What are his stats @VegasRoller ?
It will be interesting to see if DS gets into any exclusive school (ND and Stanford out … Vandy, WashU, and Northwestern all RD). 33ACT, President of Debate team, 6 week immersion in 3rd world country working with youth. Not going to bore you with the full resume, just those highlights. At least he is already in at other very good schools (Creighton, Drake, Butler) so all will work out in the end. Congrats again to those who made it!
Accepted to Mendoza!
Gateway is a transfer program where you are a student at Holy Cross with a few classes at Notre Dame freshman year. If you keep your grades up and don’t have any issues, you are a full-fledged student at ND sophomore year. My sister is a junior and she has friends who are Gateway, and they are just like her other friends that got accepted into ND. My friend who graduated from my high school last year is also a Gateway, and he’s enjoying it. It’s an amazing program and she’s super lucky to be invited!!!
This is my first comment on the blog. I was accepted into the ND–Holy Cross Gateway Program today as well. Since I did not know a whole lot about the program, it was definitely a surprise. It is not a bad option, and I am excited.
I am not a huge fan of posting my stats, but they may be useful to people (some who may not fit the stereotypical ND profile) in the future.
White male
Not Catholic (Episcopalian)
Large public high school in the South
Class Rank: 1/500ish
SAT: 1450/1600
SAT II: Spanish- 770
President/board member of several school and community-based organizations
Captain of Varsity Sport
Eagle Scout
Meaningful summer activities (scholarship recipient for foreign exchange, mission trips to Appalachia, swim coaching)
Congratulations to everyone who was accepted, and good luck to everyone who was deferred. To those who were denied, best of luck with your college search. Just remember that this year is full of surprises! I’d love to hear from some more Gateway Program people on here. . .
Eleanor Rigby 7 - Guaranteed admission as a sophomore is awesome. If ND is your daughter’s dream school, then do it. At HC, she’ll be able to participate in a lot of cross campus activities and be a part of the ND student section just like SMC and ND students. My daughter had a close friend who transferred from SMC to ND and she is now in her first year at ND Law. She never felt anything negative about being a transfer. All the second class citizenship is nonsense. If others treat her differently, it’s their problem. Lots of kids that got rejected would love to be in her position. Congrats!
Eleanor Rigby 7 My understanding of Gateway is that it’s offered to a select few students. I think advisers work with them to pick freshman classes that help fulfill ND’s core requirements, and they take one class each semester at ND. Gateway kids are able to sit in the ND student section, join clubs, etc. As long as their GPA meets a certain level and there are no other problems they have an auto transfer soph year. This is all from memory, so definitely read up on it yourself to make sure you understand all the details. My daughter is a freshman and she has some friends from Gateway in her social group, I don’t think she views them any differently. If you’ve visited ND campus, I’m sure you know that Holy Cross is literally right across the street. It might be a bit of a further walk to some things on ND campus, but the same is true for a lot of ND dorms, depending on where the dorm is and where you’re going. ND is a big campus. In the end, you spend your years at ND and graduate from ND. Best of luck to your daughter!
@Eleanor Rigby 7 - My daughter is just finishing her 1st semester in the Gateway program. There are roughly 65 kids in the program this year and it is the 5th year for the program. During the 1st year, the kids take 4 classes at Holy Cross and 1 at Notre Dame each semester. The Holy Cross classes are Honors classes and have be approved by ND. The program guarantees transfer IF they achieve a 3.5 GPA, no grade lower than B and they do not have any behavior issues. That’s just the guarantee. In reality , last year all but 1 of the kids transferred and the 1 opted not to transfer. They have ND student ids and can participate in any of the ND clubs and activities ( including football games!!!). They have a limited allowance for meals at ND as well. Once they transfer sophomore year, they are just like any other ND student and when they graduate there is no asterisk beside their name :)!
For the most part, the kids feel welcome and are treated well by other ND students. There are a few things that they do not participate in during orientation or they participate as HC/Gateway and during the first few weeks they struggle to answer that all important ND question “What dorm are you in?”. All part of adjusting to college life.
For my D , ND was and still is her dream school, so it was a no brainer versus going to another school and trying to transfer
Best of luck in making the decision.
My son received a Gateway offer last night, but he is not familiar with the program at all. Given @greenbluered99’s stats, it must be selective and my son should be flattered despite that’s not how he’s feeling right now. Does anyone know how many kids are offered a spot?
Only about 60 kids are selected. There is a lot of info on ND website. I know your son is not happy right now, but the Gateway program sounds great. I am surprised he wasn’t deferred to RD before offering him Gateway.
Shoot, if only 60 students are selected, why can’t they just let them in!
Anyways, the letter/email says that a Gateway student will be contacting him at some point to answer his questions about the program. I’m interested in how the classes work since he is interested in an engineering degree.
@mombham re: “Shoot, if only 60 students are selected, why can’t they just let them in!”
ND’s retention rate at 98% of freshmen is amongst the highest in the nation, but ND still loses about 2% of the freshman class to transfer, homesickness, not making the grade, financial issues, etc, every single year Additionally, the soph/junior classes lose about 1% each as well, which is why ND’s 4-year graduation rate is usually around 96%. In an entering freshman class of 2,050 enrollees, ND has to replace 41 slots for the 2% of freshman who never return as sophomores, and another 20-40 slots depending on sops/juniors who leave without graduating. Presto, the Gateway Program. It’s a backfill retention program, and it also serves a dual purpose of providing financial stability to Holy Cross College which was close to insolvency several years ago.
That’s why those 60 don’t get in right away. Those Gateway kids are top scholars, every bit as capable to being admitted to ND as the class that does get it, but they are stocking the pipeline to cover for the attrition rate of the ND student body.
@VegasRoller Sorry to hear that you son was not admitted. His EC’s and stats seemed off the charts to me in the chance post you posted this weekend. Best of luck in the deferred process and if he does not end up at ND, best of luck to him wherever he ends up!
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