@Golfgr8 There absolutely is no reason for your DD to despair, quite the opposite! While admission to Notre Dame and other selective colleges and universities is competitive, their review is holistic. One of the key aspects for Notre Dame is to understand both what the student would bring to Notre Dame and how the student will benefit from a Notre Dame education compared to other applicants. Your daughter is a HS sophomore, so there is quite a bit of time remaining to work on those considerations and to prepare the strongest possible preparations and subsequent application with a laser like focus on “Why Notre Dame?”.
As for GPA/Test Scores etc., the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will review the academic profile of your daughter in the context of her High School, hence the best way to approach this is to take the most academically challenging course schedule related to her academic strengths and to excel in those classes! There is no trade-off between strength of schedule and GPA, unfortunately, yet with a 3.9/4.0 GPA at current, your daughter will be more than up to the challenge. If her high school ranks students, she needs to ensure that her rank will be reported on her end of Junior year transcript as top 3-5% of her High School.
Please don’t hesitate to send a personal message for additional points, if any. All success to your daughter and the family!
@Golfgr8 Notre Dame is one of those rare schools that actually look at everything on an application. My daughters got in with a 3.7 and a 3.8 GPA. They took the most rigorous course load and had many leadership activities and volunteer hours. They also wrote great essays and had great letters of recommendation. They were not legacies. They had solid ACT scores (can’t remember the scores offhand, but they took the test a couple times). In a nutshell: your daughter should not despair.
@Golfgr8 I felt the same way as a senior waiting to hear back this week! It is totally understandable to feel as though you aren’t doing enough, but the reality is that it is all subjective, and top universities like Notre Dame understand this. Your daughter has plenty of time to build up her application, although it seems as though she is already on the right track! My advice to her as a student would be to focus on what she feels truly passionate about in high school, because that focus and determination will shine through her eventual application. Don’t worry about being better than other applicants, focus on being your best self, and every part of your application will reflect this and give you the best chance on being admitted:) good luck!
Son was Deferred at EA - Arts & Letters
w/GPA 4.35
uw/GPA 3.98 (got a B+ in Phys Ed of all things)
Very competitive Catholic HS
35 ACT (36, 36, 35, 34)
National Merit Finalist
6 APs completed (4s and 5s), taking 4 additional APs this year
Marching Band (Squad Leader), Symphonic Band, National Honor Society, Academic Challenge, Model UN, Writing Tutor, St. Joseph of Arimathea Pallbearer, Kairos counselor
Ohio Buckeye Boys State Delegate
Showed good interest - multiple campus visits, etc.
Great letters of recommendation
Uncle is a Mendoza MBA graduate
He is disappointed, but still hopeful. He has some other great opportunities, but Notre Dame has always been his top choice.
In an admitted students video call an admissions person said that he predicts about 100-150 people would be admitted off the waitlist. He didn’t say how many people are on the waitlist.
I am another ND parent. My DS is class of '22. He is in several bands on campus, including Marching Band. He is an Accounting/Music double major. It is a shame that Admitted Student day is cancelled. If you have any questions for either of us, message me. I can get you in touch with him.
@Ilovemypuppy The majority of waiting list action will occur during the first and second week of May, once Notre Dame has received confirmation of actual RD yield numbers for the 2020/2021 academic year. Currently those are just estimates based on previous years, actual yield might possibly be a few points lower for all US universities and colleges given current circumstances - nobody knows. Best of luck!
ND Common Data Set (CDS) numbers 2019-2020 for comparison:
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 1,600
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 1,028
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 108.
Do you know if those 108 were accepted to which schools or programs? Do they automatically get placed in the liberal art-college of arts & sciences pool?
Once the ND Office of Undergraduate Admissions determines to go to the waiting list, subsequent to May 1st confirmation date, they in the next step determine the criteria for selecting waitlisted students. Those determinations are made from a wide range of criteria reflecting Notre Dame’s needs at that time, including yet not limited to student’s preferences vs. available places at the
School of Architecture
College of Arts and Letters
Mendoza College of Business
College of Engineering
College of Science
Keough School of Global Affairs.
Notre Dame does not publish information on the schools/colleges waitlisted students are being admitted to, as this changes year over year as does the number of any students admitted from the waiting list for the year in total. Last but not least, it is important to note that the Notre Dame waiting list is not ranked, yet includes a noticeable number of students, as indicated in my earlier post.
Hey there. I’d love any advice to help my son who was waitlisted. He’s 4.0, 1530 SAT, all IB/AP/DE classes, excellent ECs. He got in UMich, UF and Boston College - which he’s excited about - but, ND is his dream school.
@KellyMcWilliams Congratulations to your son, these are impressive academic records and EC’s. The best way forward will be for him to establish direct communication with his ND AO, write a carefully drafted LOCI during the month of April and, if it truly is the case, emphasize that he definitely will choose to attend Notre Dame if admitted from the waiting list. He then should keep the AO posted on any major achievements after the LOCI as well, seeking to keep the communication with the AO going. This will require focus and true effort, yet well might be worth it in the end. Best of luck and success to your son and the family!
Thanks so much!!! Our last one so this is bittersweet! We have one recent Boston College graduate, one at Georgetown, and now my son going to Notre Dame!
Hi everyone! I made a thread for anyone who got waitlisted from ND! It’s called “Notre Dame Waitlist Class of 2024” if you want to join! Hopefully, it will give y’all a little bit of hope during these uncertain times!
