Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Catholic private
Other special factors: Parents went to BC and ND, parent is high-ranking ND administrator
Cost Constraints / Budget
I have institutional benefits that make both affordable
Intended Major(s)
Econ/CS
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.98
Weighted HS GPA: 4.45/4
Class Rank: not released
ACT/SAT Scores: 1590, 36
List your HS coursework
English: AP lit, lang
Math: Calc BC
Science: AP Bio, Physics 1, Physics C
History and social studies: APUSH, AP micro/macro, AP Gov
Language other than English: 4yrs spanish
Visual or performing arts: none
Other academic courses: AP CSA, 4y mandatory theology
Awards
National Merit Semi, Indiana Rising Star, School medals of excellence in AP CSA and AP micro
Extracurriculars
*Research internship (CS/poli sci intersection), co-authored paper published in conferences, covered by national news outlets
*Varsity Tennis Captian with many recognitions but not recruited level
*Chicago Fed Challenge winner, Euro Challenge national semifinalist (economics comps) and assistant coach
*Indiana Math League 2x 1st in school, 15th in state
*Quiz Bowl varsity captain, placed in state, qualified for nationals
*Lots of paid and unpaid tutoring hours, especially for Euro Challenge kids (LoRs will cover this too) (includes NHS)
*Upwards of 150 assorted volunteer hours
*Self-taught recreational guitar, started a rock band
Essays/LORs/Other
Very strong essays, probably below average LORs for students of my caliber
Schools
Trying to gauge if it’s worth applying to a safety other than ND and BC.
Your parent, the “high ranking administrator” at ND, would be the best source of information for that university. I would not consider BC to be a “likely” for any unhooked applicant. You are a viable applicant for any school but I’d recommend adding another safety or two (perhaps with non-binding EA or rolling admssions).
You are a very strong candidate and I think you’ll have multiple acceptances on your list. But college admissions is very unpredictable and no one can tell you which ones. For this reason, even very strong applicants can not consider ND or BC to be safeties. Or Purdue for that matter, especially if you choose CS.
IMO, you need a true safety to add to your list. Maybe Indiana?
Your parent can tell you if it’s a safety. You have great stats, and with a parent there, it’s a solid target school, but ND is not a safety for anyone. BC is definitely not a safety, nor is it really a target for anyone. You just never know! Friend’s son is a NMF and was deferred at NC State last year EA. That should have been a safety, but it wasn’t. He ended up getting in, but had to write an essay and pivot in case he didn’t get in.
If you are ok with Purdue, great, but personally, we felt 2 safeties were necessary in this crazy world of admissions. For example, safety school looks at your stats and that you have parents at universities may think, nah, we’ll pass, they’ll never come here.
You seem to suggest BC is significantly harder than ND. If that’s true, why? My parents think it’s the other way around, but they acknowledge that their perspective might be outdated.
You might take a look at Section C7 of the Common Data Sets for both schools, and see what is important to the school by way of both academic and non-academic factors. For example, both schools consider religious commitment and volunteer work to be “important” or “very important” non-academic factors. The weight given to some of the non-academic admission factors might explain in part why the schools are not safeties, as @MACXC1009 has noted.
Not OP, but your parents are correct in that it’s usually the other way around, though both schools are tough admits. However, you have a massive hook at ND (legacy plus administrator parent) vs a decent hook at BC (just legacy). So in your case, BC would be less of a safety.
I think this because your parent works at ND. We live in an area where lots of my kid’s friend’s parents work at Duke, and many of them got in, so a parent working there has pull, especially when you’re a great student.