@HM0527, your visit sounds great. We are going next week and looking forward to it. A few questions if I may, 
@clinirish , thanks for comments. Were there any professors or classes that really stood out for excellent quality, a must have, if you will. Would be a shame to waste a chance to have a great HCC prof considering only there for 10 months or so.
@TrifectaRents Here is a quick list of classes and professors I really liked:
Honors Unit States 1877-Present (Cortes)
Creation, Covenant & Christ (Albarran)
Honors Introductory Philosophy (Lutz)
Honors Biological Science (Robichaud)
These are just a few classes and professors that I really liked.
If you have any more questions, please let me know.
Go Irish!
@TrifectaRents hello! Sorry for the delay. We were told of only one GW student that did not go through. We were also told that student set the bar REALLY high for any others that may not go through. A troubled student from what we gathered. As far as housing goes, last year there was an issue where some GW students did not get housing because ND overenrolled BUT those students were put into âemergency singlesâ for about 3 weeks and then moved into a typical dorm. They openly admitted their mistake and pretty much guaranteed that it would not happen again. The 5.0âs that were speaking said every cohort after them has the 5.0âs voices to thank for that ? We also learned that a club for GW students at ND is in the works, which is pretty cool! We did not meet with any professors BUT Iâm sure that if requested, it would not be a problem. The 6.0âs said the program is challenging but 100% achievable.Tons of study sessions amongst the kids and lots of support for each other. Their mentality literally isâŠno man is left behind!! SO many wonderful things about this program I could go on onâŠI look forward to hearing how yâallâs visit goes. I know our daughter is now in a GroupMe chat with potential GW students and those who have committed. I think that is great for all of them to encourage each other and possibly even answer questions.
@TrifectaRents hello!! Wondering how your GW visit went??
While different than other universities as it is a designated program at a specific university, this is basically a âguaranteed transfer admissionâ as a Sophomore - assuming you meet certain academic thresholds (which are certainly achievable - witness the high rate of transfers). The extra attention given to these kids to ensure their success makes it even more so. The simple reality is that the Gateway students ARE IN NO WAY different or less talented than those who achieved admission to Notre Dame as Freshmen. There just arenât enough spaces. The university knows from experience that it will have kids who leave after the first year and this provides an opportunity to âplug and playâ a cohert of transfers for whom the Sophomore adjustment will be negligible from an academic or social standpoint. And these will be kids who absolutely love ND to the extent they are willing to forgo Freshmen admissions elsewhere to pursue their dream. If ND is your first choice school, choosing Gateway if you have that option is a no-brainer IMHO.
@CCSavant hello! Thank you for reiterating that GW student are in no way different or less. You will be surprised to hear that one student touring at the same time as us had a different opinion. I donât think he will be attending which is good in my opinion. From what I saw all of these kids are exceptionally smart, very well rounded and are able to roll with whatever comes their way. I think ND saw that as well, whether it was from essays or letters of recommendation. Proud mom of a future 7.0 cohort!!! Go Irish 
I say this as we are in Ireland for our daughterâs spring break ??
@HM0527 Since ND probably turns down an equal number of kids that are broadly comparable to the admitted class academically, it is hard not to believe that the selected few for Gateway are not excellent students. Some students will have issues with being categorized as âGatewayâ. That is their problem, not the programâs or NDâs problem. ND is doing their best to facilitate the entry of these kids into the ND family because THEY WANT THEM. My son was the only admit to ND at his high school (REA). A classmate with a higher GPA, strong extracurriculars and a service orientation was denied (RD) but accepted into Gateway. He had several acceptances into other Top 20 schools and chose one of them. ND was probably not his first choice, but he had a hard time getting his head around choosing Gateway. He had other good options and ND was not his âdream schoolâ. But there is no way I could ever claim that my son was a more deserving candidate for admission than his classmate. They were both very strong candidates. And ND chooses about 1 out of 3 of those each year.
I donât have any personal experience with Gateway studentsâ performance at ND but I would wager it is above average for the class they enter with. These kids have a fire in their belly for ND and something to prove. THE FIGHTING IRISH incarnate! So glad they will get to graduate from ND, and really participate from the time they arrive at Holy Cross.
