Should I apply early action?

<p>I want to apply to Notre Dame, Pomona college, Washington university in st. louis, and university of Chicago. I have a cumulative gpa of 4.26 and have taken 5 aps in 10/11th grade. If I apply regular my gpa can increase to 4.33 because of the 5 aps I am taking this year (12), so Im not sure if I should apply early or wait,. I have around 175 hours which include a Tijuana mission club, red cross, and meals on wheels. I also played football for three years. I am ranked around 4 out of 275 and have an ACT score of 32. Do I have a good enough chance based on these stats to have a good chance to get into these schools? Are any shoe-ins?</p>

<p>I spoke with an alum today who does colleges fairs and has ties with admissions officers. He told me that the most important factor in an EA decision is test scores, and that usually only the ACTs of 34+, SATs of 1490+ are the ones to get accepted. In regular decision, however, the entire application comes more into play. Hope this helps.</p>

<p>OMG LondonGentleman - is that really true? Wow, that is actually a little scary.</p>

<p>I am currently a student at the University of Notre Dame and got accepted early with a GPA of 4.26 and an ACT score of 32. There is a wide range of people that get accepted early. It depends mostly on the pool of students applying. Good Luck! I love it! GO IRISH!</p>

<p>I agree with stagemonkey, I didn’t have above a 34 and I got in EA.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input! Just to compare with my own, what were your extracurriculars like?</p>

<p>A word of caution son’s college counselor has given. Please be cautious when obtaining admissions information for a university alum (not just at ND, but from any school). Best bet is to contact the unversity’s admission’s counselor for your area to obtain the definitive answers.</p>

<p>@AudreyH- Since I posted my last comment I’ve received some more info. My college counselor called the an admissions officer at ND, who said that they’re looking for the 33+ACT (and the SAT equivalent); however, I also participated in a live chat with ND adcoms and they told me that the entire application still comes into play in EA. Admission seems less stringent than what I expressed in my prior post. Sorry if it sounded harsh. However, that particular alum truly did say that to me.</p>