to go to ND and you don’t see your ap getting stronger then I think you should go for it. That’s my kid’s take on it after discussions with his rep and others and that’s what he’s going to do. Worst case scenario is deferral. To be honest, aside from a standardized test score, I’m not sure how anyone really improves their record all that much in the first semester of their senior year. It’s hard to move a good GPA by any significant amount and any EC you add as a senior probably doesn’t add all that much value, IMO. Go Irish!

18

Based on what I have seen from the last 4 admission cycles, I would think you are good to go with REA and I would be stunned if you weren’t accepted. Make your supplemental essays shine and you should be fine. Good luck!

19

Thank you all so much for the help! I really appreciate it, and good luck to everyone involved in the admissions process this year!

20

@originalposter1 Well, you are now in the mid 50% of all applicants who submit ACT. To my knowledge, ND doesn’t release specific REA stats, so your rep would probably know more than anybody here whether you are better for REA or RD. They might just give you the “submit when your application is best” statement, which obviously isn’t the answer you are looking for.

If it’s any help, if my SAT scores make it into the mid 50%, I will probably be applying through REA, but I will be talking to my rep, just like you. Best of luck!