@CCSavant thank you so much for adding this opinion. I agree that there really can be negligible difference between the kids offered admission to ND and the 100 who are offered gateway. During our visit we met the very talented students who made up the gateway panel who turned down super competitive schools to come to the gateway program. They knew the value of the Notre Dame experience. This may be a bit of a ego buster for some but it sure does put a fire ? in my sons belly. He committed last week and is so happy with his decision. One thing he learned at the gateway visit is that the gateway students, once they are on the Notre Dame campus as sophomores become the social coordinators, as they know people in every dorm on campus. They try to spread the gateway students out to different dorms, and then these kids have connections everywhere for whatâs happening each weekend. They end up knowing more people than if they had been Notre Dame students as freshman.
We are headed to ND on Tuesday for the GW day! Really excited for our child to see everything and start his ND/GW experience. Anything that we should make sure to do/ask?
@ProudToBeND so happy your S decided GW!!! Looks like thereâs gonna be a great group of kids this fall.
@HM0527 @Fin2019 and group, we visited Gateway Day last week and it was a success. Beautiful sunny day in SB. Our DD decided pretty much right after the day ended the program was for her and accepted the next day, so ND Class of 2023! I will put some thoughts/data here to help group and future x.0s.
This is a highly selective group. Of ~22K apps, 3.5k accepted. Of the other 18.5, admission counselors nominate 700 candidates for Gateway. Of those ~120 are accepted and ~75 attend.
Academically, sophomore year at ND does ramp from HCC experience but not massively. The students should be prepared for that and judging by panel, they do. Looking back at Gateway academic performance upon graduation, miniscule difference in GPA vs traditional grad (5th decimal place worse than average) so no real difference.
GPA only calculated for 3 years (credits transfer, grades do not). I think transcript says Gateway on it and shows HCC courses (and maybe grades??). Point to be aware of since potential employers/grad schools will be aware that student is Gateway, best to be upfront with them.
Panel of students/tour guides were fantastic, really sealed the deal for us. Good advice from them is to âlean in, own the programâ. No need to be shy about it. There may be the odd traditional student who is unaware of program or views their classmate as differently but seems like after first month as sophomore. Gateways blend right in. Transfer are part of heritage at ND (I was not aware of that) so school is well equipped to handle them
Housing is not guaranteed, so while unlikely to be an issue, one needs to be aware that could be a problem, albeit minor, since last year some students were in temp facility for a month.
Gateways network at ND expands exponentially as they get sprinkled among various dorms. As sophomores, they are usually more aware of events at various dorms vs traditional sophomore, who generally know their dormâs going ons. Knowing 10 people at 10 different dorms, power of social media to spread word, pretty soon can know 30-40 people in 10 dorms.
Dorms are college dorms, nice but not luxurious. Due to small nature of school, seems like a nice community, Girls have 2 dorms, 1 singles, 1 doubles. They can request certain room mates or be assigned randomly.
Cafeteria was small, more like a high school cafeteria (our public HS is quite large ~2,800). Food was typical dorm food, not luxurious but good. Some healthy options, though I had burger and mashed potatoes⊠Seems like some students go as group for dinner at ND now that all cafeterias on campus open to Gateways. Lunch is usually at HCC. I would have expected opposite.
Walk to ND very manageable. I timed it at 13 mins from HCC to Morris Inn, where we stayed. Just have to be prepared for winter trek.
If student is planning on College of Sciences major, Chemistry needs to be taken at ND (and maybe Calc??) Otherwise, pretty flexible regarding the ND course. Interestingly, transfer to Mendoza (except maybe 3-4 really popular majors) is like an internal transfer from ND. Seems like great option.
Classes at HCC are not cakewalk, but manageable. The reason for such high success rate (75 out of 76) is not that everyone has 3.5 and a B in ND classes, that is just what is needed for guaranteed transfer. If one is below that, upto discretion of ND, but seems like they try to assist students before it gets to that point.
HCC student as tour guide was very nice and students seemed collegial.
