Here is my speculative uneducated uninformed guess. They were hoping to have them Monday 18:42 in keeping with the pattern of the last 2 years; they had either a technical glitch or some unexpected delay in some of the final decisions; and they will come out as soon as possible, likely today or tomorrow. Since they never promised anything but ‘mid-December’, there is no reason for them to spend time communicating status or answering 5,000 questions on ‘WHEN?’. They are just concentrating on getting this done.
Interestingly though that link is still active: http://confirm.nd.edu
There is nothing wrong with the legacy position at Notre Dame. It’s incredibly transparent and just like any other private university, it has the option to make it’s own policies. Typically, 25% of the accepted students are legacies, though many more apply and are rejected. Their stats are just as good as others that are accepted. The strength of family and legacy is what has allowed the university to grow and secure an enormous endowment. Those legacy families have donated millions upon millions of dollars to make ND what it is.
At the moment I’m mentally prepared for tomorrow, though it’d be really really nice to hear today!! Much less nerves than yesterday for sure.
crossing fingers I just want to know.
Since they already broke the ‘Monday’ pattern, today is probably no more likely than tomorrow or even later in the week. I think everyone will call it a night earlier today than yesterday if no word comes out before 7:00 EST.
Probably, and just watch—they’ll release them right when we’ve all given up!!
@ilikesportz Using legacy as a tiebreaker is a terrible idea. That would rule out kids, such as myself, who were born into a financial situation where the parents didn’t go to a prestigious college, or no college at all. Allowing kids into a school just because their parents went there is absurd. In your argument, one kid would get into a school based not on something they did but rather by the actions of their parents, which is ludicrous.
Vux – Some people are lucky to be born smart. Sounds like you were. If so, you did zero to get that way.
But smart people do very well at getting into fancy colleges and getting scholarships to pay for it.
Is that fair?
Colleges give breaks to kids who were lucky to be born all different kinds of ways – smart, rich, poor, legacy, highly athletic, in South Dakota, etc. etc. etc. Everyone is a combination of (i) the hand they were dealt and (ii) what they did with that hand.
Take this with a grain of salt, but my uncle has been calling a friend close to admissions who said the earliest would be tomorrow night, but her guess was Thursday (she said she’d know for sure by 12:15 EST tomorrow)
@college2022vux But “tie-breaker” means there’s a tie, which means if two upper-middle class private high school suburban white kids with 35s on their ACTs apply, the legacy candidate wins. If one of those candidates is a first generation college student, is an under-represented minority and/or is lower middle class at a public high school, then there isn’t a tie and the legacy tie-breaker wouldn’t apply. In fact any of those circumstances probably are a greater advantage to admission than legacy.
When Don Bishop said that there are 250 legacies every year that wouldn’t get in if it wasn’t for ND’s commitment to legacy – did he explicitly say they would not get in because of their academic qualifications? That seems to be the assumption. However, there are other factors that are examined in admissions, such as racial and geographic (especially international) diversity. Perhaps ND would like more of those factors in each class, but bows to legacy instead…Last year, 2050 students were enrolled. If you are assuming Bishop’s reference is related to academics, then that is assuming that they choose 10% of students who they would otherwise deem unacceptable academically. I find that very difficult to believe because of the impact that would have on ND’s stats. Especially given ND’s focus on test scores and class rank for each class (they seem to like to quote both a lot).
@northwesty First off people are not just born smart. They are conditioned into becoming smart. Trained for it, similar to how an athlete is trained. They deserve the ability to attend a college.
Secondly, the way that you’re argument is stated it makes it sound as if I have done nothing to increase my intelligence and earn my spot, which would be incorrect.
Finally, the way the original argument was stated was that an individual would be granted access to ND in a tie breaker decision. That would mean that after all the hard work a student put forth means nothing because their parents didn’t have the same dream college as yourself.
@4X529s So because one upper-middle class private high school suburban white kids with 35s on their ACT parents attended a college, they deserve admittance over one who doesn’t?
Can we not argue on this page? Maybe start a new thread about it?
I disagree. If I pay full tuition for four years and help fund those that can’t then my kids should get a small advantage for that. Btw I am not an alumni.
I think that if someone wants to contribute to a school that they love so they can help students who need help financially, that should be their goal, not to have an advantage over someone else, who may be more qualified to attend the school. I think that everyone should be given a fair shot at attending their dream school, and they should be evaluated on a fair basis. Just food for thought; i’m not looking to start an argument. 
Still looking forward to receiving decisions (hopefully today!)
Please take the legacy vs non argument somewhere else…it’s spoiling the vibes
Momla – the legacy kids at ND and elsewhere are always smart and well qualified.
Let’s say a legacy kid has a 33 ACT score. That’s very strong, but a bit below average for ND students. ND literally has thousands of 33 ACT (and higher) kids it could accept. ND picks a legacy white suburban 33 ACT kid from Chicagoland over another similar kid who has a 34. That’s how it works. ND probably isn’t taking 26 ACT legacy kids unless they play quarterback or if the family name is on a building at ND.
With so many great applicants, there’s a lot of ties and close calls in admissions. If you are playing a game that often ends in a tie, having a tiebreaker is very helpful!
@waitingmomla Decide for yourself what Don Bishop meant. Most relevant section starts at the 20:33 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6zHrIlEq-8
I also agree with @suzy100 … Somehow the stress of everyone waiting for their decision has turned a very positive, warm, and supportive thread into something more combative and less friendly. Maybe the legacy discussion needs its own thread if it’s a divisive issue for stressed-out applicants.