just a disclaimer, I am not Caucasian or Catholic but rather of Indian descent (parents immigrated here)
also applying for mendoza college of business and out-of-state from california; male
Grades:
GPA: Weighted 4.29; Unweighted 3.98 (1 B in AP Euro)
ACT: 35 composite (36 for math and science; 34 for english and reading)
AP Bio + Calc AB: 5
AP Lang, AP Euro: 4
Took 2 APs sophomore year, 3 junior, and 4 senior year
No class rank but def top 9%
currently in AP Gov/Econ, AP Phys, AP Lit, Ap Stats
Activities
Speech and Debate: Most notable achievement is winning state in parliamentary debate (California) – have other successes in this as well; Participated all grades; secretary as a senior; 350+ members on the team
Acts of Random Kindness Club: Secretary as junior and senior; participated 10,11,12
French Club: Participated 10,11,12; President as senior
Science Fair: 1st place in botany as a freshman at district competition
Tutor: tutor kids in math and chemistry as a senior
Varsity tennis in spring of freshman and sophomore year; plan on playing as a senior as well
Honors:
National Merit Semifinalist (in california so above 223 cut-off)
AP Scholar With Honor
Superior Distinction in National Speech and Debate Association
Essays:
i think they’re pretty good; definitely spend a good amount of time on them
worried cause i don’t have a hook and am not a white male catholic
Well your testing definitely seems above average. EC’s look a little low, but its no big deal. I think the big thing here is, why do you want to go to ND? Because Mendoza is number 1? Because of the faith (are you christian?)
You already submitted, so there isn’t much you can do. However, if you didn’t show a sincere passion for what ND offers, then things might be a little more difficult. If you do really desire to be at ND and showed it through your essays, I’m sure you’ll be fine. I know the stats are like 81% catholics, but there is that 19% who aren’t. And I’d have to imagine that most of the applicants are Catholic anyways, so those numbers may be proportional.
Not trying to be argumentative here, but does anyone’s essays say anything other than I really want to go to school X for all the right reasons which then get listed in somewhat different form than they’re listed on the school’s webpages? Does anyone say I want to go to ND and Mendoza because it’s a top 20 school in USNWR and Mendoza is highly ranked by Bloomberg, Forbes and Poets and Quants? Do they say I don’t care about faith or service or ethics or using my education to better my community? I ask because I can’t imagine any reasonably intelligent applicant saying anything other than the right things and demonstrating the appropriate level of interest in a well written, spell and grammar checked essay. Which is why these chance me threads are difficult. I kind of agree with Ivyhopeful – grades and scores are great, ECs less than great. If essays are on point and well done and if recs paint a picture of the type of person ND is looking for, then I’d say you have a good chance.
to be quite frank, I agree with the fact that essays are probably super impactful on an application but my ECs might seem like not very many, but that’s because SD takes up quite a bit of time that it makes it difficult to do more. On average, I spend at least 15-20 hours per week on this activity. But at the end of the day, we’ll see what happens
@doubtful You are lucky that you have an intelligent US-born parent to guide you through writing sensible essays. I did not have that when I was applying, and I still wonder how I got into ND with those essays.
@doubtful I see what you are saying. However, I do have a friend who is currently at ND, and her roommate is an amazing writer, so she showed me her essay. I can tell you she took a unique approach, and wrote an incredible essay. I’m sure everyone is talking about community or faith or whatever it may be that you like about ND. My point is that if you can communicate it in a way that shows you put time into your essays and didn’t write them the night before, then it will leave a mark on the officers.
I think another thing is that the “right things” aren’t always the best things to write. Every student will be writing about the “right things”. If you can make it unique and personal, then I think it would help a ton.
@davdav123 I feel you. One of my parents didn’t go to college, and the other went to our state school. Not much guidance they can offer me, so I’m going through this process with my teachers. Pretty much the only help I can get haha.