<p>This summer I am thinking about applying to Summer Scholars at Notre Dame... my grades this school year have been disappointing thus far and I am hoping to work and overcome it. My grades last year were very strong though and I do have good clubs, should get a good rec and have strong PSAT scores. I heard that admission to Summer Scholars is not overly competitive. Is this true? How demanding is the work? I heard classes are really long, not that that would be a problem the more time I spend living like a Notre Dame student the better haha. Has anyone did it in the past? If anyone can shed some light on what you do, or if it is worth it please reply. I also saw on the website the photo gallery, where people met Father Jenkins. It looks cool! Please reply, thanks!</p>
<p>bump bump!</p>
<p>bummp. bump!</p>
<p>I did Summer Scholars this past summer (2011) in the Life Sciences track. It’s true that admission is not OVERLY competitive, but every kid there was definitely in at least the top 20% of their class. Apparently, 50% of NDSS kids get into ND (and not 100% apply). So obviously, it’s not quite as competitive as ND itself, but still hard.
As far as the work load goes:
No matter what track you’re in, you’re going to have “homework.” For Life Sciences, we had a lot of articles to read outside of class and we were expected to understand the material by the next class. I know the acting and voice track kids had a lot of practice to do. Theology trackers had a ton of reading…Pre-Laws had to prepare for trials and such…Film had their projects…Entrepreneurshippers had to read a book…as did Brothers Karamatzov (sp?)…the only track I don’t know much about is Comp. Sci. Boot Camp, but I had one friend in it and she seemed to enjoy it (though she was the only girl with 8 or 9 guys–btw this is the smallest track and most competitive because of the experience needed–there’s an advantage if you’re a girl though)</p>
<p>Overall, I would say that NDSS is an amazing experience. It’s about 6 hours of classes every day, but your professors can shorten or lengthen that depending on what you’re doing. Most tracks take a few field trips. Each track takes one big all-day field trip to Chicago, which is fun because you spend a little bit of time doing something for your class, and then they let you go shopping or hang out at the pier. I’d done a lot of college enrichment programs before, and NDSS had the last amount of class time, and also definitely gave us the most freedom. We could go anywhere on campus by ourselves and just had to check in with our RC via text a couple of times, and be in the dorm by 11 (but after 11, we could still hang out downstairs and in other rooms, etc.)</p>
<p>I highly recommend applying to NDSS because it was two of the most awesome weeks of my life. The best part is probably the bonding that you’ll do with your track. Everyone thinks that their track is the best track and there’s tons of fun competition an such :P</p>
<p>Any other questions, please feel free to ask me. I love talking about NDSS!</p>
<p>Wow sounds like an awesome experience.</p>
<p>I also want to apply to that! At first I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get in, but I think it is worth the risk. My grades are pretty good, considering I go to a really hard HS in California, but it looks like a lot of fun.</p>
<p>Yeah I didn’t do as well as I could the first semester of this year so I don’t want to apply and let them look at those records 
but it looks like a good experience. I hope you get in!</p>