Overall, I echo previous comments. Except for the transcript and GPA aspect, and perhaps initial transition to ND, there are very negatives and very many positives. It seems like ND freshmen, as the quality of applciants continue to rise, are quite a competitive bunch (not saying good or bad, just an observation). The Gateways are diverse in interests and seem more collegial, all in it together. It makes for a nice nurturing community, perfect for our daughter. And one should not assume that âtraditionalâ is all peaches and cream. Between homesickness, adjustment to college pace, etc, freshmen years everywhere can be challenging.
Hope this helps and feedback welcome, as well as comments from other attendees
Sorry typo. there are very FEW negatives and very many positives.
Tonight our son Conner committed to the Notre Dame gateway program
Go Irish !!
Hello all! I remember this time last year when I was scouring these boards and the internet to learn as much as we could about the Gateway program. There wasnât a lot out there, but my son ended up committing anyway, and he currently is a member of the 6.0 cohort.
I canât say enough positive things about his experience. He LOVES it and has said is was absolutely the right decision (exactly what mom & dad want to hear!). The camaraderie among the Gateway kids is amazing. It is a very tight group that has the mindset that they are all in it together. You child can be as integrated in ND activities as they want to be. For example, my son and many of his friends play on different sportsâ club teams at ND, some are in the ND band, and a fair number are taking classes through ND in Europe this summer. Also, I should mention that my son is studying engineering, and itâs not expected to take longer than 4 years total (1 at HCC and 3 at ND). Iâm happy to answer questions you all may have. Iâd love for other quality kids to participate in the program!
@SJBrink25 so happy for your son! Our daughter is committed as well. @mombham thank you for your post. I know as a new GW parent I LOVE reading positive things about the program!!
@mombham, thanks for your comments, very nice of you to come back to the board after son has already started to help out us newbies. I am interested, since your son intention is to study engineering, did he take Chem at ND, and if so, how did he find that experience versus his HCC classes? Our daughter is contemplating COS, so she would also take Chem at ND (large class size, challenging curriculum,etc). Also, did he take Calc at HCC or did he place out of it via APs etc? I would also be curious which activities are best for getting involved at ND? I suspect club sports but thatâs just a guess. We went to ND admitted students reception in our area yesterday and wow, what great feedback from parents of recent graduates or with students at ND. Really does seem different than many other colleges, who speak the same but not sure the experience is the same. As a parent, I also like focus on outcomes after graduation
Thanks in advance and good luck to your son in Summer Program and his sophomore year at ND.
Do they offer kids on the waitlist Gateway if spots open up?
@PopUpZone1921 , I believe they may but depends on how many have accepted by May 1. I think they target 75 for yield, make offers to about 120, combination of REA and RD. Some REA offered Gatway in Dec, some might have gotten deferred to RD and found out in late March. RDs found out in late March. If they have only 65 accepted by May 1, I think they start offering spots to WL. Thatâs my guess, so please donât hold me to it. Hope this helps.
My son had Chem at ND, and itâs exactly like you said, very large class, challenging, etc., however, once a week there was a smaller, study-like session. He didnât think it was crazy difficult and basically said so long as you study, you will do fine (and he didnât take AP Chem in HS). This semester he is taking Intro to Engineering, which is essentially a CS class, and he loves it so much he has talked to the professor and some ND students about changing from mechanical to CS. He did not test out of Calculus because we really didnât know what the first year was going to be like and didnât want him to push it, but some kids do test out. His HCC Calculus and Physics classes are challenging, but heâs convinced the subjects are difficult no matter where you take the class. With respect to all classes, the kids study together and help one another out. I suspect my son would say that club sports are a great way to meet ND kids. He plays 1 club sport which is year round and travels in the fall so he has gotten to know kids pretty well. He also goes to lots of sporting events (in addition to football!) at ND. That being said, he is crazy tight with the Gateway kids and some HCC kids.
I truly canât say enough positive about the program and hope your daughter strongly considers it. At the time, it was a very difficult decision for my son because he had other strong options (like all the kids in Gateway) and the uncertainly of the program, but in retrospect, it was no doubt the right decision for him!