Your Daily Prospective Student Thread...

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>Here's all of my info... I know I'm weak in a bunch of places, but I'm working on it. Also, I'm a rising senior.</p>

<p>-GPA: approx. 3.6 weighted; we weight differently... according to the widely used 'public school' weighting method it would be about 4.1
-Class rank: 49/300; top 16% but I think we rank unweighted for some reason...
-ACT: 31 (but plan to retake)
-SAT: waiting on results (but probably got about a 2100+)
-AP Classes:
----Both AP Englishes (Comp./Lit.) (Lit. tentative)
----AP Calculus (tentative)
----AP Physics (tentative)
----Chinese language & culture 103 (tentative)
-All honors, otherwise.
-Good shot at Merit Semifinalist, maybe finalist (217 on PSAT, and I live in Alabama. : P)
-Extracurriculars
----NHS (1 yr; we only induct at the end of junior year)
----Model U.N. (1 yr)
-Misc. Info and Circumstances:</p>

<p>Being from a military family that moves around a lot has hurt my ability to join extracurricular programs (especially since my first high school, 9th/10th grade, had none). Also, going through Hurricane Katrina caused me to miss the deadline for joining a lot of extracurriculars since I was put into a school halfway through the first semester of junior year.</p>

<p>Almost completed Eagle Scout, should be finished by next December.</p>

<p>Have traveled extensively; lived in Hawaii, California, Florida, Virginia (three times!), Alabama; also, Australia for one year and Belgium for 3 1/2 years (where I attended a Flemish school and had to learn the language through immersion). This summer, I will spend 7 weeks in China to earn college credit for basic Chinese.</p>

<p>I've studied Latin (3 yrs. High School), Ancient Greek (1/2 yr High School), French (2 yrs. in grade school, but I was being taught by Frenchman) and am still fluent in Belgian Flemish (it's like Dutch). (The reason I list all these is because I want to major in Chinese.)</p>

<p>Lost a house and a rental house in Katrina, forced to move our family of three children and one infant.</p>

<hr>

<p>Okay, so that's everything. I know some of this is probably irrelevant, and I know that this is verrry long. But thanks to anyone who put aside the time to read this, and please give me some feedback!</p>

<p>(and BTW, thanks Marine for the layout)</p>

2

<p>i bet you are close, the 2100 SAT is well within the 50% band, so is the ACT. As horrible as this sounds, being from alabama will help and play up the katrina issues and hardships. everyone needs an angle and you just found yours. good luck.</p>

3

<p>I am sorry to hear about your loss with Katrina. I am not as optimistic as 66472, unfortunately, because of class rank. If it was just about the scores I think you would have no problem but the average class rank at ND is top 6%. Because of this, I think you really need to focus on your grades. Given everything you have gone through, I think that you will get more benefit of the doubt (as well you should) if you can do very well your senior year. So, bottom line, I would encourage you to apply RA for sure and really focus on the grades! Good luck!</p>

4

<p>JenningsT - although your class rank may hold you back a bit, I do know of students admitted to ND with higher class ranks than 6%. </p>

<p>You have a pretty compelling life story - really play that up when you write your essay. Hopefully you'll get some great teacher recommendations, too.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>It is an average, so naturally about 50% will be below it as well. Just do as well as you can to get your rank up because I don't think the SAT will hold you back but the grades might. That is all I was trying to say</p>

6

<p>Thanks everyone for your replies. Basically, I just need to work on grades/rank then. </p>

<p>On a side note, does anyone know of any great language schools or where I could find that kind of info?</p>

7

<p>Not sure, I have always been the type to avoid foreign language at all costs. I will bump it for you, however. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>I think Middlebury is supposed to be a great language school. Dartmouth too.</p>