Chance a semi-legacy?

Colleges & Universities University of Notre Dame
1

<p>Quick intro–almost every male member of my mother’s family have attended ND, and a bunch of my male and female cousins are there now. They’ve donated a fair amount, and a sport has its practice facility named after my family. Don’t get me wrong–there’s no way in heck I’m going to rely on that to get in, but it’s worth mentioning.</p>

<p>Basics:
Gender–Male
From–Suburban Chicago public school
Financial aid–Yes
Ethnicity–Hispanic
LD/ADHD–Yes, not diagnosed/treated until end of junior year</p>

<p>Academics:
GPA–3.09 unweighted, 3.94 weighted (see ADHD/LD)
Class rigor–All honors/AP
AP schedule–English Lang., US His. (jun.); Calc. AB, Biology, US Gov’t, English Lit., Economics (sen.)
Class Rank: Surprisingly enough, top 14% (class of ~650)
(I had a really good first semester, so I’m hoping that helped!)</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT–2220 cold (just for NM)
ACT–35 composite (36 R, E; 35 M; 33 S) <== only took the test once
AP–English Lang. (5), US History (5)
SAT Subj.–US History (760), Literature (770)</p>

<p>Leadership/extracurricular activities:
Varsity scholastic bowl–Co-captain (9-12); MVP (9-11); top scorer (9-10, but only because my coach liked pulling me out of Saturday morning tournaments for falling asleep)
Jeopardy!–Finalist, invited to and completed audition in Kansas City. Didn’t make the show, but I used the experience for my CA essay
School newspaper–Copy editor (established position, 12); production editor (11); staff writer (10)
Blogger–I spend, and this is a pure guesstimation, about 15 hours per week researching, interviewing, and writing for two incredibly popular hip-hop/music/fashion blogs. One of my sites just finished up an interview with Nas, and I interviewed up-and-comer Mac Miller (he of the Billboard chart-topping Blue Slide Park) last Saturday (11-12)
Chicago Tribune–Staff writer for teen newspaper (11-12)
Varsity baseball–Hurt junior year, but came back during summer (LHP, 10-12)
Travel baseball–Co-captain/member (LHP/OF, 10-12)
Freshmen swim team–Member (9)
Wind symphony–1st chair, alto sax (9-10)
Jazz band–Alto sax (9-10)
Marching band–Alto sax (9-10)
Saxophone lessons–Alto/tenor sax (9-10)
Parish volunteer–Eucharistic minister/misc. volunteer (9-12)
Assistant teacher–Surprisingly selective program for a summer job (only 40 applicants were picked out of a pool of around 150, 11-12)
French Club–Member (9-10)
Italian Club–Member (11-12)</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit Semifinalist (223 PSAT)
National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar
Illinois State Scholar
Prairie State Achievement Award in Math, Science, English, Writing
Tri-M Music Honors Society
Northwestern Midwest Academic Talent Search Award Winner (36 ACT R/E, presented freshman year)
Honor roll member every semester</p>

<p>Assume that essays are in the upper-echelon–not to toot my own horn, as a few people seem to do here, but writing’s my thing; my recommendations are coming from a counselor I’m quite close to, an English teacher that loved me to death (put me #1 on his “big board” for most likely to kill the AP test), and a Gov’t teacher who thinks I could run for the White House one day (no kidding. love that man).</p>

<p>[already into Clemson EA, Miami OH EA, Fordham EA, SMU EA, Alabama (NMF full ride), Illinois (preferred)]</p>

<p>Thanks, yooo.</p>

2

<p>Outstanding stats, except…The GPA is an issue. At my school’s ND college day, the ND admissions rep said high test scores and low GPA are a serious red flag indicating a smart but lazy student. Maybe your LD/ADHD can explain that issue away.</p>

<p>Also, despite, or maybe because of, your excess of activities you don’t display many leadership positions.</p>

<p>ND is a whole different game compared to where you are already in. I think you’ll be accepted, but it’s not a lock.</p>

3

<p>First off, I’m not sure if you count as a legacy, even with your family name and practice facility (and if you do go to ND, make an effort not to bring this up in conversation, it’s sort of crass). If you do, it wouldn’t be as much as one of my kids, who actually would have a parent with an ND degree. So I wouldn’t bank on that, but you say you already aren’t. If your family really has as much pull at ND as you claim, then whether or not you’re an official legacy probably wouldn’t matter much.</p>

<p>You have amazing test scores. ND won’t care much about your SAT subject tests, but your ACT/SAT scores are great, even Ivy quality. It’s too bad about your GPA, which is regrettably low. I wouldn’t say it’s low enough to keep you out, but it’s by far the weakest part of your app. You have a lot of extracurriculars, which is good, but nothing really jumps out about them. They’re pretty boilerplate anyways, and I don’t see much leadership with any of them. Colleges like ND, and even more so Ivies, care whether or not you started things or did amazing things in one or two clubs, not about the total number of things you could sign up for. So yeah, I’d say you’ve got a chance just based on your test scores. And anyways you’ve gotten into some great schools already, so don’t sweat it too much.</p>

<p>If you don’t get in, and thanks to your recent ADHD diagnosis you can keep great grades in whatever college you go to, you can always try transferring later. I had the opposite problem you have: great GPA, but rotten SAT scores (1290/1600, which objectively isn’t bad, but well below the average at ND). My ECs were similar to yours too. I didn’t even bother applying to ND, but instead went somewhere else for two years, pulled a 4.0 (ain’t no ‘weighted’ bull GPAs at university) and transferred over with no problems. They didn’t care about ECs, they didn’t care about test scores, they didn’t care about my essay (hastily written in about an hour between homework problem sets in my dorm room) it was like I’d never even gone to high school. All they cared about was my college GPA, whether or not the program I wanted in had enough room, and how many of those credits could transfer. It was so easy.</p>

4

<p>I don’t chance people as a rule, but I would suggest that somewhere in your application you address you ADHD diagnosis and how your work/test taking has improved since that point. There are many places you could address it – in your essay, the supplemental information section of the app, a guidance counselor letter… so figure out what works best for you. And if ND does interviews (I don’t know their undergrad admission process) then try to use that as a way to explain your situation. Good luck</p>

5

<p>ND does not do interviews for undergrad. Kinda weird considering their stature, but that’s how they roll.</p>

6

<p>wizkhalifa, I see from your location that this post doesn’t pertain anymore as you are attending Vandy. Good for you and all the best as a Commodore!</p>

7

<p>Actually, it may… we’re having some slight FA difficulties, and Vandy might not be happening. ):</p>