<p>well. I think you are wrong, this was a bad year for ND, they did expect another 3,000 applicants because of the use of the common app but they did not get it, yet schools like Duke when way up in applications. An ND admission officer told us that it would be in the 17,000 applications. Also, the economy really didn’t affect the number of applications at other top schools.</p>
<p>As an alumni, I think ND is caught bertween two competing issues, they want to desperately go up in the rankings (thus Father Jenkin’s drive to a research university, which ND really doesn’t have the endowment to support), yet by being a religious institution, they won’t get the votes for this from their secular peers. Also, rankings are also influenced by grad school and ND suffers in this dept.</p>
<p>Remember the uproar from the Law School students when ND’s ranking dropped?</p>
<p>ND is frustrated by how Duke can go up in the rankings but ND is staying stagnant or even dropping this year. I also think their is some distate about Weis also, it is terrible that such an uncouth, no class character can coach at ND.</p>
<p>Also , I think ND showed no real sacrifice by having one of the biggest increases this year of any private college, 4.4%.</p>